A quick recap of last time. We are trying to make sense of affine varieties over the elusive field with one element $\mathbb{F}_1$, which by Grothendieck’s scheme-philosophy should determine a functor

$\mathbf{nano}(N)~:~\mathbf{abelian} \rightarrow \mathbf{sets} \qquad A \mapsto N(A)$

from finite Abelian groups to sets, typically giving pretty small sets $N(A)$. Using the F_un mantra that $\mathbb{Z}$ should be an algebra over $\mathbb{F}_1$ any $\mathbb{F}_1$-variety determines an integral scheme by extension of scalars, as well as a complex variety (by extending further to $\mathbb{C}$). We have already connected the complex variety with the original functor into a gadget that is a couple $~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R))$ where $R$ is the coordinate ring of a complex affine variety $X_R$ having the property that every element of $N(A)$ can be realized as a $\mathbb{C} A$-point of $X_R$. Ringtheoretically this simply means that to every element $x \in N(A)$ there is an algebra map $N_x~:~R \rightarrow \mathbb{C} A$.

Today we will determine which gadgets determine an integral scheme, and do so uniquely, and call them the sought for affine schemes over $\mathbb{F}_1$.

Let’s begin with our example : $\mathbf{nano}(N) = \underline{\mathbb{G}}_m$ being the forgetful functor, that is $N(A)=A$ for every finite Abelian group, then the complex algebra $R= \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]$ partners up to form a gadget because to every element $a \in N(A)=A$ there is a natural algebra map $N_a~:~\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}] \rightarrow \mathbb{C} A$ defined by sending $x \mapsto e_a$. Clearly, there is an obvious integral form of this complex algebra, namely $\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]$ but we have already seen that this algebra represents the mini-functor

$\mathbf{min}(\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}])~:~\mathbf{abelian} \rightarrow \mathbf{sets} \qquad A \mapsto (\mathbb{Z} A)^*$

and that the group of units $(\mathbb{Z} A)^*$ of the integral group ring $\mathbb{Z} A$ usually is a lot bigger than $N(A)=A$. So, perhaps there is another less obvious $\mathbb{Z}$-algebra $S$ doing a much better job at approximating $N$? That is, if we can formulate this more precisely…

In general, every $\mathbb{Z}$-algebra $S$ defines a gadget $\mathbf{gadget}(S) = (\mathbf{mini}(S),\mathbf{maxi}(S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C}))$ with the obvious (that is, extension of scalars) evaluation map

$\mathbf{mini}(S)(A) = Hom_{\mathbb{Z}-alg}(S, \mathbb{Z} A) \rightarrow Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C}, \mathbb{C} A) = \mathbf{maxi}(S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C})(A)$

Right, so how might one express the fact that the integral affine scheme $X_T$ with integral algebra $T$ is the ‘best’ integral approximation of a gadget $~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R))$. Well, to begin its representing functor should at least contain the information given by $N$, that is, $\mathbf{nano}(N)$ is a sub-functor of $\mathbf{mini}(T)$ (meaning that for every finite Abelian group $A$ we have a natural inclusion $N(A) \subset Hom_{\mathbb{Z}-alg}(T, \mathbb{Z} A)$). As to the “best”-part, we must express that all other candidates factor through $T$. That is, suppose we have an integral algebra $S$ and a morphism of gadgets (as defined last time)

$f~:~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R)) \rightarrow \mathbf{gadget}(S) = (\mathbf{mini}(S),\mathbf{maxi}(S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C}))$

then there ought to be $\mathbb{Z}$-algebra morphism $T \rightarrow S$ such that the above map $f$ factors through an induced gadget-map $\mathbf{gadget}(T) \rightarrow \mathbf{gadget}(S)$.

