Algebraic Combinatorics and the Monster Group

Alexander A. Ivanov earned his PhD degree in mathematics in 1984 from the Moscow Physical Technical Institute. He was a researcher at Institute for System Analysis and received Doctor of Science degree from Moscow State University in 2000. Since 1995, Professor Ivanov has taught at the Imperial College London. He gave an invited talk at 1990 ICM in Kyoto and authored five monographs.

• Part I. The Monster: 1. Lectures on vertex algebras Atsushi Matsuo; 2. 3-Transposition groups arising in vertex operator algebras Hiroshi Yamauchi; 3. On holomorphic vertex operator algebras of central charge 24 Ching Hung Lam; 4. Maximal 2-local subgroups of the Monster and Baby Monster Ulrich Meierfrankenfeld and Sergey Shpectorov; 5. The future of Majorana theory II Alexander A. Ivanov; Part II. Algebraic Combinatorics: 6. The geometry of Freudenthal-Tits magic square Hendrik Van Maldegham; 7. On generation of polar Grassmanisns Ilaria Cardinali, Lucca Giuzzi and Antonio Pasini; 8. Ovoidal maximal subspaces of polar spaces Antonio Pasini and Hendrik Van Maldegham; 9. On the behaviour of regular unipotent elements from subsystem subgroups of type A_n with special highest weights Tatsiana S. Busel and Irina D. Suprunenko; 10. Some remarks on the parameter c_2 for a distance-regular graph with classical parameters Jack H. Koolen, Jongyook Park and Qianqian Yang; 11. Distance-regular graphs, the subconstituent algebra, and the q-polynomial property Paul Terwilliger; 12. Terwilliger algebras and the Weisfeiler-Leman stabilization Tatsuro Ito; 13. Extended doubling of self-complementary strongly regular graphs and an analogue for digraphs Takuya Ikuta and Akihiro Munemasa; 14. Using GAP package for research in graph theory, design theory and finite geometries Leonard H. Soicher.

'Describing the Monster group mathematical structures is the culmination of decades of work. Just as the largest Mathieu group framed the 24-dimensional Leech lattice, so also that lattice is the foundation for constructing the Moonshine Module and the Monster algebra, through which the Monster has become central in a theory with deep connections to modern physics. The first part of the book is a collection of five papers on the Monster and other algebraic structures, presented by international leaders in the area providing an outsider with the necessary content and concepts. It presents an account of the current status of the theory and available computational tools for studying the Monster and its algebras. The machinery for developing Majorana theory and axial algebras underpinning the Monster is based on Algebraic Combinatorics, to which the second part of this collection is devoted.' Cheryl Praeger, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia