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The Conway Moonshine Module is a Reflected K3 Theory (2020)
Journal Article
Taormina, A., & Wendland, K. (2020). The Conway Moonshine Module is a Reflected K3 Theory. Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, 24(5), 1247-1323. https://doi.org/10.4310/atmp.2020.v24.n5.a6

Recently, Duncan and Mack-Crane established an isomorphism, as Virasoro modules at central charges c = 12, between the space of states of the Conway Moonshine Module and the space of states of a special K3 theory that was extensively studied some tim... Read More about The Conway Moonshine Module is a Reflected K3 Theory.

SU(2) channels the cancellation of K3 BPS states (2020)
Journal Article
Taormina, A., & Wendland, K. (2020). SU(2) channels the cancellation of K3 BPS states. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2020(04), Article 184. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep04%282020%29184

The conformal field theoretic elliptic genus, an invariant for N = (2, 2) superconformal field theories, counts the BPS states in any such theory with signs, according to their bosonic or fermionic nature. For K3 theories, this invariant is the sourc... Read More about SU(2) channels the cancellation of K3 BPS states.

Not doomed to fail (2018)
Journal Article
Taormina, A., & Wendland, K. (2018). Not doomed to fail. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2018(09), Article 062. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep09%282018%29062

In their recent manuscript “An uplifting discussion of T-duality ” [26], J. Harvey and G. Moore have reevaluated a mod two condition appearing in asymmetric orbifold constructions as an obstruction to the description of certain symmetries of toroidal... Read More about Not doomed to fail.

Reciprocal Nucleopeptides as the Ancestral Darwinian Self-Replicator (2017)
Journal Article
Banwell, E. F., Piette, B. M., Taormina, A., & Heddle, J. G. (2018). Reciprocal Nucleopeptides as the Ancestral Darwinian Self-Replicator. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35(2), 404-416. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx292

Even the simplest organisms are too complex to have spontaneously arisen fully-formed, yet precursors to first life must have emerged ab initio from their environment. A watershed event was the appearance of the first entity capable of evolution: the... Read More about Reciprocal Nucleopeptides as the Ancestral Darwinian Self-Replicator.

A twist in the M24 moonshine story (2015)
Journal Article
Taormina, A., & Wendland, K. (2015). A twist in the M24 moonshine story. Confluentes mathematici, 7(1), 83-113. https://doi.org/10.5802/cml.19

Prompted by the Mathieu Moonshine observation, we identify a pair of 45-dimensional vector spaces of states that account for the first order term in the massive sector of the elliptic genus of K3 in every Z2-orbifold CFT on K3. These generic states a... Read More about A twist in the M24 moonshine story.

A K3 sigma model with Z_2^8:M_20 symmetry (2014)
Journal Article
Gaberdiel, M., Taormina, A., Volpato, R., & Wendland, K. (2014). A K3 sigma model with Z_2^8:M_20 symmetry. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2014(2), Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep02%282014%29022

The K3 sigma model based on the Z2-orbifold of the D4-torus theory is studied. It is shown that it has an equivalent description in terms of twelve free Majorana fermions, or as a rational conformal field theory based on the affine algebra b su(2)6.... Read More about A K3 sigma model with Z_2^8:M_20 symmetry.

The overarching finite symmetry group of Kummer surfaces in the Mathieu group M24 (2013)
Journal Article
Taormina, A., & Wendland, K. (2013). The overarching finite symmetry group of Kummer surfaces in the Mathieu group M24. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2013(08), Article 125. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep08%282013%29125

In view of a potential interpretation of the role of the Mathieu group M24 in the context of strings compactied on K3 surfaces, we develop techniques to combine groups of symmetries from dierent K3 surfaces to larger `overarching' symmetry groups. We... Read More about The overarching finite symmetry group of Kummer surfaces in the Mathieu group M24.

