1-2 pm: Standard Model Symmetries and K(E10)

Title: Standard Model Symmetries and K(E10)

Abstract: In this talk I will explain how to amend a scheme originally proposed by M. Gell-Mann to identify the three families of quarks and leptons of the Standard Model with the 48 spin-1/2 fermions of N=8 supergravity that remain after absorption of eight Goldstinos, a scheme that in its original form is dynamically realized at the SU(3) X U(1) stationary point of gauged N=8 supergravity. I will show how to deform and enlarge this symmetry at the kinematical level to the full Standard Model symmetries. This symmetry enhancement is achieved by embedding the Standard Model symmetries into (a quotient group of) K(E10), the `maximal compact subgroup' of the maximal rank hyperbolic Kac-Moody symmetry E10, and an infinite prolongation of the SU(8) R-symmetry of N=8 supergravity. This scheme, which also aims to encompass quantum gravity, cannot be realized within the framework of space-time based (quantum) field theory, but requires space-time and related geometrical concepts to be `emergent'. The main hypotheses on which our construction hinges, and the remaining open issues will be critically reviewed.