Fine, but is this definition good enough in our trivial example? In other words, is the “obvious” integral ring $\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]$ the best integral choice for approximating the forgetful functor $N=\underline{\mathbb{G}}_m$? Well, take any finitely generated integral algebra $S$, then saying that there is a morphism of gadgets from $~(\underline{\mathbb{G}}_m,\mathbf{maxi}(\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}])$ to $\mathbf{gadget}(S)$ means that there is a $\mathbb{C}$-algebra map $\psi~:~S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C} \rightarrow \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]$ such that for every finite Abelian group $A$ we have a commuting diagram

$\xymatrix{A \ar[rr] \ar[d]_e & & Hom_{\mathbb{Z}-alg}(S, \mathbb{Z} A) \ar[d] \\ Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}],\mathbb{C} A) \ar[rr]^{- \circ \psi} & & Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C}, \mathbb{C} A)}$

Here, $e$ is the natural evaluation map defined before sending a group-element $a \in A$ to the algebra map defined by $x \mapsto e_a$ and the vertical map on the right-hand side is extensions by scalars. From this data we must be able to show that the image of the algebra map

$\xymatrix{S \ar[r]^{i} & S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C} \ar[r]^{\psi} & \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]}$

is contained in the integral subalgebra $\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]$. So, take any generator $z$ of $S$ then its image $\psi(z) \in \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]$ is a Laurent polynomial of degree say $d$ (that is, $\psi(z) = c_{-d} x^{-d} + \ldots c_{-1} x^{-1} + c_0 + c_1 x + \ldots + c_d x^d$ with all coefficients a priori in $\mathbb{C}$ and we need to talk them into $\mathbb{Z}$).

Now comes the basic trick : take a cyclic group $A=C_N$ of order $N > d$, then the above commuting diagram applied to the generator of $C_N$ (the evaluation of which is the natural projection map $\pi~:~\mathbb{C}[x.x^{-1}] \rightarrow \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]/(x^N-1) = \mathbb{C} C_N$) gives us the commuting diagram

$\xymatrix{S \ar[r] \ar[d] & S \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} \mathbb{C} \ar[r]^{\psi} & \mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}] \ar[d]^{\pi} \\ \mathbb{Z} C_n = \frac{\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]}{(x^N-1)} \ar[rr]^j & & \frac{\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]}{(x^N-1)}}$

where the horizontal map $j$ is the natural inclusion map. Tracing $z \in S$ along the diagram we see that indeed all coefficients of $\psi(z)$ have to be integers! Applying the same argument to the other generators of $S$ (possibly for varying values of N) we see that , indeed, $\psi(S) \subset \mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]$ and hence that $\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}]$ is the best integral approximation for $\underline{\mathbb{G}}_m$.

That is, we have our first example of an affine variety over the field with one element $\mathbb{F}_1$ : $~(\underline{\mathbb{G}}_m,\mathbf{maxi}(\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]) \rightarrow \mathbf{gadget}(\mathbb{Z}[x,x^{-1}])$.

What makes this example work is that the infinite group $\mathbb{Z}$ (of which the complex group-algebra is the algebra $\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]$) has enough finite Abelian group-quotients. In other words, $\mathbb{F}_1$ doesn’t see $\mathbb{Z}$ but rather its profinite completion $\hat{\mathbb{Z}} = \underset{\leftarrow} \mathbb{Z}/N\mathbb{Z}$… (to be continued when we’ll consider noncommutative $\mathbb{F}_1$-schemes)

In general, an affine $\mathbb{F}_1$-scheme is a gadget with morphism of gadgets
$~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R)) \rightarrow \mathbf{gadget}(S)$ provided that the integral algebra $S$ is the best integral approximation in the sense made explicit before. This rounds up our first attempt to understand the Connes-Consani approach to define geometry over $\mathbb{F}_1$ apart from one important omission : we have only considered functors to $\mathbf{sets}$, whereas it is crucial in the Connes-Consani paper to consider more generally functors to graded sets. In the final part of this series we’ll explain what that’s all about.

Last time we have seen how an affine $\mathbb{C}$-algebra R gives us a maxi-functor (because the associated sets are typically huge)

$\mathbf{maxi}(R)~:~\mathbf{abelian} \rightarrow \mathbf{sets} \qquad A \mapsto Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(R, \mathbb{C} A)$

Substantially smaller sets are produced from finitely generated $\mathbb{Z}$-algebras S (therefore called mini-functors)

$\mathbf{mini}(S)~:~\mathbf{abelian} \rightarrow \mathbf{sets} \qquad A \mapsto Hom_{\mathbb{Z}-alg}(S, \mathbb{Z} A)$

Both these functors are ‘represented’ by existing geometrical objects, for a maxi-functor by the complex affine variety $X_R = \mathbf{max}(R)$ (the set of maximal ideals of the algebra R) with complex coordinate ring R and for a mini-functor by the integral affine scheme $X_S = \mathbf{spec}(S)$ (the set of all prime ideals of the algebra S).

