This article describes a quantum model of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as macroscopic quantum jumps "big" (ordinary) state function reductions as opposed to "small" state function reductions identified as counterparts of "weak" measurements. The occurrence of these phenomena correlates strongly with sunspot minima, cosmic rays seem to induce them but quite too deep below the Earth's surface, and electromagnetic activity in upper atmosphere precedes rather than follows these phenomena as one might expect. Zero energy ontology based view about macroscopic quantum jumps predicted by TGD explains these paradoxical looking findings.
This article describes a quantum model of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as macroscopic quantum jumps "big" (ordinary) state function reductions as opposed to "small" state function reductions identified as counterparts of "weak" measurements. The occurrence of these phenomena correlates strongly with sunspot minima, cosmic rays seem to induce them but quite too deep below the Earth's surface, and electromagnetic activity in upper atmosphere precedes rather than follows these phenomena as one might expect. Zero energy ontology based view about macroscopic quantum jumps predicted by TGD explains these paradoxical looking findings.
This paper explores an event-based version of quantum mechanics which differs from the commonly accepted one, even though the usual elements of quantum formalism, e.g., the Hilbert space, are maintained. This version introduces as primary element the occurrence of micro-events induced by usual physical (mechanical, electromagnetic and so on) interactions. These micro-events correspond to state reductions and are identified with quantum jumps, already introduced by Bohr in his atomic model and experimentally well established today. Macroscopic bodies are defined as clusters of jumps; the emergence of classicality thus becomes understandable and time honoured paradoxes can be solved. In particular, we discuss the cat paradox in this context. Quantum jumps are described as temporal localizations of physical quantities; if the information associated with these localizations has to be finite, two time scales spontaneously appear: an upper cosmological scale and a lower scale of elementary "particles''. This allows the interpretation of the Bekenstein limit like a particular informational constraint on the manifestation of a micro-event in the cosmos it belongs. The topic appears relevant in relation to recent discussions on possible spatiotemporal constraints on quantum computing.
A single-atom optical clock proposed over ten years ago utilizes an amplification scheme which only recently was recognized as a novel problem in quantum statistics. The atom, a three-state system, has two coupled transitions that are driven continuously by two external fields, one being an allowed transition (1\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}3) and the other a forbidden transition (2\ensuremath{\leftrightarrows}3) where \ensuremath{\Vert}3〉 is the lowest state. It has been argued that the weak transition, which is difficult to detect, could be monitored by the presence or absence of spontaneous emission of the strong transition. Thus, when the atom is shelved in the metastable state \ensuremath{\Vert}2〉, the strong transition is extinguished, but when the atom executes a single quantum jump (2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3), it triggers a succession of perhaps a million quantum jumps (macroscopic quantum jumps) in the strong transition, an amplification that can be detected easily. This intuitive argument for alternating bright and dark intervals assumes, however, that the atom is always in an eigenstate. Should the atom be in a superposition state, because of coherent excitation, one could imagine that the weak transition would merely reduce the intensity of the strong transition slightly. This issue is resolved, in favor of the first intuitive argument, by calculating the photon-counting statistics, the probability W(n,T) of observing precisely n photon-counting events in a collection T in a quantum-mechanically consistent way. The results cannot be described by classical statistics. A compact analytic form is obtained for W(n,T) by considering the entire hierarchy of correlation functions where the emission interval peaks sharply about a particular n with a Poisson distribution and can be comparable in length to the darkness interval (n=0) while the other values of n display vanishingly small probabilities.
