Uniqueness of an $E_8$ model of elementary particles

Abstract

There are many ways to embed the Lie groups of the Standard Model of Particle Physics in a Lie group of type $E_8$, but so far there is no convincing demonstration that the finite symmetries (and asymmetries) of weak hypercharge, three generations of electrons, three quarks in a proton, and photon polarisation can also be embedded correctly. I show that there is a unique way to embed these finite symmetries consistently, and that the gauge groups of the Standard Model are then uniquely determined. The model is automatically chiral, and the generation symmetry acts as a rotation in a real 2-space, so that the spinors for three generations have only twice as many degrees of freedom in total as the spinors for a single generation. In fact, two distinct generation symmetries arise from the restriction to the Standard Model, related by the CKM and/or PMNS matrices. It therefore appears that these two matrices are not independent. I further speculate on the implications for quantum gravity.