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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