The Spirit of Moonshine: Connections between the Mathieu Groups and Modular Forms Jeremy Booher
[email protected] Adviser: Benedict Gross March 22, 2010 Submitted to the Harvard University Department of Mathematics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of A.B. in Mathematics Acknowledgements I wish to thank Dick Gross, my thesis adviser, for his wisdom and patience in helping me select a manageable piece of moonshine on which to write my thesis. It would have been very easy to pick so broad a topic it would be impossible to move beyond the superficial. Thank you also for reading and improving several drafts. I also to wish to thank Noam Elkies for being an excellent source of knowledge about Steiner systems and the Mathieu groups. Thanks also to Amanda Folsam, and Riad Masri, and Ken Ono at the Wisconsin REU in Number Theory for introducing me to the theory of modular forms and monstrous moon- shine. Thanks also to Carl Erickson and Christian Zamora Jaen for agreeing to edit the math- ematical heart of my thesis, and to Jeremy Aron-Dine and Don Larsen for giving me a non-mathematicians impression of my thesis. Finally, I thank my parents for supporting me as my path into mathematics went far from their path in life. They always were interested, they always provided food, and they always loved. Thank you also for finding Steve Munden, who showed me in high school what math is all about by teaching me to prove. moonshine 2. a. (n.) Appearance without substance; something unsubstantial or unreal; (now) esp.