QUANTUM MINDS COLLECTIVE EXCITATIONS

P. Zizzi

III Quantumbionet Workshop

Pavia, 24/09/2010

Quantum Mind = Collection of quantum processes occurring in the brain.

QM
Definition based on: Quantum Brain Dynamics (QFT of the brain) by Umezava-Ricciardi. Developed by Vitiello (Dissipative QFT of the brain). Philosophy: Ontologically materialist Epistemologically monist Psychology: Quantum Mind = unconscious (we cannot grasp our unconscious thoughts as they are superposed quantum states) Logic: The logic of the quantum mind is the logic of quantum information.

Biology: Penrose-Hameroff Orch-Or theory of quantum consciousness. Superposed coherent tubulines states = unconscious Decoherence consciousness Quantum computing: Quantum Mind = QC

There are many Quantum Minds Q M1

QM4

QM2

Q M3

If we consider interactions among them. 1

Many Quantum Minds many-body quantum system

In solid state physics collective excitations solve the many-body problem as the system can be considered as a whole. Collective excitations: Phonons Magnons Plasmons Laughin quasiparticles in Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE) which have fractional charge, and are anyons (neither bosons, nor fermions)

Ex: Phonons (collective excitations of the atoms of a crystal) Due to the connections between atoms, the displacement of one or more atoms from their equilibrium positions will give rise to a set of vibration waves propagating through the lattice.

Quantum Hall Effect (QHE) Quantum version of the Hall effect 2-dimensional electron system low temperature strong magnetic field B

In the quantum Hall effect, a two-dimensional electron gas (electron charge e and density n) moves under the influence of magnetic field B normal to the plane and an electric field E in the plane. By the Lorentz force, a current J is induced perpendicular to E.

Schematic of a two-dimensional electron gas with a current J induced perpendicular to an electric field E and a strong magnetic field B.
The Hall conductivity takes on the quantized values: = e2/h e = elementary charge h = Plancks constant = filling factor For integer values of =1,2,3, Integer QHE (IQHE) For rational fractions =1/3, 1/5, 5/2, Fractional QHE (FQHE)

These plateaus of quantized conductivity indicate where the twodimensional electron gas acts as an incompressible fluid, meaning that all charged excitations have a finite energy gap. For integer , the gap can be understood without electron interactions because each plateau corresponds to a completely filled Landau level.. The IQHE can be explained in terms of single particle orbitals in a magnetic field (Landau quantization) The energy levels of the quantized orbitals take on discrete values: Landau levels:

E n = h c ( n + 1 / 2)
cyclotron frequency

c = eB / m

For strong magnetic field each Landau level is highly degenerate (there are many single particle states with the same energy En ). For fractional filling, the energy gap can only be explained by including interactions (Coulomb) i.e. the excitations are a collective phenomenon.

The ground state degeneracy means that there are different vacuum states with the same symmetry.there is no symmetry breaking in passing from a ground state to another ground state.

Topological order
Topological order is a property possessed by some special quantum manybody systems. A system is topologically ordered if: - Has a degenerate ground state separated by a gap from the rest of the spectrum. -Each state in the ground eigenspace looks locally the same as any other.

Topological Order - It is a new kind of order in a quantum state - It is beyond the Landau symmetry breaking theory - It cannot be described by local order parameters and long range interactions - It can be described by a new set of quantum numbers, like ground state degeneracy, quasiparticles fractional statistic ecc. - It is a pattern of long-range entanglement in quantum states - The nature of entanglement is topological (because of the presence of anyons, which have exotic statistics, and braiding) - States with different topological orders can transform into each other through a Quantum Phase Transition (QFT).

Topological quantum systems are more familiar from the quantum Hall effect where a two-dimensional layer of electrons is subject to a strong vertical magnetic field. The low-energy spectrum of these systems is governed by a trivial Hamiltonian, H= 0. Nevertheless, they have an interesting behaviour due to the non-trivial statistics of their excitations. It has been proven that this behaviour is dictated by the presence of anyons. Anyons
In space of three or more dimensions, particles are restricted to being fermions or bosons, according to their statistical behaviour Fermions respect the so-called FermiDirac statistics while bosons respect the BoseEinstein statistics

In two-dimensional systems, however, quasiparticles can be observed which obey statistics ranging continuously between FermiDirac and BoseEinstein statistics

with i being the imaginary unit and a real number. So in the case = we recover the FermiDirac statistics and in the case = 0 (or = 2) the BoseEinstein statistics. In between we have something different. Frank Wilczek coined the term "anyon" to describe such particles, since they can have any phase when particles are interchanged.

