Indispensable role of quantum theory in the brain dynamics

Recently, Tegmark pointed out that the superposition of ion states involved in the superposition of firing and resting states of a neuron quickly decohere. It undoubtedly indicates that neural networks cannot work as quantum computers, or computers taking advantage of coherent states. Does it also mean that the brain can be modeled as a neural network obeying classical physics? Here we show that it does not mean that the brain can be modeled as a neural network obeying classical physics. A brand new perspective in research of neural networks from quantum theoretical aspect is presented.     

Geoelectromagnetic Field and Consciousness Quantum

A physically grounded model of a consciousness quantum associated with free radical spins biomembranes is proposed. In essence, is the consciousness quantum physically valid as a fundamental constant of 10⁴⁰ spins? According to our concept, consciousness quantum transduction is possible in a geoelectromagnetic field of 0.5 Oe by a 1.4 MHz electromagnetic wave under conditions of magnetic resonance. At the same time, the rationale presented requires further consideration.     

Linking physiological mechanisms of coherent cellular behaviour with more general physical approaches towards the coherence of life

Schr?dinger pointed out that one of the most fundamental properties of life is its coherent behaviour. This property has been approached from a physiological point of view by Ling in his 'association-induction hypothesis' and extended by Pollack (gel-sol theory), by Chaplin and by Kaivarainen (detailed studies of cellular water). The question of coherence has also been attacked from general physics in three independent approaches: from non-linear thermodynamics (Fr?hlich), from quantum field theory (Del Giudice and his group) and from quantum mechanics (Davydov). In this paper all these approaches are unified. The emerging picture constitutes a new paradigm of life.     

Special Relativity at the Quantum Scale

It has been suggested that the space-time structure as described by the theory of special relativity is a macroscopic manifestation of a more fundamental quantum structure (pre-geometry). Efforts to quantify this idea have come mainly from the area of abstract quantum logic theory. Here we present a preliminary attempt to develop a quantum formulation of special relativity based on a model that retains some geometric attributes. Our model is Feynman''s “checker-board” trajectory for a 1-D relativistic free particle. We use this model to guide us in identifying (1) the quantum version of the postulates of special relativity and (2) the appropriate quantum “coordinates”. This model possesses a useful feature that it admits an interpretation both in terms of paths in space-time and in terms of quantum states. Based on the quantum version of the postulates, we derive a transformation rule for velocity. This rule reduces to the Einstein''s velocity-addition formula in the macroscopic limit and reveals an interesting aspect of time. The 3-D case, time-dilation effect, and invariant interval are also discussed in term of this new formulation. This is a preliminary investigation; some results are derived, while others are interesting observations at this point.     

Does quantum mechanics play a non-trivial role in life?

There have been many claims that quantum mechanics plays a key role in the origin and/or operation of biological organisms, beyond merely providing the basis for the shapes and sizes of biological molecules and their chemical affinities. These range from Schr?dinger's suggestion that quantum fluctuations produce mutations, to Hameroff and Penrose's conjecture that quantum coherence in microtubules is linked to consciousness. I review some of these claims in this paper, and discuss the serious problem of decoherence. I advance some further conjectures about quantum information processing in bio-systems. Some possible experiments are suggested.     

Bioenergetics

As introduced previously, the information field can serve as a base for inferences in terms of dynamics but also of relativity, with the latter being discussed regarding the possibility of transformation between information and energy (and mass as well). An energy equivalent of information is obtained: b, a new constant of nature, patterned after the mechanical equivalent of heat. Some approaches to the calculation of b are considered. Proceeding from the laws of transformation, a more general rule of information conservation is obtained, which may also be written as an equation of matter. The transformations can be presented also by geometrical means. In the m-W-I model space, all biological processes seem to be functions of time. By letting time be x4 = ict with a view to the spatial coordinates of the model space, the Minkowski space is shown to apply to biology too, where it seems to have implications similar to those it has in physics. In 2 tables, a systematic listing of origins and results of biodynamics and bioenergetics (biorelativity) is given.     

Mathematical formulation of Leibnizian world: a theory of individual-whole or interior-exterior reflective systems

A world model, suggested by Leibniz's monadology, is formulated as a mathematical axiomatic system. The purpose of this world model is to provide a general scheme for describing a system of individuals having consciousness or internal worlds that communicate with each other and make a unified whole world, and moreover, the latter is reflected into the respective internal worlds and appears as an external world. Examples of such monadological structure of interior-exterior (or individual-whole) reflection can be observed in bio- or socio-systems and recently in computer networks. Moreover, a most elemental version of this structure can be found in the basic level of quantum physics. The model not only gives a prototype of monadological systems but also has an evolutionary ability to produce a hierarchy of monadological systems, which are interpreted as corresponding to various levels of consciousness.     

