Root systems & Clifford algebras: from symmetries of viruses to $E_8$ & ADE correspondences

Motivated by recent results in mathematical virology, we present novel asymmetric Z[tau]-integer-valued affine extensions of the non-crystallographic Coxeter groups H_2, H_3 and H_4 derived in a Kac-Moody-type formalism. In particular, we show that the affine reflection planes which extend the Coxeter group H_3 generate (twist) translations along 2-, 3- and 5-fold axes of icosahedral symmetry, and we classify these translations in terms of the Fibonacci recursion relation app...

A formalism is developed which allows to determine the locations of all local symmetry axes of three-dimensional particles with overall icosahedral symmetry. It relies on the fact that the root system of the non-crystallographic Coxeter group H_3 encodes the locations of the planes of reflection that generate the discrete rotational symmetries of the particles. Via an appropriate extension of the root system, new planes of reflection are introduced which determine local axes ...

We present the emergence of a root system in six dimensions from the tetrahedra of an icosahedral core known as the 20-group (20G) within the framework of Clifford's geometric algebra. Consequently, we establish a connection between a three dimensional icosahedral seed, a six dimensional Dirichlet quantized host and a higher dimensional lattice structure. The 20G, owing to its icosahedral symmetry, bears the signature of a 6D lattice that manifests in the Dirichlet integer re...

In this paper, we show how regular convex 4-polytopes - the analogues of the Platonic solids in four dimensions - can be constructed from three-dimensional considerations concerning the Platonic solids alone. Via the Cartan-Dieudonne theorem, the reflective symmetries of the Platonic solids generate rotations. In a Clifford algebra framework, the space of spinors generating such three-dimensional rotations has a natural four-dimensional Euclidean structure. The spinors arisin...

There has been recent interest in novel Clifford geometric invariants of linear transformations. This motivates the investigation of such invariants for a certain type of geometric transformation of interest in the context of root systems, reflection groups, Lie groups and Lie algebras: the Coxeter transformations. We perform exhaustive calculations of all Coxeter transformations for $A_8$, $D_8$ and $E_8$ for a choice of basis of simple roots and compute their invariants, us...

We apply here the principle of affine symmetry to the nested fullerene cages (carbon onions) that arise in the context of carbon chemistry. Previous work on affine extensions of the icosahedral group has revealed a new organisational principle in virus structure and assembly. We adapt this group theoretic framework here to the physical requirements dictated by carbon chemistry, and show that we can derive mathematical models for carbon onions within this affine symmetry appro...

This paper examines a systematic method to construct a pair of (inter-related) root systems for arbitrary Coxeter groups from a class of non-standard geometric representations. This method can be employed to construct generalizations of root systems for a large family of groups generated only by involutions. We then give a characterization of Coxeter groups, among these groups, in terms of such paired root systems. Furthermore, we use this method to construct and study the pa...

These lecture notes for the IAS/Park City Graduate Summer School in Geometric Combinatorics (July 2004) provide an overview of root systems, generalized associahedra, and the combinatorics of clusters. Lectures 1-2 cover classical material: root systems, finite reflection groups, and the Cartan-Killing classification. Lectures 3-4 provide an introduction to cluster algebras from a combinatorial perspective. Lecture 5 is devoted to related topics in enumerative combinatorics...

Graphs which generalize the simple or affine Dynkin diagrams are introduced. Each diagram defines a bilinear form on a root system and thus a reflection group. We present some properties of these groups and of their natural "Coxeter element". The folding of these graphs and groups is also discussed, using the theory of C-algebras. (Proceedings of the Taniguchi Symposium {Topological Field Theory, Primitive Forms and Related Topics}, Kyoto Dec 1996)

This paper shows how beginning with Justus Grassmann's work, Hermann Grassmann was influenced in his mathematical thinking by crystallography. H. Grassmann's Ausdehnungslehre in turn had a decisive influence on W.K. Clifford in the genesis of geometric algebras. Geometric algebras have been expanded to conformal geometric algebras, which provide an ideal framework for modern computer graphics. Within this framework a new visualization of three-dimensional crystallographic spa...