SPECIAL VINBERG CONES

The paper is devoted to the generalization of the Vinberg theory of homogeneous convex cones. Such a cone is described as the set of “positive definite matrices” in the Vinberg commutative algebra ℋn of Hermitian T-matrices. These algebras are a generalization of Euclidean Jordan algebras and consist of n × n matrices A = (aij), where aii ∈ ℝ, the entry aij for i < j belongs to some Euclidean vector space (Vij ; 𝔤) and $$ {a}_{ji}={a}_{ij}^{\ast }=\mathfrak{g}\left({a}_{ij},\cdot \right)\in {V}_{ij}^{\ast } $$ a ji = a ij ∗ = g a ij ⋅ ∈ V ij ∗ belongs to the dual space $$ {V}_{ij}^{\ast }. $$ V ij ∗ . The multiplication of T-Hermitian matrices is defined by a system of “isometric” bilinear maps Vij × Vjk → Vij ; i < j < k, such that |aij ⋅ ajk| = |aij| ⋅ |aik|, alm ∈ Vlm. For n = 2, the Hermitian T-algebra ℋn= ℋ2 (V) is determined by a Euclidean vector space V and is isomorphic to a Euclidean Jordan algebra called the spin factor algebra and the associated homogeneous convex cone is the Lorentz cone of timelike future directed vectors in the Minkowski vector space ℝ1,1⊕ V . A special Vinberg Hermitian T-algebra is a rank 3 matrix algebra ℋ3(V; S) associated to a Clifford Cl(V )-module S together with an “admissible” Euclidean metric 𝔤S.We generalize the construction of rank 2 Vinberg algebras ℋ2(V ) and special Vinberg algebras ℋ3(V; S) to the pseudo-Euclidean case, when V is a pseudo-Euclidean vector space and S = S0 ⊕ S1 is a ℤ2-graded Clifford Cl(V )-module with an admissible pseudo-Euclidean metric. The associated cone 𝒱 is a homogeneous, but not convex cone in ℋm; m = 2; 3. We calculate the characteristic function of Koszul-Vinberg for this cone and write down the associated cubic polynomial. We extend Baez’ quantum-mechanical interpretation of the Vinberg cone 𝒱2 ⊂ ℋ2(V ) to the special rank 3 case.