On the first pontrjagin class of homotopy complex projective spaces

Let M 2n be a closed smooth manifold homotopy equivalent to the complex projective space ℂP(n). It is known that the first Pontrjagin class p 1(M) of M 2n has the form (n+1+24α(M))u 2 for some integer α(M) where u is a generator of H 2(M; ℤ). We prove that α(M) is even when n is even but not divisible by 64.

ON EFFECTIVE F-THEORY ACTION IN TYPE IIA COMPACTIFICATIONS

Diaconescu, Moore and Witten proved that the partition function of type IIA string theory coincides (to the extent checked) with the partition function of M-theory. One of us (Kriz) and Sati proposed in a previous paper a refinement of the IIA partition function using elliptic cohomology and conjectured that it coincides with a partition function coming from F-theory. In this paper, we define the geometric term of the F-theoretical effective action on type IIA compactifications. In the special case when the first Pontrjagin class of space–time vanishes, we also prove a version of the Kriz–Sati conjecture by extending the arguments of Diaconescu–Moore–Witten. We also briefly discuss why even this special case allows interesting examples.