Miraculous Cancellation and Pick's Theorem

Abstract

We show that the Cappell-Shaneson version of Pick's theorem for simple lattice polytopes is a consequence of a general relation between characteristic numbers of virtual submanifolds dual to the characteristic classes of a stably almost complex manifold. This relation is analogous to the miraculous cancellation formula of Alvarez-Gaume and Witten, and is imposed by the action of the Landweber-Novikov algebra in the complex cobordism ring of a point.