Three Generations & Particle Masses

The Standard Model has three nearly identical copies of quarks and leptons, with masses that differ by factors of hundreds to tens of thousands. Nobody knows why three, and nobody can predict the ratios.

In LIMA-QTE there is no “copying”. The electron is the simplest stable torus knot (1,1 winding). The muon is the next stable higher-winding torus knot. The tau is the one after that. Up and down quarks are two linked tori; charm and strange are more complex links; top and bottom are the most tangled stable configurations.

The mass of a knot is roughly the energy needed to tie and sustain that particular topology. Just as a simple overhand knot weighs almost nothing while a sailor’s bowline or a Turk’s head is heavier and harder to untie, particle masses are direct measures of topological complexity. The observed hierarchy — muon 207 times heavier than electron, top quark 16 900 times heavier than muon — is expected to fall out exactly once we finish mapping stable electromagnetic knots (numerical search completing Dec 2025 – Jan 2026).