Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics
The University of Adelaide
String Theory has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on many areas of mathematics and vice versa. In this talk I want to address some recent developments in the realm of noncommutative geometry. In particular I will argue, following Witten and others, that D-brane charges take values in the K-theory of spacetime, rather than in integral cohomology as one might have expected. I will give an intuitive introduction into D-branes and K-theory. No prior knowledge about String Theory, D-branes or K-theory is required.