One generation of the Standard Model as a quantum error-correcting code

Abstract

Together with a right-handed neutrino, the fermions of one generation of the Standard Model are labelled by five bits, a combinatorial structure tied to anomaly cancellation. We make this precise. Anomaly cancellation is the vanishing of a cubic form, the defining property of triorthogonal codes, the quantum error-correcting codes behind magic state distillation. Removing the right-handed neutrino gives a $[[15,1,3]]_p$ code for every prime $p$, including the Bravyi-Kitaev code for $p = 2$. For qutrits it is the unique shortest distance-three triorthogonal code.