Kac--Moody groups and automorphic forms in low dimensional supergravity theories

Abstract

Kac--Moody groups $G$ over $\mathbb{R}$ have been conjectured to occur as symmetry groups of supergravity theories dimensionally reduced to dimensions less than 3, and their integral forms $G(\mathbb{Z})$ conjecturally encode quantized symmetries. In this review paper, we briefly introduce the conjectural symmetries of Kac--Moody groups in supergravity as well as the known evidence for these conjectures. We describe constructions of Kac--Moody groups over $\R$ and $\Z$ using certain choices of fundamental modules that are considered to have physical relevance. Eisenstein series on certain finite dimensional algebraic groups are known to encode quantum corrections in the low energy limit of superstring theories. We describe briefly how the construction of Eisenstein series extends to Kac--Moody groups. The constant terms of Eisenstein series on $E_9$, $E_{10}$ and $E_{11}$ are predicted to encode perturbative string theory corrections.