Stable Isotopes, Quantum Computing and Consciousness

Kohei M. Itoh

Satoru Miyamoto, Usami Noritaka, Kohei M. Itoh

Kohei M. Itoh, Hideyuki Watanabe

Abstract Some of the stable isotopes of silicon and carbon have zero nuclear spin, whereas many of the other elements that constitute semiconductors consist entirely of stable isotopes that have nuclear spins. Silicon and diamond crystals composed of nuclear-spin-free stable isotopes (28Si,30Si, or12C) are considered to be ideal host matrixes to place spin quantum bits (qubits) for quantum-computing and -sensing applications, because their coherent properties are not disrupted thanks to the absence of host nuclear spins. The present paper describes the state-of-the-art and future perspective of silicon and diamond isotope engineering for development of quantum information-processing devices.

Alexander A. Berezin

This note was written by a theoretical physicist currently working on physical aspects of consciousness, mind-matter relationships, and mind-body interactions. My purpose here is to inform the readers of this journal, in not too technical terms, of some recent ideas relating quantum mechanics, gravitation, and psychological phenomena. Attempts to relate the nature of consciousness to quantum mechanics have been known almost from the be+g of quantum mechanics. For an extended discussion and earlier references see, e.g., Stapp (1982). The common thread of the majority of the suggested hypotheses linking consciousness to a quantum level of description is a drawing of a between the spontaneous localization of mental patterns and (spontaneous or induced) reduction of the wave function in quantum mechanics. The latter essentially means that quantum systems are inherently described in probabilistic terms and any external observation reduces the manyfold of all potential possibilia to a single given realization. Interpretation of this process is one of the most difficult and controversial topics of quantum mechanics since in quantum mechanics it is thus far essentially impossible to demarcate unambiguously the observer from the quantum system itself. Despite that gravitational effects are usually deemed to be too weak at atomic level, a few authors recently discussed gravity as an inherent route used by nature to achieve an automatic spontaneous reduction of the wave functions of extended objects. In his recent book, Roger Penrose (1989) looks for the possible connections between consciousness, quantum mechanical reduction and gravitational phenomena. To simplify, the essence of these hypotheses is that subtle gravitational effects at the atomic-molecular level lock the brain into a particular mental state, thereby providing the materialization of the potential (quantum) mental image by the route similar to the reduction of the wave function in quantum mechanics. Isotopic diversity of chemical elements can substantially contribute to this picture, as well as to life processes in general (Berezin, 1988). Since gravity is a mass-sensitive effect, the fact that different stable isotopes of the same element (e.g., carbon, oxygen, nitrogen) have different atomic masses may affect the path of mental processing.

Daegene Song

Previously, it has been suggested that the GA¶del-type non-algorithmic process may be associated with consciousness. This paper discusses the halting problem and the non-computability of self-referential consciousness. Specifically, this discussion outlines the distinguishability between the halting and looping of computation, or the semantic understanding between true and false, that may be associated with the non-computability of consciousness. The nonlocality intrinsically possessed in quantum theory is one of the striking features of nature that has received a lot of attention. In particular, Bell-type inequalities have been not only extremely powerful but practical tools in quantum information technology. A numerical approach is used to describe different cases of Bell-CHSH inequalities, particularly with different numbers of the choices of measurement bases. It is shown that there are variations of inequalities that are relatively stable against measurement errors.