The Loop Group of E 8 and K-Theory from 11d

We examine the conjecture that an 11d E8 bundle, appearing in the calculation of phases in the M-Theory partition function, plays a physical role in M-Theory, focusing on consequences for the classification of string theory solitons. This leads for example to a classification of IIA solitons in terms of that of LE8 bundles in 10d. Since K(,2) approximates LE8 up to π14, this reproduces the K-Theoretic classification of IIA D-branes while treating NSNS and RR solitons more symmetrically and providing a natural interpretation of G0 as the central extension of E8.