Aspects of the Exceptional Group E8

Abstract

Methods for calculating branching rules and Kronecker products for the exceptional group E8 are developed. In particular, tables of branching rules for E8 -> SU9 , E8 -> SU2 X E7 and E8 -> SU3 X E6 are given. The third and fourth symmetrized powers of the adjoint representation of E8 are also resolved. The relevance of E8 to unified theories of strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions is briefly considered.