Missing modules, the gnome Lie algebra and \(E_{10}\) (Q1296247)

The authors study the embedding of Kac-Moody algebras into Borcherds (or generalized Kac-Moody) algebras which can be realized as Lie algebras of physical states of a completely compactified bosonic string. Having such an embedding \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\subset \mathfrak{g}_{\Lambda}\) one can look at the group of missing states \(\mathcal{M}=\mathfrak{g}_{\Lambda}\ominus \mathfrak{g}(A)\). Under the \(\mathfrak{g}(A)\) the latter decomposes into a direct sum of highest or lowest weight modules called ``missing modules''. Some knowledge about \(\mathcal{M}\) can be used, for example, for deriving root multiplicities or Borcherds algebras. The authors show that in their case the lowest weights of ``missing modules'' can be understood in terms of certain polarization states of the associated string. They analyze in detail two examples, in the first one the maximal Kac-Moody subalgebra is \(A_1\) and in the second one the maximal Kac-Moody subalgebra is the hyperbolic algebra \(E_{10}\). In particular, in the second example they calculated all imaginary simple roots at level 1 and conjectured that these are the only imaginary simple roots.