Charge quantization from a number operator
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Peer-reviewed
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Abstract
We explain how an unexpected algebraic structure, the division algebras, can
be seen to underlie a generation of quarks and leptons. From this new vantage
point, electrons and quarks are simply excitations from the neutrino, which
formally plays the role of a vacuum state. Using the ladder operators which
exist within the system, we build a number operator in the usual way. It turns
out that this number operator, divided by 3, mirrors the behaviour of electric
charge. As a result, we see that electric charge is quantized because number
operators can only take on integer values.
Finally, we show that a simple hermitian form, built from these ladder
operators, results uniquely in the nine generators of
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1873-2445