Freudenthal Duality in Gravity: from Groups of Type E7 to Pre-Homogeneous Spaces

Abstract

Freudenthal duality can be defined as an anti-involutive, non-linear map acting on symplectic spaces. It was introduced in four-dimensional Maxwell-Einstein theories coupled to a non-linear sigma model of scalar fields. In this short review, I will consider its relation to the U-duality Lie groups of type E7 in extended supergravity theories, and comment on the relation between the Hessian of the black hole entropy and the pseudo-Euclidean, rigid special (pseudo)Kaehler metric of the pre-homogeneous spaces associated to the U-orbits.