Title: Growth of root multiplicities along imaginary root strings in Kac--Moody algebras

Abstract: Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a symmetrizable Kac--Moody algebra. Given a root $\alpha$ and a real root $\beta$ of $\mathfrak{g}$, it is known that the $\beta$-string through $\alpha$, denoted $R_\alpha(\beta)$, is finite. Given an imaginary root $\beta$, we show that $R_\alpha(\beta)=\{\beta\}$ or $R_\alpha(\beta)$ is infinite. If $(\beta,\beta)<0$, we also show that the multiplicity of the root ${\alpha+n\beta}$ grows at least exponentially as $n\to\infty$. If $(\beta,\beta)=(\alpha, \beta) = 0$, we show that $R_\alpha(\beta)$ is bi-infinite and the multiplicities of $\alpha+n\beta$ are bounded. If $(\beta,\beta)=0$ and $(\alpha, \beta) \neq 0$, we show that $R_\alpha(\beta)$ is semi-infinite and the muliplicity of $\alpha+n\beta$ or $\alpha-n\beta$ grows faster than every polynomial as $n\to\infty$. We also prove that $\dim \mathfrak{g}_{\alpha+\beta} \geq \dim \mathfrak{g}_\alpha + \dim \mathfrak{g}_\beta -1$ whenever $\alpha \neq \beta$ with $(\alpha, \beta)<0$.