To four consecutive years a group of eighteen mathematicians, locked in their laboratories in different parts of the world, worked around one of the most complex and abstract calculations ever made called "E8" . In mathematics, the project E8 is the name of a simple Lie group and exceptional mathematical structures defined by its nineteenth century Sophus Lie to study symmetry. Lie algebra is a vector space, equipped with an operation called the Lie bracket. A simple example is the set of all 2 by 2 matrices. This is a vector space with 4 dimensions. The operation is the Lie bracket [X, Y] = XY-YX. Lie groups explain the manner in which symmetrical objects showing the viewer can rotate in the same way, as a sphere or a cylinder, a cone. While these are but three-dimensional objects, E8 describes the symmetries a 57-dimensional mathematical entity, and is itself a mathematical object to 248 dimensions.
To give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe complexity of the calculations, the mathematicians have made a comparison with the Human Genome Project: the genetic information contained in a cell was smaller than a gigabyte, but the result of the E8 calculation, comes to 60 gigabytes. If it were written on paper, the researchers pointed out, the sheets would cover the entire surface of Manhattan easily. L 'I have explained the structure of the symmetry of E8, however, appear not to have any practical use but p uo be useful in study of the "string theory" (the theory of physics that matter, energy, and in some cases the space and time are in fact the manifestation of the underlying physical entities, called strings).
Angelo D'Addario
Angelo D'Addario
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