Triality for homogeneous polynomials (Q2240511)

This paper deals with the study of the effect of triality on the ring of ad-invariant polynomials on the Lie algebra \(\emph{so}(8)\), through the perspective of Hitchin systems. Inspired by the triality induced between three Hitchin fibrations through the triality of Lie groups, Lie algebras and their rings of invariant polynomials, the authors dedicate this note to fill a gap they found in the literature when looking for explicit descriptions of correspondences between homogenous bases of the rings of invariant polynomials of Lie algebras arising from the triality of \(SO(8, \mathbb{C})\). They are concerned here with the action of the triality automorphism on the corresponding moduli spaces of Higgs bundles, which has been previously studied by other authors both from a string theory perspective as well as from a mathematics perspective. Although this result can be deduced through topological methods (e.g., via the formulae for the Pontrjagin and Euler classes of the spin bundles on an orientable, spinnable \(8\)-manifold [\textit{H. B. Lawson jun.} and \textit{M.-L. Michelsohn}, Spin geometry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1989; Zbl 0688.57001)]) the authors take here a perspective they have not found elsewhere, and which fits naturally within the study of Higgs bundles. Through the triality of \(SO(8,\mathbb{C})\), they study three interrelated homogeneous basis of the ring of invariant polynomials of Lie algebras, which give the basis of three Hitchin fibrations, and identify the explicit automorphisms that relate them. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to the subject. In Section 2 the authors give an overview of the group-theoretic construction of triality. Section 3 is devoted to triality as an automorphism. In order to understand the appearance of triality via Higgs bundles and the Hitchin fibration, the authors define these subgroups as fixed points of an automorphism to which they turn their attention and whose action on the moduli space of Higgs bundles are studied in the following sections. Sections 4 deals with triality and homogeneous invariant polynomials.