\(\mathbb{O} P^2\) bundles in \(M\)-theory (Q846257)

The paper provides a geometrical and topological explanation of the observation [\textit{P. Ramond}, ``Algebraic dreams'', in Meeting on Strings and Gravity: Tying the Forces Together, Brussels, Belgium, 19-21 October 2001 (arXiv:hep-th/0112261) (2001)] that the massless multiplet of 11-dimensional supergravity can be generated from the decomposition of a certain representation of the exceptional Lie group \(F_4\) into representations of its maximal compact subgroup Spin(9): It studies Cayley plane, \(\mathbb O P^2\), bundles over 11-manifolds \(Y^{11}\). The lift of the topological terms gives constraints ont the cohomology of \(Y^{11}\). Topological structures and genera on \(Y^{11}\) are related to corresponding ones on the total space \(M^{27}\), which might provide a candidate for ``bosonic M-theory''.