The Geroch Group in One Dimension

Abstract

We study the dimensional reduction of general relativity to a single null spacetime dimension. The dimensionally reduced theory is a theory of six scalar fields governed by three constraints. It has an infinite dimensional symmetry which is an enhanced version of the Geroch group. To get a local action of the symmetry on solution space, we need to introduce an infinite tower of new fields and new constraints. The symmetry appears to be a hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebra, with the caveat that some of the defining relations of the hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebra are only checked ``order by order'' on the infinite tower of new fields. This is a very mysterious Lie algebra with no known geometrical interpretation. It is not even clear how to enumerate a basis. We explore this problem using the action of the algebra on solution space and find an intriguing connection to the representation theory of the symmetric group. The symmetry described here might be related to the dynamics of gravity near spacelike singularities.