English

$E_8$-singularity, invariant theory and modular forms

Number Theory 2020-11-02 v6 Commutative Algebra Algebraic Geometry Representation Theory

Abstract

As an algebraic surface, the equation of E8E_8-singularity x5+y3+z2=0x^5+y^3+z^2=0 can be obtained from a quotient CY/SL(2,13)C_Y/\text{SL}(2, 13) over the modular curve X(13)X(13), where YCP5Y \subset \mathbb{CP}^5 is a complete intersection curve given by a system of SL(2,13)\text{SL}(2, 13)-invariant polynomials and CYC_Y is a cone over YY. It is different from the Kleinian singularity C2/Γ\mathbb{C}^2/\Gamma, where Γ\Gamma is the binary icosahedral group. This gives a negative answer to Arnol'd and Brieskorn's questions about the mysterious relation between the icosahedron and E8E_8, i.e., the E8E_8-singularity is not necessarily the Kleinian icosahedral singularity. In particular, the equation of E8E_8-singularity possesses infinitely many kinds of distinct modular parametrizations, and there are infinitely many kinds of distinct constructions of the E8E_8-singularity. They form a variation of the E8E_8-singularity structure over the modular curve X(13)X(13), for which we give its algebraic version, geometric version, jj-function version and the version of Poincar\'{e} homology 33-sphere as well as its higher dimensional lifting, i.e., Milnor's exotic 77-sphere. Moreover, there are variations of Q18Q_{18} and E20E_{20}-singularity structures over X(13)X(13). Thus, three different algebraic surfaces, the equations of E8E_8, Q18Q_{18} and E20E_{20}-singularities can be realized from the same quotients CY/SL(2,13)C_Y/\text{SL}(2, 13) over the modular curve X(13)X(13) and have the same modular parametrizations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2009.03688,
  title  = {$E_8$-singularity, invariant theory and modular forms},
  author = {Lei Yang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.03688},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

48 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1704.01735, arXiv:1511.05278

R2 v1 2026-06-23T18:23:20.610Z