Ever since the early days of quantum mechanics it has been suggested that consciousness could be linked to the collapse of the wave function. However, no detailed account of such an interplay is usually provided. In this paper we present an objective collapse model (a variation of CSL) where the collapse operator depends on integrated information, which has been argued to measure consciousness. By doing so, we construct an empirically adequate scheme in which superpositions of conscious states are dynamically suppressed. Unlike other proposals in which "consciousness causes the collapse of the wave function," our model is fully consistent with a materialistic view of the world and does not require the postulation of entities suspicious of laying outside of the quantum realm.
In this paper we examine some proposals to disprove the hypothesis that the interaction between mind and matter causes the collapse of the wave function, showing that such proposals are fundamentally flawed. We then describe a general experimental setup retaining the key features of the ones examined, and show that even a more general case is inadequate to disprove the mind-matter collapse hypothesis. Finally, we use our setup provided to argue that, under some reasonable assumptions about consciousness, such hypothesis is unfalsifiable.
The assertion by Yu and Nikolic that the delayed choice quantum eraser experiment of Kim et al. empirically falsifies the consciousness-causes-collapse hypothesis of quantum mechanics is based on the unfounded and false assumption that the failure of a quantum wave function to collapse implies the appearance of a visible interference pattern.
Does consciousness collapse the quantum wave function? This idea was taken seriously by John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner but is now widely dismissed. We develop the idea by combining a mathematical theory of consciousness (integrated information theory) with an account of quantum collapse dynamics (continuous spontaneous localization). Simple versions of the theory are falsified by the quantum Zeno effect, but more complex versions remain compatible with empirical evidence. In principle, versions of the theory can be tested by experiments with quantum computers. The upshot is not that consci…
This paper aims to falsify the hypothesis that the observer's consciousness is necessary for quantum measurement. To achieve our target, we propose a variation of the Schroedinger's cat thought experiment called "DAP", short for "Dead-Alive Physicist", in which a human being replaces the cat. This strategy enables us to logically disprove the consistency of the above hypothesis and to oblige its supporters either to be trapped in solipsism or to rely on an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics in which the role of the conscious observer has to be reviewed. Our analysis hence provides…
There has been an upsurge of interest lately in developing Wigner's hypothesis that conscious observation causes collapse by exploring dynamical collapse models in which some purportedly quantifiable aspect(s) of consciousness resist superposition. Kremnizer-Ranchin, Chalmers-McQueen and Okon-Sebastián have explored the idea that collapse may be associated with a numerical measure of consciousness. More recently, Chalmers-McQueen have argued that any single measure is inadequate because it will allow superpositions of distinct states of equal consciousness measure to persist. They suggest a sa…
This is a brief comment on the paper "Quantum mechanics needs no consciousness" by Shan Yu and Danko Nikolic [1]. Yu and Nikolic argue that the "consciousness causes collapse hypothesis" interpretation of quantum mechanics, or CCCH, can be falsified by a particular experimental setup. This claim is incorrect and the cause of the error appears to be a confusion over where and when a collapse can be assumed to occur.
Quantum measurements are physical processes. Comment on "Consciousness and the double-slit interference pattern: Six experiments," By Dean Radin et al. [Physics Essays 25, 2 (2012)]
Quantum Superpositions of Conscious States in a Minimal Integrated Information Model
Chapman University（查普曼大学）；Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University（查普曼大学量子研究所）；Saint Anselm College（圣安塞尔姆学院）；Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院量子光学与量子信息研究所）；Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（理论物理 perimeter 研究所）
Local realism has been superseded by recent theoretical and experimental developments in quantum physics which show a synchronic connection between the parts. In contrast to the principle of local realism, which is the basis of classical reductionism, I have called the principle of non-locality at the basis of a new method of scientific investigation "synchronic principle". The synchronic principle introduces a new element in the approach to reality, which with anthropomorphic terms we could call "conscious choice". In a synchronic paradigm, evolution does not occur in a deterministic way, but…
The argument for an objective wave function collapse: Why spontaneous localization collapse or no-collapse decoherence cannot solve the measurement problem in a subjective fashion
Recently, Elio Conte has commented a paper by the present author devoted to analyze the possibility of checking experimentally whether the perceptual process can lead to the collapse of the wavefunction. Here we answer to the comments by Conte and we show that he has missed to grasp the crucial elements of our proposal. Morever, we discuss some ideas put forward by Conte concerning the occurrence of quantum superpositions of different states of consciousness and we show that they are rather vague and not cogent.
