Is every anomaly-free six-dimensional supergravity realized in string theory? · revision history
Revision 2
Accepted · cosmetic change · record
Changes against revision 1:
- Title · changed
- Revision 1: Is every anomaly-free six-dimensional supergravity realized in string theory
- Revision 2: Is every anomaly-free six-dimensional supergravity realized in string theory?
- Plain
- Six-dimensional supergravity theories (gravity plus a symmetry between bosons and fermions) can be listed by checking quantum consistency conditions called anomaly cancellation. Whether every theory that passes these checks actually comes from string theory is unknown.
- Precise
- For 6D $N=(1,0)$ supergravity with $T$ tensor multiplets, gauge group $G$ and hypermultiplet content $H$, Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation restricts $(T, G, H)$. Determine whether every anomaly-free model that meets all known consistency conditions is realized by a string compactification (string universality, Kumar and Taylor 2009), or identify the additional conditions that remove the remainder.
- Settled by
- A proof that consistency conditions (anomalies, brane-probe unitarity, black-hole arguments) reduce the anomaly-free list exactly to F-theory and heterotic models, or an anomaly-free model shown consistent with no string realization.
- Kind
- well-posed
- Answer type
- yes-no
- References
- (empty)
- Literature status
- partially-resolved
- Status note
- In ten dimensions the unrealized anomaly-free theories were excluded (Adams, DeWolfe, Taylor 2010); in 6D brane-probe unitarity removed some anomaly-free models (Kim, Shiu, Vafa 2019), and anomaly-free models without known string realization remain.
- Posed since
- 2009
Decisions
- Accepted (cosmetic change) · 2026-10-15 · record