Project

Non-associative algebras for exceptional groups

Code
3F011421
Duration
01 November 2021 → 31 October 2025
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Group theory and generalisations
    • Non-associative rings and algebras
    • Geometry
Keywords
Exceptional algebraic groups non-associative algebras representation theory
 
Project description

Linear algebraic groups are matrix groups defined by polynomials. In the past century, a lot of research has been done to develop a classification of these algebraic groups. Among the objects of most interest in this theory are the exceptional groups. Though their classification is complete, a lot of questions remain about these mysterious objects. Recently, a class of algebras that have these exceptional groups as symmetries have been discovered. We aim to describe these algebras in an independent manner, without referring to their symmetries, as well as construct analogues of this class of algebras. These results are fundamental to the understanding of the exceptional groups, as they would provide a way of describing them as symmetries of an a priori completely independent object. In the smallest cases we already have some examples of this, namely the octonion algebras and the Albert algebras, both extremely important algebras in their own right. This suggests that the algebras we are studying ought to be fundamental objects in the mathematical landscape.