The ‘philosophy’ of F_un mathematics is that an object over this virtual field with one element $\mathbb{F}_1$ records the essence of possibly complicated complex- or integral- objects in a small combinatorial thing.

For example, an n-dimensional complex vectorspace $\mathbb{C}^{n}$ has as its integral form a lattice of rank n $\mathbb{Z}^{\oplus n}$. The corresponding $\mathbb{F}_1$-objects only records the dimension n, so it is a finite set consisting of n elements (think of them as the set of base-vectors of the vectorspace).

Similarly, all base-changes of the complex vectorspace $\mathbb{C}^n$ are given by invertible matrices with complex coefficients $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$. Of these base-changes, the only ones leaving the integral lattice $\mathbb{Z}^{\oplus n}$ intact are the matrices having all their entries integers and their determinant equal to $\pm 1$, that is the group $GL_n(\mathbb{Z})$. Of these integral matrices, the only ones that shuffle the base-vectors around are the permutation matrices, that is the group $S_n$ of all possible ways to permute the n base-vectors. In fact, this example also illustrates Tits’ original motivation to introduce $\mathbb{F}_1$ : the finite group $S_n$ is the Weyl-group of the complex Lie group $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$.

So, we expect a geometric $\mathbb{F}_1$-object to determine a much smaller functor from finite abelian groups to sets, and, therefore we call it a nano-functor

$\mathbf{nano}(N)~:~\mathbf{abelian} \rightarrow \mathbf{sets} \qquad A \mapsto N(A)$

but as we do not know yet what the correct geometric object might be we will only assume for the moment that it is a subfunctor of some mini-functor $\mathbf{mini}(S)$. That is, for every finite abelian group A we have an inclusion of sets $N(A) \subset Hom_{\mathbb{Z}-alg}(S,\mathbb{Z} A)$ in such a way that these inclusions are compatible with morphisms. Again, take pen and paper and you are bound to discover the correct definition of what is called a natural transformation, that is, a ‘map’ between the two functors $\mathbf{nano}(N) \rightarrow \mathbf{mini}(S)$.

Right, now to make sense of our virtual F_un geometrical object $\mathbf{nano}(N)$ we have to connect it to properly existing complex- and/or integral-geometrical objects.

Let us define a gadget to be a couple $~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R))$ consisting of a nano- and a maxi-functor together with a ‘map’ (that is, a natural transformation) between them

$e~:~\mathbf{nano}(N) \rightarrow \mathbf{maxi}(R)$

The idea of this map is that it visualizes the elements of the set $N(A)$ as $\mathbb{C} A$-points of the complex variety $X_R$ (that is, as a collection of $o(A)$ points of $X_R$, where $o(A)$ is the number of elements of $A$).

In the example we used last time (the forgetful functor) with $N(A)=A$ any group-element $a \in A$ is mapped to the algebra map $\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}] \rightarrow \mathbb{C} A~,~x \mapsto e_a$ in $\mathbf{maxi}(\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}])$. On the geometry side, the points of the variety associated to $\mathbb{C} A$ are all algebra maps $\mathbb{C} A \rightarrow \mathbb{C}$, that is, the $o(A)$ characters ${ \chi_1,\ldots,\chi_{o(A)} }$. Therefore, a group-element $a \in A$ is mapped to the $\mathbb{C} A$-point of the complex variety $\mathbb{C}^* = X_{\mathbb{C}[x,x^{-1}]}$ consisting of all character-values at $a$ : ${ \chi_1(a),\ldots,\chi_{o(A)}(g) }$.

In mathematics we do not merely consider objects (such as the gadgets defined just now), but also the morphisms between these objects. So, what might be a morphism between two gadgets

$~(\mathbf{nano}(N),\mathbf{maxi}(R)) \rightarrow (\mathbf{nano}(N’),\mathbf{maxi}(R’))$

Well, naturally it should be a ‘map’ (that is, a natural transformation) between the nano-functors $\phi~:~\mathbf{nano}(N) \rightarrow \mathbf{nano}(N’)$ together with a morphism between the complex varieties $X_R \rightarrow X_{R’}$ (or equivalently, an algebra morphism $\psi~:~R’ \rightarrow R$) such that the extra gadget-structure (the evaluation maps) are preserved.

