English

The Octonions

Rings and Algebras 2011-09-28 v4 High Energy Physics - Theory History and Overview Quantum Algebra Representation Theory

Abstract

The octonions are the largest of the four normed division algebras. While somewhat neglected due to their nonassociativity, they stand at the crossroads of many interesting fields of mathematics. Here we describe them and their relation to Clifford algebras and spinors, Bott periodicity, projective and Lorentzian geometry, Jordan algebras, and the exceptional Lie groups. We also touch upon their applications in quantum logic, special relativity and supersymmetry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0105155,
  title  = {The Octonions},
  author = {John C. Baez},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0105155},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

56 pages LaTeX, 11 Postscript Figures, some small corrections