Some comments on 6d global gauge anomalies

Abstract

Global gauge anomalies in $6d$ associated with non-trivial homotopy groups $\pi_6(G)$ for $G=SU(2)$, $SU(3)$, and $G_2$ were computed and utilized in the past. In the modern bordism point of view of anomalies, however, they come from the bordism groups $\Omega^\text{spin}_7(BG)$, which are in fact trivial and therefore preclude their existence. Instead, it was noticed that a proper treatment of the $6d$ Green-Schwarz mechanism reproduces the same anomaly cancellation conditions derived from $\pi_6(G)$. In this paper, we revisit and clarify the relation between these two different approaches.