There is no "Theory of Everything" inside E8
Representation Theory
2010-12-15 v3 High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
We analyze certain subgroups of real and complex forms of the Lie group E8, and deduce that any "Theory of Everything" obtained by embedding the gauge groups of gravity and the Standard Model into a real or complex form of E8 lacks certain representation-theoretic properties required by physical reality. The arguments themselves amount to representation theory of Lie algebras in the spirit of Dynkin's classic papers and are written for mathematicians.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0905.2658,
title = {There is no "Theory of Everything" inside E8},
author = {Jacques Distler and Skip Garibaldi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0905.2658},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
Final version, to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physics. The main difference, from the previous version, is the creation of a new section, containing a response to Lisi's objections to our work