Mathematical Physics

Recently, an intriguing connection between the exceptional Jordan algebra h_3(O) and the standard model of particle physics was noticed by Dubois-Violette and Todorov (with further interpretation by Baez). How do the standard model fermions fit into this story? I will explain how they may be neatly incorporated by complexifying h_3(O) or, relatedly, by passing from RxO to CxO in the so-called "magic square" of normed division algebras. This, in turn, suggests that the standard model, with gauge group SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1), is embedded in a left/right-symmetric theory, with gauge group SU(3)xSU(2)xSU(2)xU(1). This theory is not only experimentally viable, but offers some explanatory advantages over the standard model (including an elegant solution to the standard model's "strong CP problem"). Ramond's formulation of the magic square, based on triality, provides further insights, and possible hints about where to go next.

This talk will be about two applications of Jordan algebras. The first, to quantum mechanics, follows on from the talk of John Baez. I will explain how time dependence makes use of the associator, and how this is related to the commutator in the standard density matrix formulation. The associator of a Jordan algebra also determines the curvature of a Riemannian metric on its positive cone, invariant under the symmetry group of the norm (mentioned in the talk of John Baez); the cone is foliated by hypersurfaces of constant norm. This geometry is relevant to a class of N=2 5D supergravity theories (from the early 1980s) which arise (in some cases, at least) from Calabi-Yau compactification of 11D supergravity. The 5D interactions are determined by the structure constants of a euclidean Jordan algebra with cubic norm. The exceptional JA of 3x3 octonionic matrices yields an ``exceptional’’ 5D supergravity which yields, on reduction to 4D, an ``exceptional’’ N=2 supergravity with many similarities to N=8 supergravity, such as a non-compact global E7 symmetry. However, it has a compact `composite’ E6 gauge invariance (in contrast to the SU(8) of N=8 supergravity). An old speculation is that non-perturbative effects break the N=2 supersymmetry and cause the E6 gauge potentials to become the dynamical fields of an E6 GUT. Potentially (albeit improbably) this provides a connection between M-theory, the exceptional Jordan algebra, and the Standard Model.

I will take a look at the SO(10) grand unified theories from the perspective of the typical phenomenology constraints imposed on their structure. The current status of the minimal potentially realistic models will be briefly commented upon.

The fermionic fields of one generation of the Standard Model, including the Lorentz spinor degrees of freedom, can be identified with components of a single real 64-dimensional semi-spinor representation S of the group Spin(11,3). I will describe an octonionic model for Spin(11,3) in which the semi-spinor representation gets identified with S=OxO', where O,O' are the usual and split octonions respectively. It is then well-known that choosing a unit imaginary octonion u in Im(O) equips O with a complex structure J. Similarly, choosing a unit imaginary split octonion u' in Im(O') equips O' with a complex structure J', except that there are now two inequivalent complex structures, one parametrised by a choice of a timelike and the other of a spacelike unit u'. In either case, the identification S=OxO' implies that there are two natural commuting complex structures J, J' on S. Our main new observation is that there is a choice of J,J' so that the subgroup of Spin(11,3) that commutes with both is the direct product SU(3)xU(1)xSU(2)_LxSU(2)_R x Spin(1,3) of the group of the left/right symmetric extension of the SM and Lorentz group. The splitting of S into eigenspaces of J corresponds to splitting into particles and anti-particles. The splitting of S into eigenspaces of J' corresponds to splitting of Lorentz Dirac spinors into two different chiralities.

Dubois-Violette and Todorov have shown that the Standard Model gauge group can be constructed using the exceptional Jordan algebra, consisting of 3×3 self-adjoint matrices of octonions. After an introduction to the physics of Jordan algebras, we ponder the meaning of their construction. For example, it implies that the Standard Model gauge group consists of the symmetries of an octonionic qutrit that restrict to symmetries of an octonionic qubit and preserve all the structure arising from a choice of unit imaginary octonion. It also sheds light on why the Standard Model gauge group acts on 10d Euclidean space, or Minkowski spacetime, while preserving a 4+6 splitting.

40 years trying to go beyond the Standard Model hasn't yet led to any clear success. As an alternative, we could try to understand why the Standard Model is the way it is. In this talk we review some lessons from grand unified theories and also from recent work using the octonions. The gauge group of the Standard Model and its representation on one generation of fermions arises naturally from a process that involves splitting 10d Euclidean space into 4+6 dimensions, but also from a process that involves splitting 10d Minkowski spacetime into 4d Minkowski space and 6 spacelike dimensions. We explain both these approaches, and how to reconcile them.

We have already met the octonionic Fierz identity satisfied by spinors in 10-dimensional spacetime. This identity makes super-Yang-Mills "super" and allows the Green-Schwarz string to be kappa symmetric. But it is also the defining equation of a "higher" algebraic structure: an L-infinity algebra extending the supersymmetry algebra. We introduce this L-infinity algebra in octonionic language, and describe its cousins in various dimensions. We then survey various consequences of its existence, such as the brane bouquet of Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber.