DNA Cages with Icosahedral Symmetry in Bionanotechnology (2009)
Book Chapter
Jonoska, N., Taormina, A., & Twarock, R. (2009). DNA Cages with Icosahedral Symmetry in Bionanotechnology. In A. Condon, D. Harel, & J. Kok (Eds.), Algorithmic bioprocesses (141-158). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88869-7_9

Blueprints for polyhedral cages with icosahedral symmetry made of circular DNA molecules are provided. The basic rule is that every edge of the cage is met twice in opposite directions by the DNA strand(s), and vertex junctions are realized by a set... Read More about DNA Cages with Icosahedral Symmetry in Bionanotechnology.

DNA duplex cage structures with icosahedral symmetry (2009)
Journal Article
Grayson, N., Taormina, A., & Twarock, R. (2009). DNA duplex cage structures with icosahedral symmetry. Theoretical Computer Science, 410(15), 1440-1447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcs.2008.12.005

A construction method for duplex cage structures with icosahedral symmetry made out of single-stranded DNA molecules is presented and applied to an icosidodecahedral cage. It is shown via a mixture of analytic and computer techniques that there exist... Read More about DNA duplex cage structures with icosahedral symmetry.

Group theory of icosahedral virus capsid vibrations: a top-down approach (2009)
Journal Article
Peeters, K., & Taormina, A. (2009). Group theory of icosahedral virus capsid vibrations: a top-down approach. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 256(4), 607-624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.10.019

We explore the use of a top-down approach to analyse the dynamics of icosahedral virus capsids and complement the information obtained from bottom-up studies of viral vibrations available in the literature. A normal mode analysis based on protein ass... Read More about Group theory of icosahedral virus capsid vibrations: a top-down approach.

Liouville Theory and Elliptic Genera (2009)
Journal Article
Taormina, A. (2009). Liouville Theory and Elliptic Genera. Progress of theoretical physics. Supplement, 177(Supplement 1), 203-217. https://doi.org/10.1143/ptps.177.203

The structure and modular properties of N = 4 superconformal characters are reviewed and exploited, in an attempt to construct elliptic genera-like functions by decompactifying K3. The construction is tested against expressions obtained in the contex... Read More about Liouville Theory and Elliptic Genera.

Twenty-four near-instabilities of Caspar-Klug viruses (2008)
Journal Article
Englert, F., Peeters, K., & Taormina, A. (2008). Twenty-four near-instabilities of Caspar-Klug viruses. Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 78(3), Article 031908. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.78.031908

Group theoretical arguments combined with normal mode analysis techniques are applied to a coarse-grained approximation of icosahedral viral capsids which incorporates areas of variable flexibility. This highlights a remarkable structure of the low-f... Read More about Twenty-four near-instabilities of Caspar-Klug viruses.

Dynamical implications of Viral Tiling Theory (2008)
Journal Article
Elsawy, K., Taormina, A., Twarock, R., & Vaughan, L. (2008). Dynamical implications of Viral Tiling Theory. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 252(2), 357-369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.02.003

The Caspar–Klug classification of viruses whose protein shell, called viral capsid, exhibits icosahedral symmetry, has recently been extended to incorporate viruses whose capsid proteins are exclusively organised in pentamers. The approach, named ‘Vi... Read More about Dynamical implications of Viral Tiling Theory.

Dynamics of Icosahedral Viruses: What Does Viral Tiling Theory Teach Us? (2008)
Journal Article
Peeters, K., & Taormina, A. (2008). Dynamics of Icosahedral Viruses: What Does Viral Tiling Theory Teach Us?. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine, 9(3-4), 211-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/17486700802168270

We present a top-down approach to the study of the dynamics of icosahedral virus capsids, in which each protein is approximated by a point mass. Although this represents a rather crude coarse-graining, we argue that it highlights several generic feat... Read More about Dynamics of Icosahedral Viruses: What Does Viral Tiling Theory Teach Us?.