Quantal microbiology

Quantal microbiology describes a similarity between physics and microbiology. In both sciences there is an apparent dichotomy between the certainty and stability of the macro-subject and the uncertainty/complexity of the individual atom/cell. Classical physics is to quantum mechanics as classical microbiology is to quantal microbiology.     

Testing quantum dynamics in genetic information processing

Does quantum dynamics play a role in DNA replication? What type of tests would reveal that? Some statistical checks that distinguish classical and quantum dynamics in DNA replication are proposed.     

Some introductory formalizations on the affine Hilbert spaces model of the origin of life. I. On quantum mechanical measurement and the origin of the genetic code: a general physical framework theory

A physical (affine Hilbert spaces) frame is developed for the discussion of the interdependence of the problem of the origin (symbolic assignment) of the genetic code and a possible endophysical (a kind of "internal") quantum measurement in an explicite way, following the general considerations of Balázs (Balázs, A., 2003. BioSystems 70, 43-54; Balázs, A., 2004a. BioSystems 73, 1-11). Using the Everett (a dynamic) interpretation of quantum mechanics, both the individual code assignment and the concatenated linear symbolism is discussed. It is concluded that there arises a skewed quantal probability field, with a natural dynamic non-linearity in codon assignment within the physical model adopted (essentially corresponding to a much discussed biochemical frame of self-catalyzed binding (charging) of t RNA like proto RNAs (ribozymes) with amino acids). This dynamic specific molecular complex assumption of individual code assignment, and the divergence of the code in relation to symbol concatenation, are discussed: our frame supports the former and interpret the latter as single-type codon (triplet), also unambiguous and extended assignment, selection in molecular evolution, corresponding to converging towards the fixedpoint of the internal dynamics of measurement, either in a protein- or RNA-world. In this respect, the general physical consequence is the introduction of a fourth rank semidiagonal energy tensor (see also Part II) ruling the internal dynamics as a non-linear in principle second-order one. It is inferred, as a summary, that if the problem under discussion could be expressed by the concepts of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics in some yet not quite specified way, the matter would be particularly interesting with respect to both the origin of life and quantum mechanics, as a dynamically supported natural measurement-theoretical split between matter ("hardware") and (internal) symbolism ("software") aspects of living matter.     

From computational quantum chemistry to computational biology: experiments and computations are (full) partners

Computations are being integrated into biological research at an increasingly fast pace. This has not only changed the way in which biological information is managed; it has also changed the way in which experiments are planned in order to obtain information from nature. Can experiments and computations be full partners? Computational chemistry has expanded over the years, proceeding from computations of a hydrogen molecule toward the challenging goal of systems biology, which attempts to handle the entire living cell. Applying theories from ab initio quantum mechanics to simplified models, the virtual worlds explored by computations provide replicas of real-world phenomena. At the same time, the virtual worlds can affect our perception of the real world. Computational biology targets a world of complex organization, for which a unified theory is unlikely to exist. A computational biology model, even if it has a clear physical or chemical basis, may not reduce to physics and chemistry. At the molecular level, computational biology and experimental biology have already been partners, mutually benefiting from each other. For the perception to become reality, computation and experiment should be united as full partners in biological research.     

Quantum microbiology

During his famous 1943 lecture series at Trinity College Dublin, the reknown physicist Erwin Schrodinger discussed the failure and challenges of interpreting life by classical physics alone and that a new approach, rooted in Quantum principles, must be involved. Quantum events are simply a level of organization below the molecular level. This includes the atomic and subatomic makeup of matter in microbial metabolism and structures, as well as the organic, genetic information code of DNA and RNA. Quantum events at this time do not elucidate, for example, how specific genetic instructions were first encoded in an organic genetic code in microbial cells capable of growth and division, and its subsequent evolution over 3.6 to 4 billion years. However, due to recent technological advances, biologists and physicists are starting to demonstrate linkages between various quantum principles like quantum tunneling, entanglement and coherence in biological processes illustrating that nature has exerted some level quantum control to optimize various processes in living organisms. In this article we explore the role of quantum events in microbial processes and endeavor to show that after nearly 67 years, Schr?dinger was prophetic and visionary in his view of quantum theory and its connection with some of the fundamental mechanisms of life.     