That is, for every finite Abelian group $A$ we should have a commuting diagram of maps

$\xymatrix{N(A) \ar[rr]^{\phi(A)} \ar[d]^{e_N(A)} & & N'(A) \ar[d]^{e_{N’}(A)} \\ Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(R,\mathbb{C} A) \ar[rr]^{- \circ \psi} & & Hom_{\mathbb{C}-alg}(R’,\mathbb{C} A)}$

Not every gadget is a F_un variety though, for those should also have an integral form, that is, define a mini-functor. In fact, as we will see next time, an affine $\mathbb{F}_1$-variety is a gadget determining a unique mini-functor $\mathbf{mini}(S)$.

# what does the monster see?

The Monster is the largest of the 26 sporadic simple groups and has order

808 017 424 794 512 875 886 459 904 961 710 757 005 754 368 000 000 000

= 2^46 3^20 5^9 7^6 11^2 13^3 17 19 23 29 31 41 47 59 71.

It is not so much the size of its order that makes it hard to do actual calculations in the monster, but rather the dimensions of its smallest non-trivial irreducible representations (196 883 for the smallest, 21 296 876 for the next one, and so on).

In characteristic two there is an irreducible representation of one dimension less (196 882) which appears to be of great use to obtain information. For example, Robert Wilson used it to prove that The Monster is a Hurwitz group. This means that the Monster is generated by two elements g and h satisfying the relations

$g^2 = h^3 = (gh)^7 = 1$

Geometrically, this implies that the Monster is the automorphism group of a Riemann surface of genus g satisfying the Hurwitz bound 84(g-1)=#Monster. That is,

g=9619255057077534236743570297163223297687552000000001=42151199 * 293998543 * 776222682603828537142813968452830193

Or, in analogy with the Klein quartic which can be constructed from 24 heptagons in the tiling of the hyperbolic plane, there is a finite region of the hyperbolic plane, tiled with heptagons, from which we can construct this monster curve by gluing the boundary is a specific way so that we get a Riemann surface with exactly 9619255057077534236743570297163223297687552000000001 holes. This finite part of the hyperbolic tiling (consisting of #Monster/7 heptagons) we’ll call the empire of the monster and we’d love to describe it in more detail.

Look at the half-edges of all the heptagons in the empire (the picture above learns that every edge in cut in two by a blue geodesic). They are exactly #Monster such half-edges and they form a dessin d’enfant for the monster-curve.

If we label these half-edges by the elements of the Monster, then multiplication by g in the monster interchanges the two half-edges making up a heptagonal edge in the empire and multiplication by h in the monster takes a half-edge to the one encountered first by going counter-clockwise in the vertex of the heptagonal tiling. Because g and h generated the Monster, the dessin of the empire is just a concrete realization of the monster.

Because g is of order two and h is of order three, the two permutations they determine on the dessin, gives a group epimorphism $C_2 \ast C_3 = PSL_2(\mathbb{Z}) \rightarrow \mathbb{M}$ from the modular group $PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})$ onto the Monster-group.

In noncommutative geometry, the group-algebra of the modular group $\mathbb{C} PSL_2$ can be interpreted as the coordinate ring of a noncommutative manifold (because it is formally smooth in the sense of Kontsevich-Rosenberg or Cuntz-Quillen) and the group-algebra of the Monster $\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$ itself corresponds in this picture to a finite collection of ‘points’ on the manifold. Using this geometric viewpoint we can now ask the question What does the Monster see of the modular group?

To make sense of this question, let us first consider the commutative equivalent : what does a point P see of a commutative variety X?

Evaluation of polynomial functions in P gives us an algebra epimorphism $\mathbb{C}[X] \rightarrow \mathbb{C}$ from the coordinate ring of the variety $\mathbb{C}[X]$ onto $\mathbb{C}$ and the kernel of this map is the maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}_P$ of
$\mathbb{C}[X]$ consisting of all functions vanishing in P.

