English

The Standard Model, The Exceptional Jordan Algebra, and Triality

High Energy Physics - Theory 2020-07-01 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Quantum Physics

Abstract

Jordan, Wigner and von Neumann classified the possible algebras of quantum mechanical observables, and found they fell into 4 "ordinary" families, plus one remarkable outlier: the exceptional Jordan algebra. We point out an intriguing relationship between the complexification of this algebra and the standard model of particle physics, its minimal left-right-symmetric SU(3)×SU(2)L×SU(2)R×U(1)SU(3)\times SU(2)_{L}\times SU(2)_{R}\times U(1) extension, and Spin(10)Spin(10) unification. This suggests a geometric interpretation, where a single generation of standard model fermions is described by the tangent space (CO)2(\mathbb{C}\otimes\mathbb{O})^{2} of the complex octonionic projective plane, and the existence of three generations is related to SO(8)SO(8) triality.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2006.16265,
  title  = {The Standard Model, The Exceptional Jordan Algebra, and Triality},
  author = {Latham Boyle},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.16265},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-23T16:42:42.198Z