3
Γ
is
H
Γ
=
t
∈
Γ
H
t
,
(1)with the label
t
running over all trinions in
Γ
and a sumoverlabels(iftheyarepresent). Nothingthatfollowsde-pends on the choice of
G
q
, so we make the trivial choiceof no labels.The state space of the theory is
H
=
Γ
H
Γ
,
(2)where the sum is over all topologically distinct embed-dings of all such surfaces in
Σ
with the natural innerproduct
Γ
|
Γ
=
δ
ΓΓ
.Some specific examples of theories with such statespaces are: graphs labeled by quantum groups (whererepresentationsofthequantumgroup
G
q
labeltheedgesand
H
t
is the space of
G
q
-invariant tensors on
S
), topo-logical field theory, Loop Quantum Gravity in both
2+1
and
3 + 1
(in which case the algebra is
SU
q
(2)
and thequantum deformation is defined in terms of the cosmo-logical constant
Λ
by
q
= exp
{
2
πk
+2
}
, with
k
=
6
πG
Λ
[9])and, in general, the functorial construction of topologi-cal quantum field theories when the source category is2-dimensional surfaces
S
.Local dynamics on
H
can be defined by excising sub-graphsof
Γ
andreplacingthemwithnewones. Thegen-erators of such dynamics are given graphically in Fig.2.Given a ribbon graph
Γ
, application of
A
i
results in
ˆ
A
i
|
Γ
=
α
|
Γ
αi
(3)where
Γ
αi
are all the ribbon graphs obtained from
Γ
byan application of one move of type
i
(
i
= 1
,
2
,
3
).Together with the identity, these moves generate the
evolution algebra
A
evol
=
{
1
,A
i
}
, i
= 1
,
2
,
3
(4)on
H
.This is a basic description of such theories which willsuffice for the purposes of this paper.
III. CONSERVED DEGREES OF FREEDOM
Note that the decomposition (2) of the state space
H
sums over topologically distinct embeddings of the sur-faces in
Σ
. For example, the two graphs of Fig.3 maycorrespond to the same state in
H
Γ
but correspond todistinct states in
H
. They are distinct physical states be-cause they are braided differently.The basic point of this paper is a simple one andcan be summarized as follows. The braiding content of states in
H
remains invariant under the action of
A
evol
.
A
1
=
A
2
=
A
3
=
(5)FIG. 2: The three generators of evolution on the ribbon graphspace
H
. They are called expansion, contraction and exchangemoves.FIG. 3: These two graphs are not distinguished by the usualtrinion decomposition of
H
.
Thus, any physical information encoded in the braidingwill be conserved under this evolution.Let us first state the precise sense in which the braid-ing is conserved. It is easiest to do so using the notionofanoiselesssubsystemfromquantuminformationthe-ory [3]. Given a finite-dimensional state space
H
=
H
A
⊗H
B
⊕K
,
(6)where
K
istheorthogonalcomplementof
H
A
⊗H
B
in
H
,and a completely positive map
E
on
H
, the subsystem
B
is
noiseless
under
E
if, for all
ρ
A
∈ H
A
,
ρ
B
∈ H
B
, thereexists
σ
A
∈ H
A
such that
E
ρ
A
⊗
ρ
B
=
σ
A
⊗
ρ
B
.
(7)Thatis,
H
B
viewedasasubsystemof
H
isconservedun-der
E
and any information encoded in
H
B
will be pro-tected under
E
.Given
H
and
E
, it is a non-trivial exercise to find thedecomposition (6) that reveals the noiseless subsystem.Some of the literature devoted to this task can be foundin [3]. In our case, however, it is easy to find a noiselesssubsystem in the state space we are considering, when
E
is in
A
evol
. Let us write
H
Γ
as
H
Γ
=
H
T
Γ
⊗H
B
Γ
(8)
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