Quantum cognition: the possibility of processing with nuclear spins in the brain

DOI10.1016/J.AOP.2015.08.020MaRDI QIDQ738243zbMATHOpenAlexFDO

Authors M. Fisher

Publication date 2 September 2016

Published in Annals of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.05929

zbMATH Keywords

cognitionbrainnuclear-spinsquantum-processing

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Neural biology (92C20) Quantum coherence, entanglement, quantum correlations (81P40) Molecular physics (81V55)

Abstract: The possibility that quantum processing with nuclear spins might be operative in the brain is proposed and then explored. Phosphorus is identified as the unique biological element with a nuclear spin that can serve as a qubit for such putative quantum processing - a neural qubit - while the phosphate ion is the only possible qubit-transporter. We identify the "Posner molecule", $ext{Ca}_9(ext{PO}_4{)}_6$, as the unique molecule that can protect the neural qubits on very long times and thereby serve as a (working) quantum-memory. A central requirement for quantum-processing is quantum entanglement. It is argued that the enzyme catalyzed chemical reaction which breaks a pyrophosphate ion into two phosphate ions can quantum entangle pairs of qubits. Posner molecules, formed by binding such phosphate pairs with extracellular calcium ions, will inherit the nuclear spin entanglement. A mechanism for transporting Posner molecules into presynaptic neurons during a "kiss and run" exocytosis, which releases neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft, is proposed. Quantum measurements can occur when a pair of Posner molecules chemically bind and subsequently melt, releasing a shower of intra-cellular calcium ions that can trigger further neurotransmitter release and enhance the probability of post-synaptic neuron firing. Multiple entangled Posner molecules, triggering non-local quantum correlations of neuron firing rates, would provide the key mechanism for neural quantum processing. Implications, both in vitro and in vivo, are briefly mentioned.

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Cites work

• Quantum computation and quantum information. 10th anniversary edition
• Quantum entanglement
• Quantum mechanics: Fundamentals

Cited in

(16)

• Quantum decoherence in microtubules
• Quantum information in the Posner model of quantum cognition
• Dissipationless waves for information transfer in neurobiology -- some implications
• Why the brain is probably not a quantum computer
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• Are we quantum computers, or merely clever robots?
• Noncommutative probability and multiplicative cascades
• Hidden-crossing transitions between collective states of coupled quantum rotators as a possible mechanism of memory processing
• Routing a quantum state in a bio-inspired network
• The brain: Fuzzy arithmetic to quantum computing
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