Liouville Field, Modular Forms and Elliptic Genera (2007)
Journal Article
Eguchi, T., Sugawara, Y., & Taormina, A. (2007). Liouville Field, Modular Forms and Elliptic Genera. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2007(03), https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2007/03/119

When we describe non-compact or singular Calabi–Yau manifolds by CFT, continuous as well as discrete representations appear in the theory. These representations mix in an intricate way under the modular transformations. In this article, we propose a... Read More about Liouville Field, Modular Forms and Elliptic Genera.

Classification of capped tubular viral particles in the family of Papovaviridae (2006)
Journal Article
Keef, T., Taormina, A., & Twarock, R. (2006). Classification of capped tubular viral particles in the family of Papovaviridae. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 18(14), 375-387. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/14/s18

A vital constituent of a virus is its protein shell, called the viral capsid, that encapsulates and hence provides protection for the viral genome. Viral capsids are usually spherical, and for a significant number of viruses they exhibit overall icos... Read More about Classification of capped tubular viral particles in the family of Papovaviridae.

Assembly models for Papovaviridae based on tiling theory (2005)
Journal Article
Keef, T., Taormina, A., & Twarock, R. (2005). Assembly models for Papovaviridae based on tiling theory. Physical Biology, 2(3), 175-188. https://doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/2/3/005

A vital constituent of a virus is its protein shell, called the viral capsid, that encapsulates and hence provides protection for the viral genome. Assembly models are developed for viral capsids built from protein building blocks that can assume dif... Read More about Assembly models for Papovaviridae based on tiling theory.

Higher-level Appell functions, modular transformations, and characters (2005)
Journal Article
Semikhatov, A., Taormina, A., & Tipunin, I. (2005). Higher-level Appell functions, modular transformations, and characters. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 255(2), 469-512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-004-1280-7

We study modular transformation properties of a class of indefinite theta series involved in characters of infinite-dimensional Lie superalgebras. The level- Appell functions satisfy open quasiperiodicity relations with additive theta-function terms... Read More about Higher-level Appell functions, modular transformations, and characters.

The symmetry of M-theories (2003)
Journal Article
Englert, F., Houart, L., Taormina, A., & West, P. (2003). The symmetry of M-theories. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2003(09), https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2003/09/020

We consider the Cartan subalgebra of any very extended algebra Script G+++ where Script G is a simple Lie algebra and let the parameters be space-time fields. These are identified with diagonal metrics and dilatons. Using the properties of the algebr... Read More about The symmetry of M-theories.

Fermionic subspaces of the bosonic string. (2003)
Journal Article
Chattaraputi, A., Englert, F., Houart, L., & Taormina, A. (2003). Fermionic subspaces of the bosonic string. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 20(12), S449-S456

The bosonic mother of fermionic D-branes. (2002)
Journal Article
Chattaraputi, A., Englert, F., Houart, L., & Taormina, A. (2002). The bosonic mother of fermionic D-branes. Journal of High Energy Physics, 09 (2002),

Brane fusion in the bosonic string and the emergence of fermionic strings (2001)
Journal Article
Englert, F., Houart, L., & Taormina, A. (2001). Brane fusion in the bosonic string and the emergence of fermionic strings. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2001(08), https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2001/08/013

We review the emergence of the ten-dimensional fermionic closed string theories from subspaces of the Hilbert space of the 26-dimensional bosonic closed string theory compactified on an E8 × SO(16) lattice. They arise from a consistent truncation pro... Read More about Brane fusion in the bosonic string and the emergence of fermionic strings.

Wakimoto modules for the affine superalgebra sl(2/1) and non-critical N = 2 Strings. (1996)
Journal Article
Bowcock, P., Koktava, R. K., & Taormina, A. (1996). Wakimoto modules for the affine superalgebra sl(2/1) and non-critical N = 2 Strings. Physics Letters B, 388(2), 303-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0370-2693%2896%2901103-3

Free field representations of the affine superalgebra A(1, 0)(1) at level k corresponding to two inequivalent choices of the simple roots are shown to be related by nonlinear canonical field transformations, both at the classical and at the quantum l... Read More about Wakimoto modules for the affine superalgebra sl(2/1) and non-critical N = 2 Strings..