Open Quantum Systems in Biology, Cognitive and Social Sciences

Sandro Sozzo, Diederik Aerts, Jan Broekaert +1 more

Gerardo Delgado-Barrio, Erkki Brändas, J. Maruani +2 more

Michael E. Cuffaro, Stephan Hartmann

Abstract The study of open systems is a cornerstone of many scientific disciplines outside physics. Across the biological, social, and cognitive sciences, systems are commonly understood in terms of their interactions with an environment. This is because, at a fundamental level, the entities studied in these disciplines are rarely, if ever, isolated. While openness is often taken as a given in the special sciences, physics has historically developed with a strong emphasis on closed-system modelling. The success of Newtonian mechanics, classical thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics has to a large extent relied on the ability to isolate and describe systems in terms of well-defined boundary conditions. However, recent developments suggest that the importance of open systems is gaining increasing recognition even within physics. In this introduction we introduce the general topic of open systems in physics and the open systems view, and we summarise each of the other chapters of the volume.

Andrei Yu. Khrennikov, Masanari Asano

Andrei Yu. Khrennikov

The aim of this review is to highlight the possibility of applying the mathematical formalism and methodology of quantum theory to model behavior of complex biosystems, from genomes and proteins to animals, humans, and ecological and social systems. Such models are known as quantum-like, and they should be distinguished from genuine quantum physical modeling of biological phenomena. One of the distinguishing features of quantum-like models is their applicability to macroscopic biosystems or, to be more precise, to information processing in them. Quantum-like modeling has its basis in quantum information theory, and it can be considered one of the fruits of the quantum information revolution. Since any isolated biosystem is dead, modeling of biological as well as mental processes should be based on the theory of open systems in its most general form-the theory of open quantum systems. In this review, we explain its applications to biology and cognition, especially theory of quantum instruments and the quantum master equation. We mention the possible interpretations of the basic entities of quantum-like models with special interest given to QBism, as it may be the most useful interpretation.