The Unknown Subgroup of Aut(E₈)

Publication date 16 September 2017

Abstract: The

E_{8}

lattice has been thoroughly studied for more than a century and nearly all the maximal subgroups of

W (E_{8})

have been described-all except

2 A_{9}

. We will show that

2 A_{9}

has simple descriptions from three different perspectives: looking at

E_{8} / 2 E_{8}

; looking at the lattice's norm 2 vectors; and looking at its norm 4 vectors. Two of the three descriptions are especially simple:

2 A_{9}

stabilizes a partition of the 2160 norm 4 vectors into nine scale copies of

E_{8}

; and

2 A_{9}

stabilizes a partition of the 135 isotropic points of

E_{8} / 2 E_{8}

into nine disjoint isotropic 4-spaces of 15 points each (so the well-known known isomorphism

A_{8}

c o n g

L_{4}

(2) is visible within

E_{8}

.)

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