The sextonions and \(E_{7\frac12}\) (Q2369431)

Some remarkable dimension formulas for the exceptional series of complex simple Lie algebras were proposed by \textit{P.~Deligne} [C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sér. I, Math. 322, No. 5, 427--432 (2006; Zbl 0910.22008)]. Several authors found a ``hole'' in this series between \(E_7\) and \(E_8\) that should correspond to a six dimensional algebra between the quaternions and the octonions. It turns out, as shown by \textit{M. Racine} [J. Algebra 30, 155--180 (1974; Zbl 0282.17009)], that the maximal subalgebras of the complex octonion algebras are all six dimensional. Actually, there is only one, up to conjugation by automorphisms, such a maximal subalgebra, which is termed the algebra of sextonions. In the paper under review, the sextonions are used to expand Freudenthal's magic square with the addition of a row and a column which contain Lie algebras which are not simple, but behave almost as if there were so. This, in particular, fills the hole mentioned above. But the paper contains much more information. New interpretations of the adjoint variety of the exceptional group \(G_2\) are given, decomposition and dimension formulas are obtained, and some projective varieties naturally defined in terms of the sextonions are studied.