A physical approach to qualia and the emergence of conscious observers in qualia space
Center for Mathematical Analysis, Geometry and Dynamical Systems, Department of Mathematics, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon（数学分析与动力系统中心，数学系，技术高等学院，里斯本大学）
We analyze the objective meaning of probabilities in the context of the many-worlds interpretation of Everett. For this purpose we study in details the weak law of large numbers and the role of typicality and universally negligible probabilities (through the works of Cournot and Borel). We demonstrate that Everett's theory doesn't provide any clue for fixing a probability rule and therefore contradicts irrevocably empirical facts and Born's law.
Inspired by possible connections between gravity and foundational question in quantum theory, we consider an approach for the adaptation of objective collapse models to a general relativistic context. We apply these ideas to a list of open problems in cosmology and quantum gravity, such as the emergence of seeds of cosmic structure, the black hole information issue, the problem of time in quantum gravity and, in a more speculative manner, to the nature of dark energy and the origin of the very special initial state of the universe. We conclude that objective collapse models offer a rather prom…
We explain the measure problem (cf. origin of the Born probability rule) in no-collapse quantum mechanics. Everett defined maverick branches of the state vector as those on which the usual Born probability rule fails to hold -- these branches exhibit highly improbable behaviors, including possibly the breakdown of decoherence or even the absence of an emergent semi-classical reality. Derivations of the Born rule which originate in decision theory or subjective probability (i.e., the reasoning of individual observers) do not resolve this problem, because they are circular: they assume, a priori…
Modified versions of the Schrödinger equation have been proposed in order to incorporate the description of measurement processes into the mathematical structure of quantum theory. Typically, these proposals introduce new physical constants, and imply small violations of momentum and energy conservation. These problematic features can be eliminated by assuming that wave function collapse is induced by the individual interactions that establish correlations between systems. The generation of a sufficient number of small, random shifts of amplitude between interacting and noninteracting branches…
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of gravitational objective-collapse models
Università degli Studi di Palermo（巴勒莫大学）；Queen’s University Belfast（贝尔法斯特女王大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste Section（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）
The brain is composed of electrically excitable neuronal networks regulated by the activity of voltage-gated ion channels. Further portraying the molecular composition of the brain, however, will not reveal anything remotely reminiscent of a feeling, a sensation or a conscious experience. In classical physics, addressing the mind-brain problem is a formidable task because no physical mechanism is able to explain how the brain generates the unobservable, inner psychological world of conscious experiences and how in turn those conscious experiences steer the underlying brain processes toward des…
Using as a testbed the recently proposed "gravcat" experimental scheme in [1], we compare the properties of gravitational cat states in three descriptions: (1) canonical quantum theory (CQT) combined with the Newtonian limit of GR, (2) objective collapse theories (OCTs) extended to the regime of semiclassical Newtonian gravity, and (3) OCTs extended to incorporate quantized Newtonian gravity. For the CQT approach, we follow the treatment of Hu and Anastopoulos in [2]. For the OCTs, we consider the GRW, CSL, DP, and Karolyhazy theories, based on the semiclassical approaches of Derakhshani [3] a…
To resolve the quantum measurement problem, we propose an objective collapse theory in which both the wavefunction and the process of collapse are regarded as ontologically objective. The theory, which we call the entangling-speed-threshold theory, postulates that collapse occurs when the entangling speed of a system reaches a threshold, and the collapse basis is determined so as to eliminate the entangling speed and to minimize its increasing rate. Using this theory, we provide answers to the questions of where and when collapse occurs, how the collapse basis is determined, what systems are (…
Proposed derivations of the Born rule for Everettian theory are controversial. I argue that they are unnecessary but may provide justification for a simplified version of the Principal Principle. It's also unnecessary to replace Everett's idea that a subject splits in measurement contexts with the idea that subjects have linear histories which partition: Deutsch 1985, 2011; Saunders and Wallace 2008; Saunders 2010; Wallace 2012, Chapter 7; Wilson 2013, forthcoming. Linear histories were introduced to provide a concept of pre-measurement uncertainty and I explain why pre-measurement uncertainty…
