An octonionic formulation of the M-theory algebra

We give an octonionic formulation of the N = 1 supersymmetry algebra in D = 11, including all brane charges. We write this in terms of a novel outer product, which takes a pair of elements of the division algebra A and returns a real linear operator on A. More generally, with this product comes the power to rewrite any linear operation on R^n (n = 1,2,4,8) in terms of multiplication in the n-dimensional division algebra A. Finally, we consider the reinterpretation of the D = 11 supersymmetry algebra as an octonionic algebra in D = 4 and the truncation to division subalgebras

Division algebras of prime degree with infinite genus

The genus gen(D) of a finite-dimensional central division algebra D over a field F is defined as the collection of classes [D'] in the Brauer group Br(F), where D' is a central division F-algebra having the same maximal subfields as D. For any prime p, we construct a division algebra of degree p with infinite genus. Moreover, we show that there exists a field K such that there are infinitely many nonisomorphic central division K-algebras of degree p, and any two such algebras have the same genus.Comment: 4 page