Algebraic Dreams

Nature's attraction to unique mathematical structures provides powerful hints for unraveling her mysteries. None is at present as intriguing as eleven-dimensional M-theory. The search for exceptional structures specific to eleven dimensions leads us to exceptional groups in the description of space-time. One specific connection, through the coset $F_4/SO(9)$, may provide a generalization of eleven-dimensional supergravity. Since this coset happens to be the projective space of the Exceptional Jordan Algebra, its charge space may be linked to the fundamental degrees of freedom underlying M-theory.