Equivalently, we can view the point $P= \mathbf{spec}~\mathbb{C}[X]/\mathfrak{m}_P$ as the scheme corresponding to the quotient $\mathbb{C}[X]/\mathfrak{m}_P$. Call this the 0-th formal neighborhood of the point P.

This sounds pretty useless, but let us now consider higher-order formal neighborhoods. Call the affine scheme $\mathbf{spec}~\mathbb{C}[X]/\mathfrak{m}_P^{n+1}$ the n-th forml neighborhood of P, then the first neighborhood, that is with coordinate ring $\mathbb{C}[X]/\mathfrak{m}_P^2$ gives us tangent-information. Alternatively, it gives the best linear approximation of functions near P.
The second neighborhood $\mathbb{C}[X]/\mathfrak{m}_P^3$ gives us the best quadratic approximation of function near P, etc. etc.

These successive quotients by powers of the maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}_P$ form a system of algebra epimorphisms

$\ldots \frac{\mathbb{C}[X]}{\mathfrak{m}_P^{n+1}} \rightarrow \frac{\mathbb{C}[X]}{\mathfrak{m}_P^{n}} \rightarrow \ldots \ldots \rightarrow \frac{\mathbb{C}[X]}{\mathfrak{m}_P^{2}} \rightarrow \frac{\mathbb{C}[X]}{\mathfrak{m}_P} = \mathbb{C}$

and its inverse limit $\underset{\leftarrow}{lim}~\frac{\mathbb{C}[X]}{\mathfrak{m}_P^{n}} = \hat{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$ is the completion of the local ring in P and contains all the infinitesimal information (to any order) of the variety X in a neighborhood of P. That is, this completion $\hat{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$ contains all information that P can see of the variety X.

In case P is a smooth point of X, then X is a manifold in a neighborhood of P and then this completion
$\hat{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P}$ is isomorphic to the algebra of formal power series $\mathbb{C}[[ x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_d ]]$ where the $x_i$ form a local system of coordinates for the manifold X near P.

Right, after this lengthy recollection, back to our question what does the monster see of the modular group? Well, we have an algebra epimorphism

$\pi~:~\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z}) \rightarrow \mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$

and in analogy with the commutative case, all information the Monster can gain from the modular group is contained in the $\mathfrak{m}$-adic completion

$\widehat{\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})}_{\mathfrak{m}} = \underset{\leftarrow}{lim}~\frac{\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})}{\mathfrak{m}^n}$

where $\mathfrak{m}$ is the kernel of the epimorphism $\pi$ sending the two free generators of the modular group $PSL_2(\mathbb{Z}) = C_2 \ast C_3$ to the permutations g and h determined by the dessin of the pentagonal tiling of the Monster’s empire.

As it is a hopeless task to determine the Monster-empire explicitly, it seems even more hopeless to determine the kernel $\mathfrak{m}$ let alone the completed algebra… But, (surprise) we can compute $\widehat{\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})}_{\mathfrak{m}}$ as explicitly as in the commutative case we have $\hat{\mathcal{O}}_{X,P} \simeq \mathbb{C}[[ x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_d ]]$ for a point P on a manifold X.

Here the details : the quotient $\mathfrak{m}/\mathfrak{m}^2$ has a natural structure of $\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$-bimodule. The group-algebra of the monster is a semi-simple algebra, that is, a direct sum of full matrix-algebras of sizes corresponding to the dimensions of the irreducible monster-representations. That is,

$\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M} \simeq \mathbb{C} \oplus M_{196883}(\mathbb{C}) \oplus M_{21296876}(\mathbb{C}) \oplus \ldots \ldots \oplus M_{258823477531055064045234375}(\mathbb{C})$

with exactly 194 components (the number of irreducible Monster-representations). For any $\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$-bimodule $M$ one can form the tensor-algebra

$T_{\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}}(M) = \mathbb{C} \mathbb{M} \oplus M \oplus (M \otimes_{\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}} M) \oplus (M \otimes_{\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}} M \otimes_{\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}} M) \oplus \ldots \ldots$

and applying the formal neighborhood theorem for formally smooth algebras (such as $\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})$) due to Joachim Cuntz (left) and Daniel Quillen (right) we have an isomorphism of algebras

$\widehat{\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})}_{\mathfrak{m}} \simeq \widehat{T_{\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}}(\mathfrak{m}/\mathfrak{m}^2)}$

where the right-hand side is the completion of the tensor-algebra (at the unique graded maximal ideal) of the $\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$-bimodule $\mathfrak{m}/\mathfrak{m}^2$, so we’d better describe this bimodule explicitly.

