Mathieu Moonshine Research Articles

Mathieu moonshine and Siegel Modular Forms

A second-quantized version of Mathieu moonshine leads to product formulae for functions that are potentially genus-two Siegel Modular Forms analogous to the Igusa Cusp Form. The modularity of these functions do not follow in an obvious manner. For some conjugacy classes, but not all, they match known modular forms. In this paper, we express the product formulae for all conjugacy classes of M24 in terms of products of standard modular forms. This provides a new proof of their modularity.

Lost chapters in CHL black holes: untwisted quarter-BPS dyons in the \u21242 model

Motivated by recent advances in Donaldson-Thomas theory, four-dimensional mathcal{N} = 4 string-string duality is examined in a reduced rank theory on a less studied BPS sector. In particular we identify candidate partition functions of “untwisted” quarter-BPS dyons in the heterotic ℤ2 CHL model by studying the associated chiral genus two partition function, based on the M-theory lift of string webs argument by Dabholkar and Gaiotto. This yields meromorphic Siegel modular forms for the Iwahori subgroup B(2) ⊂ Sp4(ℤ) which generate BPS indices for dyons with untwisted sector electric charge, in contrast to twisted sector dyons counted by a multiplicative lift of twisted-twining elliptic genera known from Mathieu moonshine. The new partition functions are shown to satisfy the expected constraints coming from wall-crossing and S-duality symmetry as well as the black hole entropy based on the Gauss-Bonnet term in the effective action. In these aspects our analysis confirms and extends work of Banerjee, Sen and Srivastava, which only addressed a subset of the untwisted sector dyons considered here. Our results are also compared with recently conjectured formulae of Bryan and Oberdieck for the partition functions of primitive DT invariants of the CHL orbifold X = (K3 × T2)/ℤ2, as suggested by string duality with type IIA theory on X.

Module constructions for certain subgroups of the largest Mathieu group

For certain subgroups of $M_{24}$, we give vertex operator algebraic module constructions whose associated trace functions are meromorphic Jacobi forms. These meromorphic Jacobi forms are canonically associated to the mock modular forms of Mathieu moonshine. The construction is related to the Conway moonshine module and employs a technique introduced by Anagiannis--Cheng--Harrison. With this construction we are able to give concrete vertex algebraic realizations of certain cuspidal Hecke eigenforms of weight two. In particular, we give explicit realizations of trace functions whose integralities are equivalent to divisibility conditions on the number of $\mathbb{F}_p$ points on the Jacobians of modular curves.

Moonshine, superconformal symmetry, and quantum error correction

Special conformal field theories can have symmetry groups which are interesting sporadic finite simple groups. Famous examples include the Monster symmetry group of a c = 24 two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) constructed by Frenkel, Lepowsky and Meurman, and the Conway symmetry group of a c = 12 CFT explored in detail by Duncan and Mack-Crane. The Mathieu moonshine connection between the K3 elliptic genus and the Mathieu group M24 has led to the study of K3 sigma models with large symmetry groups. A particular K3 CFT with a maximal symmetry group preserving (4, 4) superconformal symmetry was studied in beautiful work by Gaberdiel, Taormina, Volpato, and Wendland [41]. The present paper shows that in both the GTVW and c = 12 theories the construction of superconformal generators can be understood via the theory of quantum error correcting codes. The automorphism groups of these codes lift to symmetry groups in the CFT preserving the superconformal generators. In the case of the N = 1 supercurrent of the GTVW model our result, combined with a result of T. Johnson-Freyd implies the symmetry group is the maximal subgroup of M24 known as the sextet group. (The sextet group is also known as the holomorph of the hexacode.) Building on [41] the Ramond-Ramond sector of the GTVW model is related to the Miracle Octad Generator which in turn leads to a role for the Golay code as a group of symmetries of RR states. Moreover, (4, 1) superconformal symmetry suffices to define and decompose the elliptic genus of a K3 sigma model into characters of the N = 4 superconformal algebra. The symmetry group preserving (4, 1) is larger than that preserving (4, 4).

