Conjectural uncapped automorphisms in the E8 building over F2

Fix the ordering α1,,α120\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_{120} of the positive roots of E8\mathsf{E}_8 according to increasing height, using the natural lexicographic order for roots of the same height. Let xi(1)x_i(1) denote the corresponding root-group elements in the Chevalley group E8(2)\mathsf{E}_8(2). An automorphism is uncapped if it maps no chamber to an opposite chamber; its decorated opposition diagram records the types and opposition behavior of its images.

E8(2) uncapped-automorphism conjecture. Let

θ1=x88(1)x90(1),θ2=x88(1)x89(1)x90(1)\theta_1=x_{88}(1)x_{90}(1),\qquad \theta_2=x_{88}(1)x_{89}(1)x_{90}(1)

in E8(2)\mathsf{E}_8(2). Then θ1\theta_1 and θ2\theta_2 are uncapped, with the respective decorated opposition diagrams displayed in the source.

These are conjectural computational examples for the two diagrams of E8(2)\mathsf{E}_8(2) that the authors could not handle with their computational techniques. They randomly selected 10510^5 chambers and verified the claimed structure on that subset, but a complete verification remains open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

J. Parkinson and H. Van Maldeghem, “Opposition diagrams for automorphisms of small spherical buildings”, arXiv:1803.09367 (2019).

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