U-Duality and the Leech Lattice

Michael Rios∗

Dyonica ICMQG
Los Angeles, CA USA
arXiv:1307.1554v2 [hep-th] 4 Apr 2018

April 5, 2018

Abstract
It has recently been shown that the full automorphism group of the
Leech lattice, Conway’s group Co0 , can be generated by 3 × 3 matrices
over the octonions. We show such matrices are of type F4 in E6(−26) ,
the U-duality group for N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic supergravity.
By mapping points of the Leech lattice to black hole charge vectors, it
is seen Co0 is generated by U-duality transformations acting as rota-
tions in the charge space for BPS black holes.

Keywords : Leech Lattice, U-duality, BPS black holes.

∗
email: mrios@dyonicatech.com

1
Contents
1 Introduction 2

2 Octonions, E8 and the Leech Lattice 3

2.1 The Octonions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 E8 and the Leech Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Jordan Algebras and D = 5 Magic Supergravity 4

3.1 Jordan Algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 D = 5 Magic Supergravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 The Leech Lattice and U-Duality 6

4.1 The Leech Lattice and BPS Black Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 Conway’s Group Co0 and U-Duality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5 Conclusion 7

1 Introduction
Recently, Wilson has given a three-dimensional octonionic construction of
the Leech lattice and has shown its automorphism group, Conway’s group
Co0 = 2 · Co1 , is generated by 3 × 3 matrices over the octonions [1, 2]. Oc-
tonions have found wide application in the black hole-qudit correspondence
[3]-[9][19, 34, 36, 39, 40], through the study of the quantum informational in-
terpretations of supergravities arising from toroidally compactified M-theory
and magic supergravity theories [10]-[23],[28]-[30][33, 37, 38]. The N = 2,
D = 5 exceptional magic supergravity, in particular, has the exceptional
Jordan algebra over the octonions J3O as its charge space with U-duality
group E6(−26) [14, 20].
Building on the results of Wilson, we show the generators of the auto-
morphism group of the Leech lattice are elements of F4 , expressed as unitary
3 × 3 matrices over the octonions O. As F4 ⊂ E6(−26) , the generators of the
automorphisms of the Leech lattice can be interpreted as U-duality transfor-
mations in N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic supergravity. We map points
of the Leech lattice to elements of the exceptional Jordan algebra, where
generators of the full automorphism group of the Leech lattice are rotations
in the charge space of BPS black holes.

2
2 Octonions, E8 and the Leech Lattice
2.1 The Octonions
Let V be a finite dimensional vector space over a field F = R, C. An algebra
structure on V is a bilinear map
V ×V →V (1)
(x, y) 7→ x • y.
A composition algebra is an algebra A = (V, •), admitting an identity ele-
ment, with a non-degenerate quadratic form η satisfying
∀x, y ∈ A η(x • y) = η(x)η(y). (2)
If ∃x ∈ A such that x 6= 0 and η(x) = 0, η is said to be isotropic and gives
rise to a split composition algebra. When ∀x ∈ A, x 6= 0, η(x) 6= 0, η is
anisotropic and yields a composition division algebra.
Theorem 2.1. A finite dimensional vector space V over F = R, C can
be endowed with a composition algebra structure if and only if dimF (V ) =
1, 2, 4, 8. If F = C, then for a given dimension all composition algebras are
isomorphic. For F = R and dimF (V ) = 8 there are only two non-isomorphic
composition algebras: the octonions O for which η is anisotropic and the
split-octonions Os for which η is isotropic and of signature (4, 4). Moreover
for all composition algebras, the quadratic form η is uniquely defined by the
algebra structure.
The octonion composition division algebra O has an orthonormal basis
{e0 = 1, e1 , ..., e7 } labeled by the projective line P L(7) = {∞} ∪ F7 , with
product given by e1 e2 = −e2 e1 = e4 and images under et 7→ et+1 and
et 7→ e2t [1, 2]. The norm is given by η(x) = xx, where x is the conjugate
of x.

