Anomalies of QFTs from M-theory and Holography

Understand

We describe a systematic way of computing the 't Hooft anomalies for continuous symmetries of Quantum Field Theories in even dimensions that can be geometrically engineered from M5-branes.

• Our approach is based on anomaly inflow, and characterizes the anomaly polynomial of the QFT in terms of the geometric definition of the field theory.
• In particular, when the QFT admits a holographic dual, the topological data of the solution is sufficient to compute the anomalies of the dual field theory, including finite terms in $N$.
• We study several classes of examples in four and six dimensions, with or without known M5-brane probe configurations.