A note on triality and symmetric compositions (Q5954690)

Let \(F\) be an arbitrary field. Then a composition algebra over \(F\) is a triple \((C,\square;q)\) where \((C,\square)\) is a nonassociative algebra over \(F\), \(q\) is a quadratic form with induced nondegenerate bilinear form \(b_q\) such that \(q(x\square y)=q(x)q(y)\) for all \(x\), \(y\in C\). The composition algebra \((C,\square;q)\) is called symmetric if \(b_q(x\square y,z)=b_q(x,y\square z)\) for any \(x,y,z\in C\). Assume \((V,q)\) is a vector space of dimension 2, 4 or 8, and \(q:V\to F\) is a quadratic form admitting composition. Define the set \({\mathcal C}(q)= \{(V,q)\mid (V,\square; q)\) is a composition algebra\} and the group action \[ O(q)^3\times {\mathcal C}(q)\to{\mathcal C}(q) \] \[ \bigl((f_0,f_1,f_2), (V,\square) \bigr)\mapsto (f_0,f_1,f_2) \cdot(V,\square)= (V,*) \] where \(x*y= f_0(f_1^{-1}(x) \square f_2^{-1}(y))\) for any \(x,y\in V\). This action is transitive and there is always a Hurwitz product in \({\mathcal C}(q)\). The group \(O(q)^3\) has a natural automorphism \(\theta\) of order 3 given by \(\theta(f_0, f_1,f_2)= (f_1,f_2,f_0)\). Distinct symmetric composition algebras defined on \((V,q)\) give rise to distinct triality automorphisms of the spin group \(\text{Spin}(V,q)\). However, all these automorphisms can be obtained by restricting \(\theta\) to a suitable subgroup of \(O(q)^3\) isomorphic to \(\text{Spin} (V,q)\). The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the relationship between symmetric composition algebras and triality. The symmetric composition algebras are characterized in terms of the given group action. With a few exceptions over the fields of two or three elements, the following is proved: A given composition algebra \((V,q)\in {\mathcal C}(q)\) is symmetric if and only if the stabilizer \(\text{Stab} (V,\square)\) of \((V,\square)\) is fixed by \(\theta\), where \(\theta\) is the natural automorphism of order 3 in the group \(O(q)^3\). In the exceptional case \(|F|\leq 3\), \(\dim V=2\) and \(q\) isotropic, \(\text{Stab}(V,*)\) is always fixed by \(\theta\). Moreover, the author relates the triality automorphisms of \(\text{Spin} (V,q)\) in the case \(\dim V=8\) induced by different symmetric composition algebras.