SU(2) channels the cancellation of K3 BPS states

The conformal field theoretic elliptic genus, an invariant for N = (2, 2) superconformal field theories, counts the BPS states in any such theory with signs, according to their bosonic or fermionic nature. For K3 theories, this invariant is the source of the Mathieu Moonshine phenomenon. There, the net number of frac{1}{4} - BPS states is positive for any conformal dimension above the massless threshold, but it may arise after cancellation of the contributions of an equal number of bosonic and fermionic BPS states present in non-generic theories, as is the case for the class of ℤ2-orbifolds of toroidal SCFTs. Never-theless, the space hat{mathrm{mathscr{H}}} of all BPS states that are generic to such orbifold theories provides a convenient framework to construct a particular generic space of states of K3 theories. We find a natural action of the group SU(2) on a subspace of hat{mathrm{mathscr{H}}} which is compatible with the cancellations of contributions from the corresponding non-generic states. In fact, we propose that this action channels those cancellations. As a by-product, we find a new subspace of the generic space of states in hat{mathrm{mathscr{H}}} .

Lifting $$\frac{1}{4}$$-BPS States on K3 and Mathieu Moonshine

The elliptic genus of K3 is an index for the 1/4-BPS states of its sigma model. At the torus orbifold point there is an accidental degeneracy of such states. We blow up the orbifold fixed points using conformal perturbation theory, and find that this fully lifts the accidental degeneracy of the 1/4-BPS states with h=1. At a generic point near the Kummer surface the elliptic genus thus measures not just their index, but counts the actual number of these BPS states. We comment on the implication of this for symmetry surfing and Mathieu moonshine.

On Mathieu moonshine and Gromov-Witten invariants

We provide further evidence that CY3 manifolds are involved in an intricate way in Mathieu moonshine, i.e., their Gromov-Witten invariants are related to the expansion coefficients of the twined/twisted-twined elliptic genera of K3. We use the string duality between CHL orbifolds of heterotic string theory on K3 × T2 and type IIA string theory on CY3 manifolds to explicitly show this connection. We then work out two concrete examples where we exactly match the expansion coefficients on both sides of the duality.

CHL Calabi–Yau threefolds: curve counting, Mathieu moonshine and Siegel modular forms

A CHL model is the quotient of $\mathrm{K3} \times E$ by an order $N$ automorphism which acts symplectically on the K3 surface and acts by shifting by an $N$-torsion point on the elliptic curve $E$. We conjecture that the primitive Donaldson-Thomas partition function of elliptic CHL models is a Siegel modular form, namely the Borcherds lift of the corresponding twisted-twined elliptic genera which appear in Mathieu moonshine. The conjecture matches predictions of string theory by David, Jatkar and Sen. We use the topological vertex to prove several base cases of the conjecture. Via a degeneration to $\mathrm{K3} \times \mathbb{P}^1$ we also express the DT partition functions as a twisted trace of an operator on Fock space. This yields further computational evidence. An extension of the conjecture to non-geometric CHL models is discussed. We consider CHL models of order $N=2$ in detail. We conjecture a formula for the Donaldson-Thomas invariants of all order two CHL models in all curve classes. The conjecture is formulated in terms of two Siegel modular forms. One of them, a Siegel form for the Iwahori subgroup, has to our knowledge not yet appeared in physics. This discrepancy is discussed in an appendix with Sheldon Katz.

Properties of extremal CFTs with small central charge

We analyze aspects of extant examples of 2d extremal chiral (super)conformal field theories with $c\leq 24$. These are theories whose only operators with dimension smaller or equal to $c/24$ are the vacuum and its (super)Virasoro descendents. The prototypical example is the monster CFT, whose famous genus zero property is intimately tied to the Rademacher summability of its twined partition functions, a property which also distinguishes the functions of Mathieu and umbral moonshine. However, there are now several additional known examples of extremal CFTs, all of which have at least $\mathcal N=1$ supersymmetry and global symmetry groups connected to sporadic simple groups. We investigate the extent to which such a property, which distinguishes the monster moonshine module from other $c=24$ chiral CFTs, holds for the other known extremal theories. We find that in most cases, the special Rademacher summability property present for monstrous and umbral moonshine does not hold for the other extremal CFTs, with the exception of the Conway module and two $c=12, ~\mathcal N=4$ superconformal theories with $M_{11}$ and $M_{22}$ symmetry. This suggests that the connection between extremal CFT, sporadic groups, and mock modular forms transcends strict Rademacher summability criteria.