We explore the Z2 graded product C`10 = C`4⊗ˆC`6 (introduced by Furey) as a finite quantum algebra of the Standard Model of particle physics. The gamma matrices generating C`10 are expressed in terms of left multiplication by the imaginary octonion units and the Pauli matrices. The subgroup of Spin(10) that fixes an imaginary unit (and thus allows to write O = C⊗C 3 expressing the quark-lepton splitting) is the Pati-Salam group GP S = Spin(4) × Spin(6)/Z2 ⊂ Spin(10). If we identify the preserved imaginary unit with the C`6 pseudoscalar ω6 = γ1...γ6, ω2 6 = −1 (cf. the talk of Furey and Hughes), then Pex = 1 2 (1 − iω6) will play the role of the projector on the extended particle subspace including the right-handed (sterile) neutrino. We express the generators of C`4 and C`6 in terms of fermionic oscillators aα, a∗ α, α = 1, 2 and bj , b∗ j , j = 1, 2, 3 describing flavour and colour, respectively. The internal space observable algebra (an analog of the algebra of real functions on space-time) is then defined as the Jordan subalgebra of hermitian elements of the complexified Clifford algebra C ⊗ C`10 that commute with the weak hypercharge 1 2 Y = 1 3 P3 j=1 b ∗ j bj − 1 2 P2 α=1 a ∗ αaα. We only distinguish particles from antiparticles if they have different eigenvalues of Y . Thus the sterile neutrino and antineutrino (with Y = 0) are allowed to mix into Majorana neutrinos. Restricting C`10 to the particle subspace which consists of leptons with Y < 0 and quarks with Y > 0 allows a natural definition of the Higgs field Φ, the scalar of Quillen’s superconnection, as an element of C`1 4, the odd part of the first factor in C`10. As an application we express the ratio mH mW of the Higgs and the W-boson masses in terms of the cosine of the theoretical Weinberg angle. The talk is based on the paper arXiv:2010.15621v3 a copy of which including minor corrections is attached.

Can the 32C-dimensional algebra R(x)C(x)H(x)O offer anything new for particle physics? Indeed it can. Here we identify a sequence of complex structures within R(x)C(x)H(x)O which sets in motion a cascade of breaking symmetries: Spin(10) -> Pati-Salam -> Left-Right symmetric -> Standard model + B-L (both pre- and post-Higgs-mechanism). These complex structures derive from the octonions, then from the quaternions, then from the complex numbers. Finally, we describe a left-right symmetric Higgs system which exhibits, we believe for the first time, an explicit demonstration of quaternionic triality.

"I will begin by reviewing the unified description of pure Super Yang-Mills (SYM) Theory (consisting of just a gauge field and gaugino) in dimensions 3, 4, 6, and 10 over the four normed division algebras R, C, H, and O. Dimensionally reducing these initial theories into dimensions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 gives a plethora of SYM theories written over the division algebras, with a single master Lagrangian to rule them all. In particular, in D = 3 spacetime dimensions, the SYM theories with N = 1, 2, 4, and 8 supersymmetries enjoy a unified description over R, C, H, and O, respectively. In each spacetime dimension, maximally supersymmetric theories are written over the octonions. In apparently completely different developments, a popular thread in attempts to understand the quantum theory of gravity is the idea of "gravity as the square of Yang-Mills". The idea in its most basic form is that a symmetric tensor (graviton) can be built from the symmetric tensor product of two vectors (Yang-Mills fields), an idea which can be extended to obtain entire supergravity multiplets from tensor products of SYM multiplets. Having established a division-algebraic description of Super Yang-Mills theories, I will then demonstrate how tensoring these multiplets together results in supergravity theories valued over tensor products of division algebras. In D = 3, there are 4 SYM theories (N = 1, 2, 4, 8 over R, C, H, O) and so there are 4 x 4 = 16 possible supergravity theories to obtain by "squaring Yang-Mills". The global symmetries of these 16 division-algebraic SYM-squared supergravity theories are precisely those belonging to the 4 x 4 Freudenthal-Rosenfeld-Tits "magic square" of Lie algebras! Furthermore, the scalar fields in these supergravity theories describe non-linear sigma models, whose target space manifolds are division algebraic projective planes! Performing the same tensoring of SYM theories in spacetime dimensions D > 3 results in a whole "magic pyramid" of supergravities, with the magic square at the base in D = 3 and Type II supergravity at the apex in D = 10. This construction gives an explicit octonionic explanation of many of the mysterious appearances of exceptional groups within string/M-theory and supergravity."

Human contact patterns are highly heterogeneous in terms of the both the number and nature of interactions. To incorporate these heterogeneities into infectious disease models one naturally represents a population as a weighted network. While there is a large literature on the spread of diseases on networks, most techniques are highly computational in nature. In this talk I will talk about an analytical framework for modeling infectious diseases as a percolation process on weighted networks based on probability generating functions. 

In the context of vaccination, human contact heterogeneities become a resource: Vaccinating individuals with greater total exposure leads to a greater reduction in disease spread. We have proposed that exposure notification apps, such as COVID Alert, can be leveraged to improve vaccine uptake among high exposure individuals, thereby optimizing our limited COVID-19 vaccine supply. We demonstrate the efficiency of this proposal using our weighted percolation theory framework.