A Moonshine path for \(5A\) and associated lattices of ranks 8 and 16. (Q716467)

In the Monster simple group \(\mathbb M\), there are \(9\) conjugacy classes of the products \(xy\) of two \(2A\)-involutions \(x,y\). The correspondence between the \(9\) nodes of the extended \(E_8\)-diagram and those \(9\) conjugacy classes was first noticed by \textit{J. McKay} [Finite groups, Santa Cruz Conf. 1979, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 37, 183--186 (1980; Zbl 0451.05026)]. The structure of the centralizers \(C_{\mathbb M}(x,y,z)\), where \(z\) is a \(2B\)-involution commuting with \(x\) and \(y\), was studied by \textit{G. Glauberman} and \textit{S. P. Norton} [Proceedings on Moonshine and related topics. CRM Proc. Lect. Notes. 30, 37--42 (2001; Zbl 0999.20011)]. The paper under review is a part of the program initiated by the authors [in J. Pure Appl. Algebra 215, No. 5, 927--948 (2011; Zbl 1213.17028)], where the \(3C\) case was discussed. In the program the authors intend to explain the relation between the extended \(E_8\)-diagram and the Monster by using the theories of lattices, groups and vertex operator algebras. The \(5A\) case is treated in this paper. Let \(Q=M+N\) be a sublattice of the Leech lattice \(\Lambda\) denoted by \(DIH_{10}(16)\) in the authors' previous paper [Pure Appl. Math. Q. 7, No. 3, 621--743 (2011; Zbl 1247.11092)]. Thus \(M\cong N\cong\sqrt 2E_8\), the rank of \(Q\) is \(16\) and \(Q^*/Q\cong 5^4\), where \(Q^*\) is the dual lattice of \(Q\). Let \(t_M\) (resp. \(t_N\)) be an orthogonal transformation of \(\Lambda\) defined by \(-1\) on \(M\) (resp. \(N\)) and \(1\) on the orthogonal complement of \(M\) (resp. \(N\)) in \(\Lambda\). Then the subgroup \(D\) of \(O(\Lambda)\) generated by \(t_M\) and \(t_N\) is a dihedral group of order \(10\). The orthogonal complement \(R\) of \(Q\) in \(\Lambda\) is of rank \(8\) and \(R^*/R\cong 5^4\). Such lattices \(Q\) and \(R\) are unique up to isometry and \(O(\Lambda)\) acts transitively on the set of sublattices of \(\Lambda\) isometric to \(Q\) (resp. \(R\)). The authors calculate the normalizer and the centralizer of \(D\) in \(O(\Lambda)\). In fact, \(N_{O(\Lambda)}(D)/D\) is isomorphic to \(O^+(4,5)\) and \(C_{O(\Lambda)}(D)\) is isomorphic to \((\mathrm{SL}(2,5)\circ\mathrm{SL}(2,5)):2\). As to the relation with the Monster, it is shown that there exist two \(2A\)-involutions \(x,y\) and a \(2B\)-involution \(z\) such that \(xy\) is a \(5A\)-element, \(z\) commutes with \(x\) and \(y\), and \(C_{O(\Lambda)}(D)/O_2(C_{O(\Lambda)}(D))\) is a homomorphic image of \(C_{\mathbb M}(x,y,z)\). The cases \(3A\) and \(6A\) are also studied by the authors [J. Algebra 379, 85-112 (2013; Zbl 1304.20024)].