Double axes and subalgebras of Monster type in Matsuo algebras

Abstract

Axial algebras are a class of commutative non-associative algebras generated by idempotents, called axes, with adjoint action semi-simple and satisfying a prescribed fusion law. Axial algebras were introduced by Hall, Rehren and Shpectorov (in 2015) as a broad generalization of Majorana algebras of Ivanov, whose axioms were derived from the properties of the Griess algebra for the Monster sporadic simple group. The class of axial algebras of Monster type includes Majorana algebras for the Monster and many other sporadic simple groups, Jordan algebras for classical and some exceptional simple groups, and Matsuo algebras corresponding to 3-transposition groups. Thus, axial algebras of Monster type unify several strands in the theory of finite simple groups. It is shown here that double axes, i.e., sums of two orthogonal axes in a Matsuo algebra, satisfy the fusion law of Monster type Primitive subalgebras generated by two single or double axes are completely classified and 3-generated primitive subalgebras are classified in one of the three cases. These classifications further lead to the general flip construction outputting a rich variety of axial algebras of Monster type. An application of the flip construction to the case of Matsuo algebras related to the symmetric groups results in three new explicit infinite series of such algebras.