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A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics

The study of the human psyche has elucidated a bipartite structure of logic reflecting the quantum–classical nature of the world. Accordingly, we posited an approach toward studying the brain by means of the quantum–classical dynamics of a mixed Weyl symbol. The mixed Weyl symbol can be used to desc...

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Autores principales: Sergi, Alessandro, Messina, Antonino, Vicario, Carmelo M., Martino, Gabriella
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10138112/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37190380
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e25040592
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author Sergi, Alessandro
Messina, Antonino
Vicario, Carmelo M.
Martino, Gabriella
author_facet Sergi, Alessandro
Messina, Antonino
Vicario, Carmelo M.
Martino, Gabriella
author_sort Sergi, Alessandro
collection PubMed
description The study of the human psyche has elucidated a bipartite structure of logic reflecting the quantum–classical nature of the world. Accordingly, we posited an approach toward studying the brain by means of the quantum–classical dynamics of a mixed Weyl symbol. The mixed Weyl symbol can be used to describe brain processes at the microscopic level and, when averaged over an appropriate ensemble, can provide a link to the results of measurements made at the meso and macro scale. Within this approach, quantum variables (such as, for example, nuclear and electron spins, dipole momenta of particles or molecules, tunneling degrees of freedom, and so on) can be represented by spinors, whereas the electromagnetic fields and phonon modes can be treated either classically or semi-classically in phase space by also considering quantum zero-point fluctuations. Quantum zero-point effects can be incorporated into numerical simulations by controlling the temperature of each field mode via coupling to a dedicated Nosé–Hoover chain thermostat. The temperature of each thermostat was chosen in order to reproduce quantum statistics in the canonical ensemble. In this first paper, we introduce a general quantum–classical Hamiltonian model that can be tailored to study physical processes at the interface between the quantum and the classical world in the brain. While the approach is discussed in detail, numerical calculations are not reported in the present paper, but they are planned for future work. Our theory of brain dynamics subsumes some compatible aspects of three well-known quantum approaches to brain dynamics, namely the electromagnetic field theory approach, the orchestrated objective reduction theory, and the dissipative quantum model of the brain. All three models are reviewed.
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spelling pubmed-101381122023-04-28 A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics Sergi, Alessandro Messina, Antonino Vicario, Carmelo M. Martino, Gabriella Entropy (Basel) Article The study of the human psyche has elucidated a bipartite structure of logic reflecting the quantum–classical nature of the world. Accordingly, we posited an approach toward studying the brain by means of the quantum–classical dynamics of a mixed Weyl symbol. The mixed Weyl symbol can be used to describe brain processes at the microscopic level and, when averaged over an appropriate ensemble, can provide a link to the results of measurements made at the meso and macro scale. Within this approach, quantum variables (such as, for example, nuclear and electron spins, dipole momenta of particles or molecules, tunneling degrees of freedom, and so on) can be represented by spinors, whereas the electromagnetic fields and phonon modes can be treated either classically or semi-classically in phase space by also considering quantum zero-point fluctuations. Quantum zero-point effects can be incorporated into numerical simulations by controlling the temperature of each field mode via coupling to a dedicated Nosé–Hoover chain thermostat. The temperature of each thermostat was chosen in order to reproduce quantum statistics in the canonical ensemble. In this first paper, we introduce a general quantum–classical Hamiltonian model that can be tailored to study physical processes at the interface between the quantum and the classical world in the brain. While the approach is discussed in detail, numerical calculations are not reported in the present paper, but they are planned for future work. Our theory of brain dynamics subsumes some compatible aspects of three well-known quantum approaches to brain dynamics, namely the electromagnetic field theory approach, the orchestrated objective reduction theory, and the dissipative quantum model of the brain. All three models are reviewed. MDPI 2023-03-30 /pmc/articles/PMC10138112/ /pubmed/37190380 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e25040592 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Sergi, Alessandro
Messina, Antonino
Vicario, Carmelo M.
Martino, Gabriella
A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title_full A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title_fullStr A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title_full_unstemmed A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title_short A Quantum–Classical Model of Brain Dynamics
title_sort quantum–classical model of brain dynamics
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10138112/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37190380
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e25040592
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