Chiral Hodge Cohomology and Mathieu Moonshine

Abstract We construct a filtration of chiral Hodge cohomolgy of a K3 surface $X$, such that its associated graded object is a unitary representation of the $\mathcal{N}=4$ superconformal vertex algebra with central charge $c=6$ and its subspace of primitive vectors has the property; its equivariant character for a symplectic automorphism $g$ of finite order acting on $X$ agrees with the McKay–Thompson series for $g$ in Mathieu moonshine.

BKM Lie superalgebras from counting twisted CHL dyons – II

We revisit earlier work by one of us which lead to a periodic table of Borcherds-Kac-Moody algebras that appeared in the context of the refined generating function of quarter-BPS states (dyons) in N=4 supersymmetric four-dimensional string theory. We make new additions to the periodic table by making use of connections with generalized Mathieu moonshine as well as umbral moonshine. We show the modularity of some Siegel modular forms that appear in umbral moonshine associated with Niemeier lattices constructed from A-type root systems and further show that the same Siegel modular forms appear for generalized Mathieu moonshine in some cases. We argue for the existence of a new kind of BKM Lie superalgebras that arise from the dyon generating functions for the Z5 and Z6 CHL orbifolds.

BPS Spectra, Barcodes and Walls

BPS spectra give important insights into the non-perturbative regimes of supersymmetric theories. Often from the study of BPS states one can infer properties of the geometrical or algebraic structures underlying such theories. In this paper we approach this problem from the perspective of persistent homology. Persistent homology is at the base of topological data analysis, which aims at extracting topological features out of a set of points. We use these techniques to investigate the topological properties which characterize the spectra of several supersymmetric models in field and string theory. We discuss how such features change upon crossing walls of marginal stability in a few examples. Then we look at the topological properties of the distributions of BPS invariants in string compactifications on compact threefolds, used to engineer black hole microstates. Finally we discuss the interplay between persistent homology and modularity by considering certain number theoretical functions used to count dyons in string compactifications and by studying equivariant elliptic genera in the context of the Mathieu moonshine.

Finite groups of symplectic automorphisms of hyperkahler manifolds of type K3

We determine the possible finite groups $G$ of symplectic automorphisms of hyperkahler manifolds which are deformation equivalent to the second Hilbert scheme of a K3 surface. We prove that $G$ has such an action if, and only if, it is isomorphic to a subgroup of either the Mathieu group $M_{23}$ having at least four orbits in its natural permutation representation on $24$ elements, or one of two groups $3^{1+4}{:}2.2^2$ and $3^4{:}A_6$ associated to $\mathcal{S}$-lattices in the Leech lattice. We describe in detail those $G$ which are maximal with respect to these properties, and (in most cases) we determine all deformation equivalence classes of such group actions. We also compare our results with the predictions of Mathieu Moonshine.

Hodge-Elliptic Genera and How They Govern K3 Theories

The (complex) Hodge-elliptic genus and its conformal field theoretic counterpart were recently introduced by Kachru and Tripathy, refining the traditional complex elliptic genus. We construct a different, so-called chiral Hodge-elliptic genus, which is expected to agree with the generic conformal field theoretic Hodge-elliptic genus, in contrast to the complex Hodge-elliptic genus as originally defined. For K3 surfaces X, the chiral Hodge-elliptic genus is shown to be independent of all moduli. Moreover, employing Kapustin's results on infinite volume limits it is shown that it agrees with the generic conformal field theoretic Hodge-elliptic genus of K3 theories, while the complex Hodge-elliptic genus does not. This new invariant governs part of the field content of K3 theories, supporting the idea that all their spaces of states have a common subspace which underlies the generic conformal field theoretic Hodge-elliptic genus, and thereby the complex elliptic genus. Mathematically, this space is modelled by the sheaf cohomology of the chiral de Rham complex of X. It decomposes into irreducible representations of the N=4 superconformal algebra such that the multiplicity spaces of all massive representations have precisely the dimensions required in order to furnish the representation of the Mathieu group M24 that is predicted by Mathieu Moonshine. This is interpreted as evidence in favour of the ideas of symmetry surfing, which have been proposed by Taormina and the author, along with the claim that the sheaf cohomology of the chiral de Rham complex is a natural home for Mathieu Moonshine. These investigations also imply that the generic chiral algebra of K3 theories is precisely the N=4 superconformal algebra at central charge c=6, if the usual predictions on infinite volume limits from string theory hold true.

