String Theory Seminar

Thursday, March 28, 2002
Jarah Evslin (LBNL),
K-theory vs S-duality in IIB
According to classical wisdom, the D-branes of IIB string theory are classified by K-theory while NS5-branes are classified by cohomology. But how can this be reconciled with S-duality, which interchanges D- and NS5-branes? The key to the resolution of this puzzle lies in a physical interpretation of K-theory given by Maldacena, Moore and Seiberg.