We add nonlinear and state-dependent terms to quantum field theory. We show that the resulting low-energy theory, nonlinear quantum mechanics, is causal, preserves probability and permits a consistent description of the process of measurement. We explore the consequences of such terms and show that nonlinear quantum effects can be observed in macroscopic systems even in the presence of decoherence. We find that current experimental bounds on these nonlinearities are weak and propose several experimental methods to significantly probe these effects. The locally exploitable effects of these nonlinearities have enormous technological implications. For example, they would allow large-scale parallelization of computing (in fact, any other effort) and enable quantum sensing beyond the standard quantum limit. We also expose a fundamental vulnerability of any nonlinear modification of quantum mechanics---these modifications are highly sensitive to cosmic history and their locally exploitable effects can dynamically disappear if the observed universe has a tiny overlap with the overall quantum state of the universe, as is predicted in conventional inflationary cosmology. We identify observables that should persist in this case and discuss opportunities to detect them in cosmic ray experiments, tests of strong field general relativity and current probes of the equation of state of the universe. Nonlinear quantum mechanics also enables novel gravitational phenomena and may open new directions to solve the black hole information problem and to uncover the theory underlying quantum field theory and gravitation.
Zero energy ontology (ZEO) gives rise to quantum measurement theory and theory of consciousness. There are several questions without a "final" answer related to ZEO. At least the following questions are still waiting for a precise answer:(1) How uniquely does the preferred extremal property of the space-time surface fix the space-time surface inside a given Causal Diamond (CD)? The simplest situation is that the data at the intersection of the space-time surface at either boundary of CD fix it completely. Space-time surface would be an analog of Bohr orbit. However, both the dynamics of soap films and M8-H duality suggest that it need not be quite so.(2) How unique is the interpretation of zero energy ontology (ZEO)? Here actually 3 options suggest themselves corresponding to western, eastern interpretation and their hybrid.(3) Sub-CDs of CD are correlates of subselves mental images. What is the precise definition of sub-CD and of subself? How subselves, that is sub-CDs, are created?
This article is a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025 and of its applications to biology. This article gives a summary of TGD inspired theory of consciousness as it is towards the end of 2025. In the TGD framework, it is not possible to discuss consciousness without the TGD view of space-time and quantum. Also the applications to quantum biology and neuroscience have been essential in the development of ideas. The basic inspiration has come from the deep philosophical problems of recent day physics and philosophy of consciousness. The TGD view of consciousness can be seen as a generalization of quantum measurement theory: the observer as an outsider becomes a part of the system. The basic new elements are zero energy ontology (ZEO) as a new quantum ontology forced by the new view of space-time as 4-surfaces analogous to Bohr orbits of particles as 3-D surfaces. The dynamics of the classical space-time obeys holography = holomorphy principle. The failure of a strict classical determinism provides geometric correlates of intention and cognition. ZEO allows us to solve the basic problem of quantum measurement theory, allows free will, and provides a new view of the relation between geometric time and subjective time. Physical existence, identified as the mathematical existence of quantum states: one can speak of quantum Platonia. Conscious existence is identified as quantum jumps between them and can be seen as two different kinds of existence. The classical non-determinism gives rise to quantum jumps giving rise to conscious entities, selves, and the ordinary quantum jumps are predicted to change the arrow of time. This means death and reincarnation of self with an opposite arrow of time. Also the number theoretic visions of TGD is central. A key implication of the number theoretic vision is a hierarchy of Planck constants heff making possible quantum coherence in arbitrarily long scales crucial for the coherence of living matter. p-Adic length scale hierarchy is the second number theoretic prediction. The applications to quantum biology and neuroscience rely on these hierarchies. In this article, the key notions and ideas of TGD, especially those relevant to consciousness and quantum biology, are summarized. The TGD view of consciousness emphasizing recent progress is summarized. The basic ideas and applications to quantum biology are also described.
Could we hear the pop of a wave-function collapse, and if so, what would it sound like? There exist reconstructions or modifications of quantum mechanics (collapse models) where this archetypal signature of randomness exists and can in principle be witnessed. But, perhaps surprisingly, the resulting sound is disappointingly banal, indistinguishable from any other click. The problem of finding the right description of the world between two completely different classes of models -- where wave functions jump and where they do not -- is empirically undecidable. Behind this seemingly trivial observation lie deep lessons about the rigidity of quantum mechanics, the difficulty to blame unpredictability on intrinsic randomness, and more generally the physical limitations to our knowledge of reality.