A 3-Calabi-Yau algebra with G_2 symmetry constructed from the octonions

Abstract

This paper concerns an associative graded algebra A that is the enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra with exponential growth. The algebra A is 3-Calabi-Yau. There is a Z-form of A so for every field k there is an algebra A_k. An algebraic group of type G_2 acts as degree-preserving automorphisms of A. The algebra A is generated by 7 elements modulo 7 homogeneous quadratic relations. It can be constructed from the octonions; the same construction applied to the quaternions produces the commutative polynomial ring in 3 variables. If V is the 7-dimensional irreducible representation of the complex semisimple Lie algebra of type G_2, then A is isomorphic to the tensor algebra TV modulo the ideal generated by the submodule of V \otimes V that is isomorphic to V. A can be defined as a superpotential algebra derived from a 3-form on R^7 having an open GL(7) orbit and compact isotropy group. Classification of the finite-dimensional representations of A is equivalent to classifying square matrices Y with purely imaginary octonion entries such that the imaginary part of Y^2 is zero. We show that A is a Koszul algebra. Its Koszul dual is a quotient of the exterior algebra on 7 variables, has Hilbert series 1+7t+7t^2+t^3, and is a symmetric Frobenius algebra. Although not noetherian, A is graded coherent (proved by Piontkovski).