2.2 E8 and the Leech Lattice

The E8 lattice embeds in the octonion algebra O in many different ways.
Following Wilson [1, 2], we take the 240 roots to be 112 octonions ±et ±eu for
any distinct t, u ∈ P L(7), and 128 octonions of the form 21 (±1±e1 ±· · · ±e7 )
that have an odd number of minus signs. The lattice spanned by these 240
octonions will be denoted as L, which is a scaled copy of the E8 lattice.
Using L as a copy of E8 in the octonions, the octonionic Leech lattice
ΛO is defined [1, 2] as the set of triples (x, y, z) ∈ O3 , with norm
N (x, y, z) = 12 (xx + yy + zz), such that
1. x, y, z ∈ L
2. x + y, x + z, y + z ∈ Ls
3. x + y + z ∈ Ls
Wilson has shown ΛO is isometric to the Leech lattice [2].

3
Theorem 2.2. (Wilson) The full automorphism group Co0 of the Leech
lattice is generated by the following symmetries [1]:
(i) an S3 of coordinate permutations;
(ii) the map r0 : (x, y, z) 7→ (x, ye1 , ze1 )
(iii) the maps x 7→ 21 (x(1 − e1 ))(1 + et ) for t = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(iv) the map (x, y, z) 7→ 12 ((y + z)s, xs − y + z, xs + y − z)

In the proof of the theorem, to construct a non-monomial

√ symmetry, Wilson
1
takes s to be a complex number s = 2 (−1 + −7), satisfying ss = 2 [1].
Note: The maps given in (iii) act on all three coordinates simultaneously.

Corollary 2.3. The full automorphism group Co0 of the Leech lattice is
generated by F4 symmetries.

Proof. The S3 coordinate permutations of Wilson’s theorem are given by six

matrices in the usual O(3) representation, where it is known O(3) ⊂ F4 [24].
For the remaining symmetries, we note that F4 contains all unitary 3 × 3
matrices over the octonions [24, 30, 32] and give the corresponding unitary
matrices for each symmetry listed in Wilson’s theorem. The matrices are
explicitly:
 
1 0 0
(ii) : R1 =  0 e1 0 
0 0 e1
 
1 − e1 0 0
(iii) : R2 = √12  0 1 − e1 0 ,
0 0 1 − e1
 
1 + et 0 0
R3 = √12  0 1 + et 0 
0 0 1 + et
 
0 s s
(iv) : R4 = 21  s −1 1 
s 1 −1
and noting e21 = e2t = −1 and ss = 2, it is seen the matrices are unitary.

3 Jordan Algebras and D = 5 Magic Supergravity

3.1 Jordan Algebras
A Jordan algebra over a field F = R, C is a vector space over F equipped
with a bilinear form (Jordan product) (X, Y ) → X ◦ Y satisfying ∀X, Y :

X ◦Y =Y ◦X

X ◦ (Y ◦ X 2 ) = (X ◦ Y ) ◦ X 2 .

4
Given an associative algebra A, we can define the Jordan product ◦ using
the associative product in A, given by X ◦ Y ≡ 21 (XY + Y X). Under
the Jordan product, (A, ◦) becomes a special Jordan algebra. Any Jordan
algebra that is simple and not special is called an exceptional Jordan algebra
or Albert Algebra. The exceptional Jordan algebras are 27-dimensional
Jordan algebras over R, isomorphic to either J3O or J3Os . The automorphism
and reduced structure groups for these algebras are denoted as Aut(JnA )
and Str0 (JnA ), respectively. In the case of J3O , the Jordan algebra of 3 × 3
Hermitian matrices over O, Aut(J3O ) = F4 and Str0 (J3O ) = E6(−26) [14, 20,
24].
The rank one elements of J3O are points of the octonionic projective
plane OP2 = F4 /SO(9), also known as the Cayley plane. F4 and E6(−26)
act on the Cayley plane as isometry and collineation groups, respectively
[24, 25, 26, 30].

