Generalised holonomies and K(E9)

Abstract The involutory subalgebra K($$ \mathfrak{e} $$ e 9) of the affine Kac-Moody algebra $$ \mathfrak{e} $$ e 9 was recently shown to admit an infinite sequence of unfaithful representations of ever increasing dimensions [1]. We revisit these representations and describe their associated ideals in more detail, with particular emphasis on two chiral versions that can be constructed for each such representation. For every such unfaithful representation we show that the action of K($$ \mathfrak{e} $$ e 9) decomposes into a direct sum of two mutually commuting (‘chiral’ and ‘anti-chiral’) parabolic algebras with Levi subalgebra $$ \mathfrak{so} $$ so (16)+ ⊕ $$ \mathfrak{so} $$ so (16)−. We also spell out the consistency conditions for uplifting such representations to unfaithful representations of K($$ \mathfrak{e} $$ e 10). From these results it is evident that the holonomy groups so far discussed in the literature are mere shadows (in a Platonic sense) of a much larger structure.