Generalised Umbral Moonshine

Umbral moonshine describes an unexpected relation between 23 finite groups arising from lattice symmetries and special mock modular forms. It includes the Mathieu moonshine as a special case and can itself be viewed as an example of the more general moonshine phenomenon which connects finite groups and distinguished modular objects. In this paper we introduce the notion of generalised umbral moonshine, which includes the generalised Mathieu moonshine [Gaberdiel M.R., Persson D., Ronellenfitsch H., Volpato R., Commun. Number Theory Phys. 7 (2013), 145-223] as a special case, and provide supporting data for it. A central role is played by the deformed Drinfel'd (or quantum) double of each umbral finite group $G$, specified by a cohomology class in $H^3(G,U(1))$. We conjecture that in each of the 23 cases there exists a rule to assign an infinite-dimensional module for the deformed Drinfel'd double of the umbral finite group underlying the mock modular forms of umbral moonshine and generalised umbral moonshine. We also discuss the possible origin of the generalised umbral moonshine.

Algebraic surfaces, four-folds and moonshine

The aim of this note is to point out an interesting fact related to the elliptic genus of complex algebraic surfaces in the context of Mathieu moonshine. We also discuss the case of 4-folds.

Mathieu Moonshine and symmetry surfing

Mathieu Moonshine, the observation that the Fourier coefficients of the elliptic genus on K3 can be interpreted as dimensions of representations of the Mathieu group , has been proven abstractly, but a conceptual understanding in terms of a representation of the Mathieu group on the BPS states, is missing. Some time ago, Taormina and Wendland showed that such an action can be naturally defined on the lowest non-trivial BPS states, using the idea of ‘symmetry surfing’, i.e. by combining the symmetries of different K3 sigma models. In this paper we find non-trivial evidence that this construction can be generalized to all BPS states.

Dyon degeneracies from Mathieu moonshine symmetry

We construct the Siegel modular forms associated with the theta lift of twisted elliptic genera of $K3$ orbifolded with $g'$ corresponding to the conjugacy classes of the Mathieu group $M_{24}$. We complete the construction for all the classes which belong to $M_{23} \subset M_{24}$ and two other classes outside the subgroup $M_{23}$. For this purpose we provide the explicit expressions for all the twisted elliptic genera in all the sectors of these classes. We show that the Siegel modular forms satisfy the required properties for them to be generating functions of $1/4$ BPS dyons of type II string theories compactified on $K3\times T^2$ and orbifolded by $g'$ which acts as a $\mathbb{Z}_N$ automorphism on $K3$ together with a $1/N$ shift on a circle of $T^2$. In particular the inverse of these Siegel modular forms admit a Fourier expansion with integer coefficients together with the right sign as predicted from black hole physics. Our analysis completes the construction of the partition function for dyons as well as the twisted elliptic genera for all the $7$ CHL compactifications.

3D string theory and Umbral moonshine

The simplest string theory compactifications to 3D with 16 supercharges—the heterotic string on T 7, and type II strings on —are related by U-duality, and share a moduli space of vacua parametrized by . One can think of this as the moduli space of even, self-dual 32-dimensional lattices with signature (8,24). At 24 special points in moduli space, the lattice splits as . can be the Leech lattice or any of 23 Niemeier lattices, while is the E8 root lattice. We show that starting from this observation, one can find a precise connection between the Umbral groups and type IIA string theory on K3. This may provide a natural physical starting point for understanding Mathieu and Umbral moonshine. The maximal unbroken subgroups of Umbral groups in 6D (or any other limit) are those obtained by starting at the associated Niemeier point and moving in moduli space while preserving the largest possible subgroup of the Umbral group. To illustrate the action of these symmetries on BPS states, we discuss the computation of certain protected four-derivative terms in the effective field theory, and recover facts about the spectrum and symmetry representations of 1/2-BPS states.

Quantum modularity of mock theta functions of order 2

In [9], we computed shadows of the second order mock theta functions and showed that they are essentially same with the shadow of a mock theta function related to the Mathieu moonshine phenomenon. In this paper, we further survey the second order mock theta functions on their quantum modularity and their behavior in the lower half plane.