Stability of Fermi surfaces and K theory

Nonrelativistic Fermi liquids in d+1 dimensions exhibit generalized Fermi surfaces: (d-p)-dimensional submanifolds in the (k,omega)-space supporting gapless excitations. We show that the universality classes of stable Fermi surfaces are classified by K theory, with the pattern of stability determined by Bott periodicity. The Atiyah-Bott-Shapiro construction implies that the low-energy modes near a Fermi surface exhibit relativistic invariance in the transverse p+1 dimensions. This suggests an intriguing parallel between nonrelativistic Fermi liquids and D-branes of string theory.