Related papers: Consciousness: The rules of engagement
In quantum theory, physically measurable quantities of a microscopic system are represented by self-adjoint operators. However, not all of the self-adjoint operators correspond to measurable quantities. The superselection rule is a…
One of the defining traits of quantum mechanics is the uncertainty principle which was originally expressed in terms of the standard deviation of two observables. Alternatively, it can be formulated using entropic measures, and can also be…
Symmetry is one of the most general and useful concepts in physics. A theory or a system that has a symmetry is fundamentally constrained by it. The same constraints do not apply when the symmetry is broken. The quantitative determination…
We introduce a measure of the compatibility between quantum states--the likelihood that two density matrices describe the same object. Our measure is motivated by two elementary requirements, which lead to a natural definition. We list some…
The notion coexistence of quantum observables was introduced to describe the possibility of measuring two or more observables together. Here we survey the various different formalisations of this notion and their connections. We review…
The concept of correlation appears straightforward: measurement outcomes coincide, and patterns emerge. For any record of events, the coefficients are uniquely determined. Thus, if correlations change spontaneously, as seen in quantum…
We study the quantum-mechanical uncertainty relation originating from the successive measurement of two observables $\hat{A}$ and $\hat{B}$, with eigenvalues $a_n$ and $b_m$, respectively, performed on the same system. We use an extension…
The multifaceted nature of subjective experience poses a challenge to the study of consciousness. Traditional neuroscientific approaches often concentrate on isolated facets, such as perceptual awareness or the global state of consciousness…
Schlosshauer has advanced a theory of minimal no-collapse quantum mechanics for a decoherence-based subjective resolution of the measurement problem. The basic premise being that superposition states are maintained beyond the retinal…
The dynamics of a single microscopic or mesoscopic non quantum system interacting with a macroscopic environment is generally stochastic. In the same way, the reduced density operator of a single quantum system interacting with a…
If the block universe view is correct, the future and the past have similar status and one would expect physical theories to involve final as well as initial boundary conditions. A plausible consistency condition between the initial and…
It is shown that the full unknown state of a spin-1/2 system, S, which, within Born's statistical interpretation, is meant as the state of an ensamble of identically prepared systems, can be determined with a simultaneous measurement with…
In a recent paper on Cortical Dynamics, Francis and Grossberg raise the question how visual forms and motion information are integrated to generate a coherent percept of moving forms? In their investigation of illusory contours (which are,…
The possibility of consistency between the basic quantum principles of quantum mechanics and wave function collapse is reexamined. A specific interpretation of environment is proposed for this aim and applied to decoherence. When the…
In quantum information and communication one looks for the non-classical features like interference and quantum correlations to harness the true power of composite systems. We show how the concept akin to interference is, in fact,…
We investigate what can be concluded about a quantum system when sequential quantum measurements of its observable -- a prominent example of the so-called quantum stochastic process -- fulfill the Kolmogorov consistency condition and thus…
The recently established universal uncertainty principle revealed that two nowhere commuting observables can be measured simultaneously in some state, whereas they have no joint probability distribution in any state. Thus, one measuring…
The decoherence interpretation of quantum measurements is applied to Wigner's friend experiments. A framework in which all the experimental outcomes arise from unitary evolutions is proposed. Within it, a measurement is not completed until…
Wave-particle duality and the superposition of quantum mechanical states furnish quantum mechanics with unique features which distinguishes it from classical mechanics and give it the apparently counter-intuition interpretation. The two…
We consider the problem of determining the state of a quantum system given one or more readings of the expectation value of an observable. The system is assumed to be a finite dimensional quantum control system for which we can influence…