Integral forms of Kac-Moody groups and Eisenstein series in low dimensional supergravity theories

Abstract

Kac-Moody groups $G$ over $\mathbb{R}$ have been conjectured to occur as symmetry groups of supergravities in dimensions less than 3, and their integer forms $G(\mathbb{Z})$ are conjecturally U-duality groups. Mathematical descriptions of $G(\mathbb{Z})$, due to Tits, are functorial and not amenable to computation or applications. We construct Kac-Moody groups over $\mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{Z}$ using an analog of Chevalley's constructions in finite dimensions and Garland's constructions in the affine case. We extend a construction of Eisenstein series on finite dimensional semisimple algebraic groups using representation theory, which appeared in the context of superstring theory, to general Kac-Moody groups. This coincides with a generalization of Garland's Eisenstein series on affine Kac-Moody groups to general Kac-Moody groups and includes Eisenstein series on $E_{10}$ and $E_{11}$. For finite dimensional groups, Eisenstein series encode the quantum corrections in string theory and supergravity theories. Their Kac-Moody analogs will likely also play an important part in string theory, though their roles are not yet understood.