QG group meeting - E11 symmetry in supergravity

Theoretical physicists like to think about what happens to a theory when we wrap a few dimensions of the spacetime. A simplest example is that pure gravity in 5D spacetime gives rise to gravity and electromagnetism in 4D spacetime when one spacial dimension is wrapped. Such discovery by Kaluza in 1921 is an important precursor to string theory.

 

In this talk I will introduce how E11 symmetry arises when you compactify 11D supergravity into 0 dimension — a story slightly more complicated than Kaluza’s discovery. I will explain what is the largest exceptional Lie group E8, and how it can be extended to Kac-Moody algebra E11. Then I will demonstrate how the E11 symmetry arises from compactification, with some simple, pedagogical examples. 

 

References: 

Lectures on Kac-Moody Algebras with Applications in (Super-)Gravity, Daniel Persson and Nassiba Tabti

Most of Peter West’s papers since ‘06