Okay, so what’s a bimodule over a semisimple algebra of the form $S=M_{n_1}(\mathbb{C}) \oplus \ldots \oplus M_{n_k}(\mathbb{C})$? Well, a simple S-bimodule must be either (1) a factor $M_{n_i}(\mathbb{C})$ with all other factors acting trivially or (2) the full space of rectangular matrices $M_{n_i \times n_j}(\mathbb{C})$ with the factor $M_{n_i}(\mathbb{C})$ acting on the left, $M_{n_j}(\mathbb{C})$ acting on the right and all other factors acting trivially.

That is, any S-bimodule can be represented by a quiver (that is a directed graph) on k vertices (the number of matrix components) with a loop in vertex i corresponding to each simple factor of type (1) and a directed arrow from i to j corresponding to every simple factor of type (2).

That is, for the Monster, the bimodule $\mathfrak{m}/\mathfrak{m}^2$ is represented by a quiver on 194 vertices and now we only have to determine how many loops and arrows there are at or between vertices.

Using Morita equivalences and standard representation theory of quivers it isn’t exactly rocket science to determine that the number of arrows between the vertices corresponding to the irreducible Monster-representations $S_i$ and $S_j$ is equal to

$dim_{\mathbb{C}}~Ext^1_{\mathbb{C} PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})}(S_i,S_j)-\delta_{ij}$

Now, I’ve been wasting a lot of time already here explaining what representations of the modular group have to do with quivers (see for example here or some other posts in the same series) and for quiver-representations we all know how to compute Ext-dimensions in terms of the Euler-form applied to the dimension vectors.

Right, so for every Monster-irreducible $S_i$ we have to determine the corresponding dimension-vector $~(a_1,a_2;b_1,b_2,b_3)$ for the quiver

$\xymatrix{ & & & & \vtx{b_1} \\ \vtx{a_1} \ar[rrrru]^(.3){B_{11}} \ar[rrrrd]^(.3){B_{21}} \ar[rrrrddd]_(.2){B_{31}} & & & & \\ & & & & \vtx{b_2} \\ \vtx{a_2} \ar[rrrruuu]_(.7){B_{12}} \ar[rrrru]_(.7){B_{22}} \ar[rrrrd]_(.7){B_{23}} & & & & \\ & & & & \vtx{b_3}}$

Now the dimensions $a_i$ are the dimensions of the +/-1 eigenspaces for the order 2 element g in the representation and the $b_i$ are the dimensions of the eigenspaces for the order 3 element h. So, we have to determine to which conjugacy classes g and h belong, and from Wilson’s paper mentioned above these are classes 2B and 3B in standard Atlas notation.

So, for each of the 194 irreducible Monster-representations we look up the character values at 2B and 3B (see below for the first batch of those) and these together with the dimensions determine the dimension vector $~(a_1,a_2;b_1,b_2,b_3)$.

For example take the 196883-dimensional irreducible. Its 2B-character is 275 and the 3B-character is 53. So we are looking for a dimension vector such that $a_1+a_2=196883, a_1-275=a_2$ and $b_1+b_2+b_3=196883, b_1-53=b_2=b_3$ giving us for that representation the dimension vector of the quiver above $~(98579,98304,65663,65610,65610)$.

Okay, so for each of the 194 irreducibles $S_i$ we have determined a dimension vector $~(a_1(i),a_2(i);b_1(i),b_2(i),b_3(i))$, then standard quiver-representation theory asserts that the number of loops in the vertex corresponding to $S_i$ is equal to

$dim(S_i)^2 + 1 – a_1(i)^2-a_2(i)^2-b_1(i)^2-b_2(i)^2-b_3(i)^2$

and that the number of arrows from vertex $S_i$ to vertex $S_j$ is equal to

$dim(S_i)dim(S_j) – a_1(i)a_1(j)-a_2(i)a_2(j)-b_1(i)b_1(j)-b_2(i)b_2(j)-b_3(i)b_3(j)$

This data then determines completely the $\mathbb{C} \mathbb{M}$-bimodule $\mathfrak{m}/\mathfrak{m}^2$ and hence the structure of the completion $\widehat{\mathbb{C} PSL_2}_{\mathfrak{m}}$ containing all information the Monster can gain from the modular group.