Racial physics or a theory for everything that happened

This political commentary invokes the concept of racial physics, a theory of race and racism influenced philosophically and metaphorically by Albert Einstein's principle of equivalence and theories of relativity, especially in light of the recent political season. The goals for this essay are twofold: (1) provide a critical race conscious assessment of the 2016 political season both within the United States and abroad, and (2) demonstrate how race and racism reflect a broader social cosmology of great consequence, underscoring the tendency among humans to develop constructs that persist across space and time with effects that mirror the nature and properties of matter and energy.     

Introduction: Who's at the bottom? Examining claims about racial hierarchy

Why do claims about racial hierarchy matter? The question whether some groups are worse off than others is highly pertinent at a time when there is growing recognition of multiple forms of racisms and racial oppression. It is widely accepted that racial hierarchies are still with us today, and this concept is peppered throughout writings on “race” and racisms, but, what, exactly, are racial hierarchies, how do racial hierarchies continue to matter, and in what ways do they operate? This special issue, which focuses on the USA and Britain, also addresses the following questions: Does the concept of racial hierarchy aid us in illuminating racial inequalities and the differential experiences of groups in Western multi-ethnic societies such as the USA and Britain? What sorts of criteria are used in arguments about the place of groups along racial hierarchies? What are the political implications of claims made about racial hierarchies?     

Does consciousness really collapse the wave function?: A possible objective biophysical resolution of the measurement problem

An analysis has been performed of the theories and postulates advanced by von Neumann, London and Bauer, and Wigner, concerning the role that consciousness might play in the collapse of the wave function, which has become known as the measurement problem. This reveals that an error may have been made by them in the area of biology and its interface with quantum mechanics when they called for the reduction of any superposition states in the brain through the mind or consciousness. Many years later Wigner changed his mind to reflect a simpler and more realistic objective position which appears to offer a way to resolve this issue. The argument is therefore made that the wave function of any superposed photon state or states is always objectively and stochastically changed within the complex architecture of the eye in a continuous linear process initially for most of the superposed photons, followed by a discontinuous nonlinear collapse process later for any remaining superposed photons, thereby guaranteeing that only final, measured information is presented to the brain, mind or consciousness. An experiment to be conducted in the near future may enable us to simultaneously resolve the measurement problem and also determine if the linear nature of quantum mechanics is violated by the perceptual process.     

Do mental events cause neural events analogously to the probability fields of quantum mechanics?

If non-material mental events, such as the intention to carry out an action, are to have an effective action on neural events in the brain, it has to be at the most subtle and plastic level of these events. In the first stage of our enquiry an introduction to conventional synaptic theory leads on to an account of the manner of operation of the ultimate synaptic units. These units are the synaptic boutons that, when excited by an all-or-nothing nerve impulse, deliver the total contents of a single synaptic vesicle, not regularly, but probabilistically. This quantal emission of the synaptic transmitter molecules (about 5000-10 000) is the elementary unit of the transmission process from one neuron to another. In the second stage this refined physiological analysis leads on to an account of the ultrastructure of the synapse, which gives clues as to the manner of its unitary probabilistic operation. The essential feature is that the effective structure of each bouton is a paracrystalline presynaptic vesicular grid with about 50 vesicles, which acts probabilistically in vesicular (quantal) release. In the third stage it is considered how a non-material mental event, such as an intention to move, could influence the subtle probabilistic operations of synaptic boutons. On the biological side, attention is focused on the paracrystalline presynaptic vesicular grids as the targets for non-material mental events. On the physical side, attention is focused on the probabilistic fields of quantum mechanics which carry neither mass nor energy, but which nevertheless can exert effective action at microsites. The new light on the mind-brain problem came from the hypothesis that the non-material mental events, the 'World 2' of Popper, relate to the neural events of the brain (the 'World 1' of matter and energy) by actions in conformity with quantum theory. This hypothesis that mental events act on probabilistic synaptic events in a manner analogous to the probability fields of quantum mechanics seems to open up an immense field of scientific investigation both in quantum physics and in neuroscience.     

Classical and quantum dynamics on p-adic trees of ideas

We propose mathematical models of information processes of unconscious and conscious thinking (based on p-adic number representation of mental spaces). Unconscious thinking is described by classical cognitive mechanics (which generalizes Newton's mechanics). Conscious thinking is described by quantum cognitive mechanics (which generalizes the pilot wave model of quantum mechanics). The information state and motivation of a conscious cognitive system evolve under the action of classical information forces and a new quantum information force, namely, conscious force. Our model might provide mathematical foundations for some cognitive and psychological phenomena: collective conscious behavior, connection between physiological and mental processes in a biological organism, Freud's psychoanalysis, hypnotism, homeopathy. It may be used as the basis of a model of conscious evolution of life.