Braided matter interactions in quantum gravity via one-handle attachment

In a topological description of elementary matter proposed by Bilson-Thompson, the leptons and quarks of a single generation, together with the electroweak gauge bosons, are represented as elements of the framed braid group of three ribbons. By identifying these braids with emergent topological excitations of ribbon networks, it has been possible to encode this braid model into the framework of quantum geometry provided by loop quantum gravity. One major hurdle in this promising approach to unifying matter and space-time has been the difficulty in implementing any dynamics that reflects observed particle interactions. In the case of trivalent networks, it has not been possible to generate particle interactions, because the braids correspond to noiseless subsystems, meaning they commute with the evolution algebra generated by the local Pachner moves. In the case of tetravalent networks, interactions are only possible when the model’s original simplicity, in which interactions take place via the composition of braids, is sacrificed. The main result of the present paper is to demonstrate that it is possible to preserve both the original classification of fermions, as well as their interaction via the braid product, if we embed the braid in a trivalent scheme and supplement the local Pachner moves, with a nonlocal and graph-changing one-handle attachment. Moreover, we use Kauffman-Lins recoupling theory to obtain invariants of braided networks that distinguish topological configurations associated to particles in the Bilson-Thompson model.