GSO projections via SPT phases

Abstract: We point out that the choice of phases in GSO projections can be accounted for by a choice of fermionic SPT phases on the worldsheet of the string. This point of view not only easily explains why there are essentially two type II theories, but also predicts that there are unoriented type 0 theories labeled by n mod 8, and that there is an essentially unique choice of the type I worldsheet theory. We also discuss the relationship between this point of view and the K-theoretic classification of D-branes.