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Abstract

Multistring vertices and the overlap identities which they satisfy are exploited to understand properties of hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebras, in particular E10. Since any such algebra can be embedded in the larger Lie algebra of physical states of an associated completely compactified subcritical bosonic string, one can in principle determine the root spaces by analyzing which (positive norm) physical states decouple from the N-string vertex. Consequently, the Lie algebra of physical states decomposes into a direct sum of the hyperbolic algebra and the space of decoupled states. Both these spaces contain transversal and longitudinal states. Longitudinal decoupling holds more generally, and may also be valid for uncompactified strings, with possible consequences for Liouville theory; the identification of the decoupled states simply amounts to finding the zeroes of certain “decoupling polynomials.” This is not the case for transversal decoupling, which crucially depends on special properties of the root lattice, as we explicitly demonstrate for a nontrivial root space of E10· Because the N-vertices of the compactified string contain the complete information about decoupling, all the properties of the hyperbolic algebra are encoded into them. In view of the integer grading of hyperbolic algebras such as E10 by the level, these algebras can be interpreted as interacting strings moving on the respective group manifolds associated with the underlying finite-dimensional Lie algebras.