3.2 D = 5 Magic Supergravity

In D = 5, the N = 8 and N = 2 magic supergravities are coupled to 6, 9,
15 and 27 vector fields with U-duality groups SL(3, R), SL(3, C), SU ∗ (6),
E6(−26) and E6(6) , respectively [4, 13, 14]. The orbits of BPS black hole so-
lutions were classified [13, 22] by studying the underlying Jordan algebras of
degree three under the actions of their reduced structure groups, Str0 (J3A ),
corresponding to the U-duality groups of the N = 8 and N = 2 supergravi-
ties. This is seen by associating a given black hole solution with charges qI
(I = 1, ..., nV ) an element
 
Xn r1 A1 A2
J= q I eI =  A1 r2 A3  ri ∈ R, Ai ∈ A (3)
I=1 A2 A3 r3

of a Jordan algebra of degree three J3A over a composition algebra A, where

the eI form a basis for the nV -dimensional Jordan algebra. This establishes
a correspondence between Jordan algebras of degree three and the charge
spaces of BPS black holes [13]. The entropy of a black hole solution can be
expressed [4, 13, 23] in the form
p
S = π |I3 (J)| (4)

where I3 is the cubic invariant given by the determinant

I3 = det(J). (5)

The U-duality orbits classify the black hole solutions via rank as
Rank J = 3 iff I3 (J) 6= 0 S=6 0, 1/8-BPS
Rank J = 2 iff I3 (J) = 0, J ♮ 6= 0 S = 0, 1/4-BPS (6)
Rank J = 1 iff J ♮ = 0, J 6= 0 S = 0, 1/2-BPS

5
and J ♮ is the quadratic adjoint map given by
1
J ♮ = J × J = J 2 − tr(J)J + (tr(J)2 − tr(J 2 ))I. (7)
2
The U-duality group E6(−26) preserves the cubic invariant and thus the
entropy of BPS black holes in N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic supergravity.

4 The Leech Lattice and U-Duality

4.1 The Leech Lattice and BPS Black Holes
Recall that Wilson’s octonionic construction of the Leech lattice uses triples
v = (x, y, z) ∈ O3 , where x, y, z ∈ L, with L being a copy of the E8 root
lattice. We can thus map such triples to elements of the exceptional Jordan
algebra J3O via:
v 7→ vv T = V ∈ J3O (8)
This allows one to map points of the Leech lattice to black hole charge
vectors in N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic supergravity. Denoting the set
of all such mapped points as J3O (Λ) we recover a map from the (octonionic)
Leech lattice to the exceptional Jordan algebra:

ΛO → J3O (Λ) (9)

We shall refer to the black hole solutions with charge vectors in J3O (Λ) as the
Leech BPS black holes, which in general admit charges in a 24-dimensional
charge space since they are constructed from elements of O3 .

4.2 Conway’s Group Co0 and U-Duality

Given a charge vector for a Leech BPS black hole, we can act on it via the
F4 generators of the Conway group Co0 as:

V 7→ U V U † = V ′ (10)

where U V U † is unambiguous since each U contains only a single octonion.

Wilson has given an octonionic description of the 196560 (norm four)
vectors that span the Leech lattice [2]. They are given by:
(2λ, 0, 0) (3 × 240 = 720)
(λs, ±(λs)j, 0) (3 × 240 × 16 = 11520)
((λs)j, ±λk, ±(λj)k) (3 × 240 × 16 × 16 = 184320)
where λ is a root of the E8 lattice and j, k ∈ {±et |t ∈ P L(7)} and all
permutations of the three coordinates are allowed.
Mapping the 196560 norm four vectors of the first shell of the Leech
lattice to rank one elements of J3O corresponds to mapping to 1/2-BPS

6
black hole charge vectors. Recall that geometrically such charge vectors
are points of the Cayley plane OP2 , so the generators of the Conway group
Co0 , which are 3 × 3 unitary matrices over the octonions (hence elements of
F4 ) give isometries of these 1/2-BPS black hole charge vectors in OP2 . As
F4 ⊂ E6(−26) , the isometries are U-duality rotations preserving the vanishing
entropy of the corresponding 1/2-BPS black hole solutions.
As Co0 is the double cover of Conway’s group Co1 , and 21+24 · Co1
is a maximal subgroup of the Monster, it is natural to seek a U-duality
realization of the Monster group. The Monster is known to act as the
group of linear transformations on a vector space of dimension 196883+1,
98280=196560/2 dimensions of which come from the set of norm four vectors
of the first shell of the Leech lattice, with opposite pairs identified. [45]

5 Conclusion
Building on the results of Wilson [1, 2], we have shown the automorphism
group of the Leech lattice, Co0 , is generated by unitary 3 × 3 matrices
over the octonions, and are therefore F4 transformations. As F4 ⊂ E6(−26) ,
and E6(−26) is the U-duality group of N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic
supergravity, we interpreted such generators of Co0 as U-duality transfor-
mations. As the charge space for BPS black holes in N = 2, D = 5 excep-
tional magic supergravity is the exceptional Jordan algebra J3O , this shows
Co0 = 2 · Co1 encodes U-duality transformations. Since Aut(J3O ) = F4 and
Str0 (J3O ) = E6(−26) , and F4 is the trace preserving part of E6(−26) , the F4
generators for Co0 were shown to preserve the Leech lattice norm in J3O , as
expected from isometries.
In other studies, the Leech lattice and the subgroup M24 of its auto-
morphism group have found applications in string theory [41, 42, 43, 44],
shedding light on monstrous moonshine [45] and its generalizations. It was
found [41] there is a Mathieu moonshine relating the elliptic genus of K3
to the sporadic group M24 . More recently, Mathieu moonshine was shown
to hold for D = 4, N = 2 string compactifications, which arise from het-
erotic strings on K3 × T 2 or from type II strings on Calabi-Yau threefolds,
where the one-loop prepotential universally exhibits a structure encoding
degeneracies of M24 [42].
In moving from D = 5 to D = 4, the octonionic N = 2 magic supergrav-
ity exhibits an E7(−25) U-duality symmetry, containing a maximal subgroup
SO(2, 10) × SU (1, 1) found in the moduli space of complex structure de-
formations of the FHSV model [46], which is directly related to heterotic
strings on K3 × T 2 . In [47] it was argued the D = 4, N = 2 octonionic
magic supergravity admits a stringy interpretation closely related to the
FHSV model.
In D = 11, Ramond noticed [48, 49] the massless supermultiplet of

7
eleven-dimensional supergravity can be generated from the decomposition
of certain representation of F4 into those of its maximal compact subgroup
Spin(9). It was argued [49] that the Cayley plane, OP2 = F4 /SO(9), may
geometrically shed light on the fundamental degrees of freedom underlying
M-theory. Building on these observations, Sati proposed [50, 51] a Kaluza-
Klein construction, where hidden OP2 bundles with structure group F4 en-
code the massless fields of M-theory, resulting in a 27-dimensional candidate
for bosonic M-theory [52]. Perhaps N = 2, D = 5 exceptional magic super-
gravity has its full intepretation in such a 27-dimensional model. Moreover,
the appearance of F4 in a model of M-theory with Cayley plane fibers would
allow a Leech lattice construction, with F4 generators of Co0 acting on
such fibers. It is a pressing question as to the role of the Monster group
in 27-dimensions, as the 196560 norm four vectors of the Leech lattice in
24-dimensions contribute to the degrees of freedom of the Griess algebra on
which the Monster acts.

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