On M2-, M5-, and D3-branes from 12d anomalies: an equivariant perspective on duality

[2608.14932] On M2-, M5-, and D3-branes from 12d anomalies: an equivariant perspective on duality Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search High Energy Physics - Theory arXiv:2608.14932 (hep-th) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: On M2-, M5-, and D3-branes from 12d anomalies: an equivariant perspective on duality Authors: Kiril Hristov , Pedro Vicente Marto View a PDF of the paper titled On M2-, M5-, and D3-branes from 12d anomalies: an equivariant perspective on duality, by Kiril Hristov and Pedro Vicente Marto View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: We revisit the twelve-dimensional anomaly polynomial that has long been known to govern M5-brane worldvolume theories, together with its more recently proposed D3-brane counterpart. We show that these constructions naturally fit into the framework of equivariant integration, allowing the anomaly inflow formulas to be rewritten entirely in terms of equivariant volumes. In particular, we use the fact that the Bott--Cattaneo formula for the integral of powers of the global angular form on $S^{2k}$ emerges from the equivariant Euler-class integration of $\mathbb{C}^k$, with two copies glued antipodally at the north and south poles of the sphere. Building on this perspective, we generalize the anomaly construction to include both electrically and magnetically charged branes, thereby incorporating M2-branes as well as a dual formulation of D3-branes. This provides a unified framework encompassing a number of classical results together with several recent developments, and offers a natural interpretation of the recently proposed M2/M5 duality, arXiv:2604.06343 , in terms of an AGT-like correspondence. Remarkably, it also leads to a direct reinterpretation of constant-map contributions in topological string theory as manifestations of M-theory anomalies. Comments: 35 pages, 2 diagrams Subjects: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14932 [hep-th] (or arXiv:2608.14932v1 [hep-th] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14932 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Kiril Hristov [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 22:51:19 UTC (85 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled On M2-, M5-, and D3-branes from 12d anomalies: an equivariant perspective on duality, by Kiril Hristov and Pedro Vicente Marto View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: hep-th < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

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