THE LOOP GROUP OF E8 AND TARGETS FOR SPACETIME

Abstract

The dimensional reduction of the E8 gauge theory in 11 dimensions leads to a loop bundle in ten-dimensional type IIA string theory. We show that the restriction to the Neveu–Schwarz sector leads naturally to a sigma model with target space E8 with the ten-dimensional spacetime as the source. The corresponding bundle has a structure group: the group of based loops, whose classifying space we study. We explore some consequences of this proposal such as possible Lagrangians and existence of flat connections.