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Octonions and Quantum Gravity

Hermann Nicolai (MPI Potsdam)

01.07.2010 at 16:15 

The mini-superspace quantization of D=11 supergravity is equivalent to the quantization of an E10/K(E10) coset space sigma model, when the latter is restricted to the E10 Cartan subalgebra. As a consequence, the wavefunctions solving the associated Wheeler- DeWitt equation involve automorphic (Maass wave) forms of a novel type under the octonionic modular group PSL 2 (O). Besides its relevance to unification and the non-perturbative quantization of M Theory, this approach also offers some interesting new perspectives on some long-standing issues in canonical quantum gravity.

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