But then, one doesn’t have to go for the full regular representation of the Monster. Any faithful permutation representation will do, so we might as well go for the one of minimal dimension.

That one is known to correspond to the largest maximal subgroup of the Monster which is known to be a two-fold extension $2.\mathbb{B}$ of the Baby-Monster. The corresponding permutation representation is of dimension 97239461142009186000 and decomposes into Monster-irreducibles

$S_1 \oplus S_2 \oplus S_4 \oplus S_5 \oplus S_9 \oplus S_{14} \oplus S_{21} \oplus S_{34} \oplus S_{35}$

(in standard Atlas-ordering) and hence repeating the arguments above we get a quiver on just 9 vertices! The actual numbers of loops and arrows (I forgot to mention this, but the quivers obtained are actually symmetric) obtained were found after laborious computations mentioned in this post and the details I’ll make avalable here.

Anyone who can spot a relation between the numbers obtained and any other part of mathematics will obtain quantities of genuine (ie. non-Inbev) Belgian beer…

# the McKay-Thompson series

Monstrous moonshine was born (sometime in 1978) the moment John McKay realized that the linear term in the j-function

$j(q) = \frac{1}{q} + 744 + 196884 q + 21493760 q^2 + 864229970 q^3 + \ldots$

is surprisingly close to the dimension of the smallest non-trivial irreducible representation of the monster group, which is 196883. Note that at that time, the Monster hasn’t been constructed yet, and, the only traces of its possible existence were kept as semi-secret information in a huge ledger (costing 80 pounds…) kept in the Atlas-office at Cambridge. Included were 8 huge pages describing the character table of the monster, the top left fragment, describing the lower dimensional irreducibles and their characters at small order elements, reproduced below

If you look at the dimensions of the smallest irreducible representations (the first column) : 196883, 21296876, 842609326, … you will see that the first, second and third of them are extremely close to the linear, quadratic and cubic coefficient of the j-function. In fact, more is true : one can obtain these actual j-coefficients as simple linear combination of the dimensions of the irrducibles :

$\begin{cases} 196884 &= 1 + 196883 \\ 21493760 &= 1 + 196883 + 21296876 \\ 864229970 &= 2 \times 1 + 2 \times 196883 + 21296876 + 842609326 \end{cases}$

Often, only the first relation is attributed to McKay, whereas the second and third were supposedly discovered by John Thompson after MKay showed him the first. Marcus du Sautoy tells a somewhat different sory in Finding Moonshine :

McKay has also gone on to find these extra equations, but is was Thompson who first published them. McKay admits that “I was a bit peeved really, I don’t think Thompson quite knew how much I knew.”

By the work of Richard Borcherds we now know the (partial according to some) explanation behind these numerical facts : there is a graded representation $V = \oplus_i V_i$ of the Monster-group (actually, it has a lot of extra structure such as being a vertex algebra) such that the dimension of the i-th factor $V_i$ equals the coefficient f $q^i$ in the j-function. The homogeneous components $V_i$ being finite dimensional representations of the monster, they decompose into the 194 irreducibles $X_j$. For the first three components we have the decompositions

$\begin{cases} V_1 &= X_1 \oplus X_2 \\ V_2 &= X_1 \oplus X_2 \oplus X_3 \\ V_3 &= X_1^{\oplus 2 } \oplus X_2^{\oplus 2} \oplus X_3 \oplus X_4 \end{cases}$

Calculating the dimensions on both sides give the above equations. However, being isomorphisms of monster-representations we are not restricted to just computing the dimensions. We might as well compute the character of any monster-element on both sides (observe that the dimension is just the character of the identity element). Characters are the traces of the matrices describing the action of a monster-element on the representation and these numbers fill the different columns of the character-table above.

