Skip to main content
Log in

Abstract

We follow, the evolution of ideas arising from Ramanujan's 1916 paper ‘On certain arithmetical functions’ by examining multiplicative η-products and quotients and their relation with the characters of the Mathieu groupM 24 and the automorphism group of the Leech lattice. This leads to the Monster and speculations on its geometric origin and current physics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Burnside W,The theory of groups 2nd ed. Note N (1911)

  2. Conway J H and Norton S P, Monstrous moonshine,Bull. London Math. Soc. (1979) 308–339

  3. Conway J H and Sloane N J A,Sphere-packings, lattices and groups (Springer-Verlag) (1988)

  4. Dummit D, Kisilevsky H and McKay J, Multiplicative products of η-functions,Contemp. Math. 45 89–98

  5. Gorenstein D,Finite groups (Harper, & Row) (1968)

  6. Hirzebruch F, Some remarks on elliptic genera of almost parallelizable manifolds,Talk at Schloss Ringberg (March 1987)

  7. Kac V G, An elucidation of: “Infinite-dimensional algebras, Dedekind's η-function, classical Möbius function and the very strange function formula.”E 8 (1) and the cube root of the modular invariantj, Adv. Math. 35 (1980) 264–273

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Kondo T, Examples of multiplicative η-products,Fac. Sci. U. Tokyo (1986) 133–149

  9. Mahler K, On a class of non-linear functional equations connected with modular functions,J. Aust. Math. Soc. 22A (1976) 65–120

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Mahler K, On a special non-linear functional equation,Proc. R. Soc. London A378 (1981)

  11. Mason G, Frame-shapes and rational characters of finite groups,J. Alg. 89 (1984) 237–246

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Mason G,M 24 and certain automorphic forms.Contemp. Math. 45 (1985) 223–244

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mason G, Finite groups and modular functions,Proc. Symp. Pure Math. (Arcata) 47 (1987) 181–210

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mathieu E, Mémoire sur l'étude des fonctions de plusieurs quantités,J. de Math. 6 (1861) 242–323

    Google Scholar 

  15. Miller G A, On the supposed five-fold transitive function of 24 elements and 19!/48 values,Messenger Math. 27 188–190

  16. Ogg A P, Modular functions,Proc. Symp. Pure Math. (Santa Cruz) 37 (1980) 521–532

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Queen L, Modular functions and finite simple groups,Proc. Symp. Pure Math. (Santa Cruz) 37 (1980) 561–566

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Ramanujan S, On certain arithmetical functions,Trans. Camb. Philos. Soc. 22 (1916) 159–184

    Google Scholar 

  19. Smith S, On the Head characters of the Monster simple group,Contemp. Math. 45 303–313

  20. Thompson J G, Finite groups and modular functions,Bull. London Math. Soc. 11 (1979) 347–351

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  21. Witten E, The index of the Dirac operator in loop space,Proc. Conf. on elliptic curves and modular forms in Alg. Topology Lecture notes in mathematics, 1326 (Springer) (1988).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ford, D., McKay, J. Ramifications of Ramanujan's work on η-products. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Math. Sci.) 99, 221–229 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02864394

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02864394

Keywords

Navigation