The $E_8$ geometry from a Clifford perspective

We present a geometric construction of the exceptional Lie algebras F4 and E8 starting from the round 8- and 15-spheres, respectively, inspired by the construction of the Killing superalgebra of a supersymmetric supergravity background. (There is no supergravity in the paper.)

We give an explicit description of the non-flat parallel even Clifford structures of rank 8, 6, 5 on some real, complex and quaternionic Grassmannians, and discuss the r\^ole of the octonions in them, in particular for some low dimensional examples.

Let $(V,g)$ be a $2n$-dimensional hyperbolic space and $C(V,g)$ its Clifford algebra. $C(V,g)$ has a $\mathbb Z$-grading, $C^k $, and an algebra isomorphism $C(V,g)\cong End(S)$, $S$ the space of spinors. \'E. Cartan defined operators $L_k: End(S) \to C^k$ which are involved in the definition of pure spinors. We shall give a more refined study of the operator $L_2$, in fact, obtain explicit formulae for it in terms of spinor inner products and combinatorics, as well as the ma...

In this paper we present a construction for the compact form of the exceptional Lie group E6 by exponentiating the corresponding Lie algebra e6, which we realize as the the sum of f4, the derivations of the exceptional Jordan algebra J3 of dimension 3 with octonionic entries, and the right multiplication by the elements of J3 with vanishing trace. Our parametrization is a generalization of the Euler angles for SU(2) and it is based on the fibration of E6 via a F4 subgroup as ...

It is known that Clifford (geometric) algebra offers a geometric interpretation for square roots of -1 in the form of blades that square to minus 1. This extends to a geometric interpretation of quaternions as the side face bivectors of a unit cube. Research has been done [S. J. Sangwine, Biquaternion (Complexified Quaternion) Roots of -1, Adv. Appl. Cliford Alg. 16(1), pp. 63-68, 2006.] on the biquaternion roots of -1, abandoning the restriction to blades. Biquaternions are ...

In this Master of Science Thesis I introduce geometric algebra both from the traditional geometric setting of vector spaces, and also from a more combinatorial view which simplifies common relations and operations. This view enables us to define Clifford algebras with scalars in arbitrary rings and provides new suggestions for an infinite-dimensional approach. Furthermore, I give a quick review of classic results regarding geometric algebras, such as their classification in...

This is a short review of the algebraic properties of Clifford algebras and spinors. Their use in the description of fundamental physics (elementary particles) is also summarized. Lecture given at the ICCA7 conference, Toulouse (23/05/2005)

Vertices of the 4-dimensional semi-regular polytope, \textit{snub 24-cell} and its symmetry group $W(D_{4}):C_{3} $ of order 576 are represented in terms of quaternions with unit norm. It follows from the icosian representation of \textbf{$E_{8} $} root system. The quaternionic root system of $H_{4} $ splits as the vertices of 24-cell and the \textit{snub 24-cell} under the symmetry group of the \textit{snub 24-cell} which is one of the maximal subgroups of the group \textb...

In this paper, we show that affine extensions of non-crystallographic Coxeter groups can be derived via Coxeter-Dynkin diagram foldings and projections of affine extended versions of the root systems E_8, D_6 and A_4. We show that the induced affine extensions of the non-crystallographic groups H_4, H_3 and H_2 correspond to a distinguished subset of the Kac-Moody-type extensions considered in Dechant et al. This class of extensions was motivated by physical applications in i...

This paper concentrates on the homogeneous (conformal) model of Euclidean space (Horosphere) with subspaces that intuitively correspond to Euclidean geometric objects in three dimensions. Mathematical details of the construction and (useful) parametrizations of the 3D Euclidean object models are explicitly demonstrated in order to show how 3D Euclidean information on positions, orientations and radii can be extracted.