SYMMETRIC SUBGROUPS OF GAUGED SUPERGRAVITIES AND AdS STRING THEORY VERTEX OPERATORS

We show how the gauge symmetry representations of the massless particle content of gauged supergravities that arise in the AdS/CFT correspondences can be derived from symmetric subgroups to be carried by string theory vertex operators, although explicit vertex operator constructions of the IIB string on AdS remain elusive. Our symmetry mechanism parallels the construction of representations of the Monster group and affine algebras in terms of twisted conformal field theories, and may serve as a guide to a perturbative description of the IIB string on AdS.