On the 576-fold periodicity of the spectrum SQFT: The proof of the lower bound via the Anderson duality pairing

Abstract

We are aimed at giving a differential geometric, and accordingly physical, explanation of the 576-periodicity of TMF. In this paper, we settle the problem of giving the lower bound 576. We formulate the problem as follows: we assume a spectrum $\mathrm{SQFT}$ with some conditions, suggest from physical considerations about the classifying spectrum for two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(0,1)$-supersymmetric quantum field theories, and show that the periodicity of $\mathrm{SQFT}$ is no less than 576. The main tool for the proof is the analogue of the Anderson duality pairing introduced by the second-named author and Tachikawa. We do not rely on the Segal-Stolz-Teichner conjecture, so in particular we do not use any comparison map with TMF.