The Grand Synthesis- Putting it Together

LQG- Loop Quantum Gravity has now evolved into a synthesis of a collection of theories and models all predicated on various interpretations of knots, links and braids.

In 2005 – an Australian physicist - Sundance Bilson-Thompson now collaborating with Lee Smolin, published a paper on the Preon model, which postulates that electrons, quarks and neutrinos or any other matter or energy particle included in the Standard Model, can be generated from smaller hypothetical particles that carry electric charge- Preons (5)

The particular particle generated is a function of the topological structure or braiding, based on the particle’s interaction with others and their environment.
Preons possess length and width and interact by braiding – crossing over and under each other as world lines in spacetime. Three preons combine to form a particle- each preon possessing a third of charge of an electron or neutrino or any other particle in the standard model. Braids in spacetime might in fact be the source of matter and energy. It has now been confirmed that the braiding of quantum spacetime can in fact produce the lightest particles of the standard model.

Simultaneously it has been postulated by another physicist working with the Smolin team- Fotini Markopoulou, that spacetime braids might also facilitate the operations of quantum computing, with the universe seen as giant quantum computer- each quantum of LQG’s space equivalent to a quantum bit of information. In such a model, space itself may not exist, but becomes a web of information.

In 1987 a mathematician- Vaughan Jones, applied Von Neumann Algebras to prove that quantum mechanical variables such as energy, position and momentum are related to the topology of knots. This work also proved that knots could be used to represent information as a matrix of 0s and 1s and also represent the logic gates or operators necessary for quantum computation.

In 1988, Michael Freedman discussed the possibility of using quantum topology for computation based on the discovery that the invariant properties of knots were associated with the quantum physics of a two-dimensional surface evolving in time.

Edward Witten in 1989 also showed that the spatial motion of quantum particles can create braiding in spacetime, whose strands are the histories of individual particles. Performing measurements on a braided system of quantum particles can therefore be equivalent to performing the computation that a knot or braid encodes for.

Alexei Kitaev proved in 1997 that Witten’s topological braiding interpretation of quantum theory can form the basis of computation, by weaving world lines around each other in 4D spacetime to create non-Abelian anyons, similar to preons, with one third the electric charge of an electron. In this model non-abelian anyons occur in pairs each carrying equal and opposite amounts of ‘topological charge’ (6).
The state of a quantum computer is stored in the conserved charges that the anyons carry. By choosing the appropriate braiding patterns the quantum logic operations of computation can be encoded. Recent experiments in the field of fractional quantum Hall physics have demonstrated the possibility of the real existence of anyons.

The new LQG model, supporting theories which incorporate the braiding of spacetime, provide strong support for the D-Net model and constitute the third evidential basis for the theory. D-Net postulates that the logic operators required to drive the quantum decisions necessary to achieve evolution in the universe may be derived from the same braiding process that generates the preon and anyon models of quantum particles and information as defined above.

Further supporting evidence may be derived from Professor Edward Fredkin’s model which has extended the concept of Cellula Automata made famous by John Conway’s 1970 Game of Life. In this model rules are applied to a 2D grid of cells, from which patterns emerge which sometimes appear to model living entities.
Stephen Wolfram in his book- A New Kind of Science extended this basic model to incorporate multiple dimensions and more sophisticated rule and provided many examples of how simple rules can generate very complex patterns that mimic those found in the natural world.

In Fredkin’s model, the state of the braided patterns correspond to bits of information. The cellular automaton is described as a loom in which the warp is time and weaving takes place line by line. At each time step a cross-thread of the tapestry of the universe is laid down. Where a cross-thread crosses the warp there are two braiding possibilities- under or over.
A binary decision is made as each line of weaving unfolds. This is an evolving cellula automata.
In Fredkin’s theory the way the automata tapestry evolves is controlled by the dominant Rule governingf a set of sub-rules, which applies to every cell in the evolving grid and a clock governing discrete time steps.
This model therefore reinforces and overlaps with LQG's model of discrete space and time.

However the model also postulates that space is not defined by the dimensions or scale of the cellular matrix, but by the paths that the free particles take in the array based on the information carried by each particle. The physics of the reality that life perceives is a projection of information out from the matrix.

By swapping bits in different states according to the Rule, Fredkin’s loom generates quantum forces and matter particles as well as the laws of physics such as the conservation of energy and momentum.
It is proposed that the Fredkin Rule-set governing the evolution of a quantum information universe is a variant of the principles governing a unified evolutionary model such as D-Net.

It is further proposed that the current overlapping models of reality, incorporating the new braiding concepts of LQG, which in turn may encompass the Wolfram and Fredkin cellular automata-based braiding models, can be further extended and unified by the author’s D-Net Model.

In summary, the D-Net model, incorporating Frieden’s information theory, has the capacity to link a Unified Information-based model of Evolution with a Unified Information model of the Physical Universe.
All Life may therefore be integrated within the fundamental nature of the universe as an emergent sentient information processing entity.

The universe therefore may be represented as an infinite dimensional Quantum network or mesh, with each node acting as a quantum computer. In this model, space time matter and energy do not exist as the primary or foundational components but as emergent properties of the decision process network.

Life’s ‘consciousness’ may provide the mechanism to produce the evolutionary selection state outcomes from the D-Net decision nodes. Information, matter, energy and spacetime may therefore all be generated from the same decision processes- the braiding or knotting of quantised relational flows through the network.