Page 14.

SO(8), Triality, F₄, and the Exceptional Jordan Algebra.
Let a,b,c be arbitrary real numbers, X,Y,Z arbitrary octonions. Define J
to be the set of all matrices of the form:

a	Z	Y*
Z*	b	X
Y	X*	c

If A and B are elements ofJ, then so is

A o B = (AB + BA)/2.

J together with this product is generally known as the exceptional Jordan algebra
(it is the only Jordan algebra not representable by a set of real matrices).

The five exceptional Lie groups are G₂ (14-d), F₄ (52-d), E₆ (78-d),
E₇ (133-d), E₈ (248-d). They are all intimately linked to the octonions.
G₂ is the automorphism group of the octonions, and F₄ is the automorphism group of J.
It is not too difficult to prove that if G maps J to J, and

G[A²] = (G[A])²

for all A in J, then G is an automorphism of J; that is, an element of F₄.

The Lie group SO(3), consisting of 3x3 real orthogonal matrices, accounts for 3 of the 52 dimensions
of F₄. The remaining 49 dimensions all involve the octonions. As we will see, with the help
of triality the SO(8) group of actions on the octonions also appears as a subgroup of F₄.
This accounts for 28 more dimensions, leaving 21.

Using notation from my book, let Tri denote the triality map, which takes SO(8) into SO(8).
Let g₀, g₁ = Tri{g₀}, g₂ = Tri{g₁}
be a triality triplet of SO(8) maps (one more application of Tri gets us back to g₀).
For all octonions X and Y, these maps satisfy the almost automorphic relation:

g₀[X]g₁[Y] = (g₂[(XY)^*])^*,

which is also true for any cyclic permutation of the indices {0,1,2} of the maps g_k, k = 0,1,2,
since g₀ is arbitrary. Therefore it is not too difficult to prove that the SO(8) map on
J which takes

a	Z	Y*				a	g2[Z]	(g1[Y])*
Z*	b	X	-	-	>	(g2[Z])*	b	g0[X]
Y	X*	c				g1[Y]	(g0[X])*	c

is an automorphism (square it), hence an element of F₄.

Let U = u₀ + u be a unit octonion, with u₀ its real part, and u its imaginary part. Then for any octonion X, the actions

U_L[X] = UX,
U_R[X] = XU,

are examples of SO(8) rotations on the components of X. The triality map does the following:

Tri³{U_L} = Tri²{U_R} = Tri{U^*_LU^*_R} = U_L.

Let U be the 3x3 diagonal matrix with {U^*, U, 1} on the diagonal, and
U^* its inverse, the diagonal matrix with {U, U^*, 1} on the diagonal.
Ok, in the triality defined SO(8) action on the Jordan matrix defined at left
(denote the initial matrix A), if we let g₀ = U_L, then I'll leave it to you to prove
that the resulting action on A is the same as the action

A --> UAU^*

(this same action altered by permuting the diagonal components of U will yield other
elements of SO(8)).

Note: in an associative world actions of the form given above on A would form a
group, but these do not. A great deal of confusion arises re the use of octonions
in the definition of Lie group and Lie algebra actions, all of which arises
because of the nonassociativity of the octonions. This confusion dissipates
once one gets used to nesting octonion actions (see the book for a deeper discussion),
a concept that generalizes to associative algebras, but doesn't seem necessary
(and is not, but it is more unifying and universal).

Anyway, as long as one is careful with the idea of nested actions one can take
commutators of Lie algebra actions defined in terms of the octonions. In particular,
taking the commutator of the generator of the action

A --> UAU^*,

with elements of so(3) (Lie algebra of SO(3)), implies that this action on A
is also in F₄ if U takes one of the forms

u0	u	0		u0	0	u		1	0	0
u	u0	0	.....OR.....	0	1	0	.....OR.....	0	u0	u
0	0	1		u	0	u0		0	u	u0

These elements account for the remaining 21 dimensions of F₄, giving us a total
of 3 + 28 + 21 = 52. On the next page I'll outline how to get explicit representations
of E₆, E₇, and E₈ in a very similar manner.

Page 12.  |  Page 15.  |  Contents  |  Octoshop III page.