Unlike bosons or fermions, anyons have a non-trivial evolution when one circulates another.
A particle spans a loop around another one. In three dimensions, it is possible to continuously deform the path 1 to the path 2, which is equivalent to a trivial path

In two dimensions, the two paths 1 and 2 are topologically distinct. This gives the possibility of having non-trivial phase factors appearing when one particle circulates the other. This can be visualized by having the particles carrying charge as well as magnetic flux

The word lines of anyons cross over one another to form braids in a threedimensional spacetime (i.e., one temporal plus two spatial dimensions). Topological Degeneracy System with degenerate ground states where: The degeneracy is protected by topology (genus) ex. g =2 in fig. Degenerate states are not locally distinguishable

Assume we can: Create identifiable anyons e.g. measure them by interference experiments Braid anyons Fuse anyons

vacuum

time
The world lines of the anyons where the third dimension depicts time running downwards. From the vacuum, two pairs of anyons and anti-anyons are generated, depicted by a+, a-,b+, b-

Then, anyons a- and b+ are braided by circulating one around the other. Finally, the anyons are pairwise fused in c+ and c-, but they do not necessarily return to the vacuum as the braiding process may have changed their internal state

Topological quantum computers (TQC)

A topological quantum computer employs anyons. The braids form the quantum logic gates that make up the quantum computer. The advantage of a quantum computer based on quantum braids over using trapped quantum particles is that the former is much more stable. The smallest perturbations can cause a quantum particle to decohere and introduce errors in the computation, such small perturbations do not change the topological properties of the braids.
Recent experiments indicate the elements of a TQC can be created in the real world using semiconductors near absolute zero and subjected to strong magnetic fields.

Quantum Phase Transitions (QPT)

All the phase transitions described by Landau symmetry breaking are classical (although they occur in quantum systems) in the sense that they are driven by classical (thermal) fluctuations which diverge near the critical point. At zero temperature Tc=0, the classical fluctuations disappear. However, there can still be other phases depending on other parameters, like ground state degeneracy ecc. A transition between phases at T= 0 is called quantum phase transition One way to detect a QPT is to notice that the ground state drastically depends on slight changes in the parameters. Example: Transitions between different FQH states is a QPT. That is, different Topological Orders can be transformed into each other by a QPT

String-nets
In condensed matter physics, a string-net is an extended object whose collective behavior has been proposed as a physical explanation for topological order by Michael A. Levin and Xiao-Gang Wen. A particular string-net model may involve only closed loops; or networks of oriented, labeled strings obeying branching rules given by some gauge group or still more general networks. Their model purports to show the derivation of photons, electrons, and U(1) gauge charge, small (relative to the planck mass) but nonzero masses, and suggestions that the leptons, quarks, gluons, and graviton, can be modelled in the same way. However, their model does not account for the chiral coupling between the fermions and the SU(2) gauge bosons in the standard model. For strings labeled by the positive integers, string-nets are the spin networks studied in loop quantum gravity.

 Light is a fluctuation of closed strings of arbitrary sizes. Fermions are ends of open strings. Light and fermions come from the collective motions of string-like objects that form nets and fill our vacuum. Light and fermions exist because our vacuum is a quantum liquid of string-nets.

 Gauge interaction and Fermi statistics are just phenomena of quantum interference in infinity dimension - many-body quantum entanglements. No need to introduce gauge bosons and fermions by hand. They just emerge if our vacuum has a string-net condensation. Constructed spin model on cubic lattice that reproduce QED and QCD . They are the U(1) and the SU(3) in the U(1) SU(2) SU(3) standard model. But ... have trouble to get the chiral coupling of the SU(2). Six fascinating properties of nature: Identical particles Gauge interaction Fermi statistics Massless fermions Chiral fermions Gravity The string-net condensation picture can explain four of them.

Emergence vs reductionism.!

The analogy:
Quantum Minds Collective Unconscious (Jung) Many-body quantum systems Collective quantum excitations Degenerate ground state

Archetypes deep unconscious (Jung) Holographic QM (Pribram)

2-dimensional topological quantum system Topological QC String-nets

Unconscious as a QC (Penrose-Hameroff)

Emergence of individual QM individual unconscious (Jung)