Hence, the same integral combinations of the character values of any monster-element give another q-series and these are called the McKay-Thompson series. John Conway discovered them to be classical modular functions known as Hauptmoduln.

In most papers and online material on this only the first few coefficients of these series are documented, which may be just too little information to make new discoveries!

Fortunately, David Madore has compiled the first 3200 coefficients of all the 172 monster-series which are available in a huge 8Mb file. And, if you really need to have more coefficients, you can always use and modify his moonshine python program.

In order to reduce bandwidth, here a list containing the first 100 coefficients of the j-function

jfunct=[196884, 21493760, 864299970, 20245856256, 333202640600, 4252023300096, 44656994071935, 401490886656000, 3176440229784420, 22567393309593600, 146211911499519294, 874313719685775360, 4872010111798142520, 25497827389410525184, 126142916465781843075, 593121772421445058560, 2662842413150775245160, 11459912788444786513920, 47438786801234168813250, 189449976248893390028800, 731811377318137519245696, 2740630712513624654929920, 9971041659937182693533820, 35307453186561427099877376, 121883284330422510433351500, 410789960190307909157638144, 1353563541518646878675077500, 4365689224858876634610401280, 13798375834642999925542288376, 42780782244213262567058227200, 130233693825770295128044873221, 389608006170995911894300098560, 1146329398900810637779611090240, 3319627709139267167263679606784, 9468166135702260431646263438600, 26614365825753796268872151875584, 73773169969725069760801792854360, 201768789947228738648580043776000, 544763881751616630123165410477688, 1452689254439362169794355429376000, 3827767751739363485065598331130120, 9970416600217443268739409968824320, 25683334706395406994774011866319670, 65452367731499268312170283695144960, 165078821568186174782496283155142200, 412189630805216773489544457234333696, 1019253515891576791938652011091437835, 2496774105950716692603315123199672320, 6060574415413720999542378222812650932, 14581598453215019997540391326153984000, 34782974253512490652111111930326416268, 82282309236048637946346570669250805760, 193075525467822574167329529658775261720, 449497224123337477155078537760754122752, 1038483010587949794068925153685932435825, 2381407585309922413499951812839633584128, 5421449889876564723000378957979772088000, 12255365475040820661535516233050165760000, 27513411092859486460692553086168714659374, 61354289505303613617069338272284858777600, 135925092428365503809701809166616289474168, 299210983800076883665074958854523331870720, 654553043491650303064385476041569995365270, 1423197635972716062310802114654243653681152, 3076095473477196763039615540128479523917200, 6610091773782871627445909215080641586954240, 14123583372861184908287080245891873213544410, 30010041497911129625894110839466234009518080, 63419842535335416307760114920603619461313664, 133312625293210235328551896736236879235481600, 278775024890624328476718493296348769305198947, 579989466306862709777897124287027028934656000, 1200647685924154079965706763561795395948173320, 2473342981183106509136265613239678864092991488, 5070711930898997080570078906280842196519646750, 10346906640850426356226316839259822574115946496, 21015945810275143250691058902482079910086459520, 42493520024686459968969327541404178941239869440, 85539981818424975894053769448098796349808643878, 171444843023856632323050507966626554304633241600, 342155525555189176731983869123583942011978493364, 679986843667214052171954098018582522609944965120, 1345823847068981684952596216882155845897900827370, 2652886321384703560252232129659440092172381585408, 5208621342520253933693153488396012720448385783600, 10186635497140956830216811207229975611480797601792, 19845946857715387241695878080425504863628738882125, 38518943830283497365369391336243138882250145792000, 74484518929289017811719989832768142076931259410120, 143507172467283453885515222342782991192353207603200, 275501042616789153749080617893836796951133929783496, 527036058053281764188089220041629201191975505756160, 1004730453440939042843898965365412981690307145827840, 1908864098321310302488604739098618405938938477379584, 3614432179304462681879676809120464684975130836205250, 6821306832689380776546629825653465084003418476904448, 12831568450930566237049157191017104861217433634289960, 24060143444937604997591586090380473418086401696839680, 44972195698011806740150818275177754986409472910549646, 83798831110707476912751950384757452703801918339072000]


This information will come in handy when we will organize our Monstrous Easter Egg Race, starting tomorrow at 6 am (GMT)…