Modern experiments using nanoscale devices come ever closer to bridging the divide between the quantum and classical realms, bringing experimental tests of objective collapse theories that propose alterations to Schrödinger's equation within reach. Such objective collapse theories aim to explain the emergence of classical dynamics in the thermodynamic limit and hence resolve the inconsistency that exists within the axioms of quantum mechanics. Here, we show that requiring the emergence of Born's rule for relative frequencies of measurement outcomes without imposing them as part of any axiom, i…
We review the argument that latent image formation is a measurement in which the state vector collapses, requiring an enhanced noise parameter in objective reduction models. Tentative observation of a residual noise at this level, plus several experimental bounds, imply that the noise must be colored (i.e., non-white), and hence frame dependent and non-relativistic. Thus a relativistic objective reduction model, even if achievable in principle, would be incompatible with experiment, the best one can do is the non-relativistic CSL model. This negative conclusion has a positive aspect, in that t…
In [20] it was argued against the orthodox definition of quantum entanglement in terms of pure and separable states. In this paper we attempt to discuss how the logos categorical approach to quantum mechanics [18, 19] is able to provide an objective formal account of the notion of entanglement --completely independent of both purity and separability-- in terms of the potential coding of intensive relations and effective relations. We will show how our novel redefinition allows us to provide an anschaulich content to the notion of entanglement, erasing in this way the "spookiness" still present…
In the standard quantum theory, one can measure precisely only a subset of the incompatible observables. It results in lack of a formal joint probability defining objective realism even if we accept nonlocal or certain faster-than-light interactions. We propose a construction of such realism extending the usual single-copy description to many copies, partially analogous to familiar many worlds. Failure of the standard single copy can be easily looked for experimentally. The copies should interact weakly at the macroscopic level, leading to effective collapse to a single identical pointer state…
Mainstream literature on spontaneous wave function collapse never reflects on or profit from the formal coincidence and conceptual relationship with standard collapse under time-continuous quantum measurement (monitoring). I propose some easy lessons of standard monitoring theory which would make spontaneous collapse models revise some of their claims. In particular, the objective detection of spontaneous collapse remains impossible as long as the correct identification of what corresponds to the signal in standard monitoring is missing from spontaneous collapse models, the physical detectabil…
In this essay a quantum-dualistic, perspectival and synchronistic interpretation of quantum mechanics is further developed in which the classical world-from-decoherence which is perceived (decoherence) and the perceived world-in-consciousness which is classical (collapse) are not necessarily identified. Thus, Quantum Reality or "{\it unus mundus}" is seen as both i) a physical non-perspectival causal Reality where the quantum-to-classical transition is operated by decoherence, and as ii) a quantum linear superposition of all classical psycho-physical perspectival Realities which are governed b…
Testing the limits of the applicability of quantum mechanics will deepen our understanding of the universe and may shed light on the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity. At present there is a wide range of approaches for such macroscopic tests spanning from matter-wave interferometry of large molecules to precision measurements of heating rates in the motion of micro-scale cantilevers. The "displacemon" is a proposed electromechanical device consisting of a mechanical resonator flux-coupled to a superconducting qubit enabling generation and readout of mechanical quantum states. In …
The black hole information paradox arises from an apparent conflict between the Hawking black hole radiation and the fact that time evolution in quantum mechanics is unitary. The trouble is that while the former suggests that information of a system falling into a black hole disappears, the latter implies that information must be conserved. In this work we discuss the current divergence in views regarding the paradox, we evaluate the role that objective collapse theories could play in its resolution and we propose a link between spontaneous collapse events and microscopic virtual black holes.
We have analyzed recently published XENONnT data for the spontaneous X-ray emission signature predicted by the objective wave function collapse model of quantum mechanics. With extremely low background and large exposure, XENONnT data can be used to completely exclude the theoretically predicted collapse parameters of continuous spontaneous localization~(CSL) model suggested by Ghirardi, Rhimini and Weber. Our result strongly suggests that the simplest version of the CSL model with the white-noise assumption is unlikely to provide answers to the long-standing measurement problem of quantum mec…
