[1902.03118] A short introduction to Monstrous Moonshine

Abstract:This article is a short and elementary introduction to the monstrous moonshine aiming to be as accessible as possible. I first review the classification of finite simple groups out of which the monster naturally arises, and features of the latter that are needed in order to state the moonshine conjecture of Conway and Norton. Then I motivate modular functions and modular forms from the classification of complex tori, with the definitions of the J-invariant and its q-expansion as a goal. I eventually provide evidence for the monstrous moonshine correspondence, state the conjecture, and then present the ideas that led to its proof. Lastly I give a brief account of some recent developments and current research directions in the field.

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