On \(\text{Spin}(8)\) and triality: A topological approach (Q5939212): Difference between revisions

Using the theory of Clifford algebras and spin representations, the author presents a topological approach to Cartan's principle of triality, which states the following: given an element, \(A\), in \(SO(8)\), there exist elements \(B\) and \(C\) in \(SO(8)\), unique up to sign, such that for any two Cayley numbers \(x\) and \(y\) in \(\mathbb{R}^8\) the equality \(A(x)B(y)=C(xy)\) holds. Here \(P(x)\) denotes the action of \(P\in SO(8)\) on the vector \(x\) and \(A(x)B(y)\) denotes the product of two Cayley numbers.