[HN Gopher] Photon Entanglement Drives Brain Function
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       Photon Entanglement Drives Brain Function
        
       Author : 11thEarlOfMar
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2024-08-16 16:35 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | gryfft wrote:
       | > To remedy this problem, Chen and his colleagues investigated if
       | there could be entangled photons within this axon-myelin system
       | that could, though the magic of quantum entanglement, communicate
       | instantly across the involved distances.
       | 
       |  _yawn_ Another day, another garbage pop sci article perpetuating
       | falsehoods about quantum entanglement.
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem
        
         | archibaldJ wrote:
         | To be fair that is not the wordings in the original paper.
         | https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11682
         | 
         | I think the pop-sci writer simply didn't choose a good wording
         | - the original paper is simply about how the (consciousness-
         | orchestrated?) synchronized activities of millions of neurons
         | may be linked to "cylindrical cavity formed by a myelin sheath
         | can facilitate spontaneous photon emission from the vibrational
         | modes and generate a significant number of entangled photon
         | pairs".
         | 
         | When we don't have a way to define consciousness and its (let's
         | called it) orchestration, the notion of "communication" is
         | none-sensible. It's like if we look at Shor's algorithm, its
         | BQP efficiency isn't really due to any "communication" among
         | the q-bits - but more as a kind of "probabilities collapsing"
         | as they go through these quantum gates.
         | 
         | Td;dr I think the phys.org writer is just trying to make it
         | sound more exciting by unfortunately using a miss-leading word
        
       | westurner wrote:
       | Traditional belief: photons do not interact with photons, photons
       | are massless according to the mass energy relation.
       | 
       | New findings: Photons interact as phonons in matter.
       | 
       | "Quantum entangled photons react to Earth's spin" (2024)
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40720147 :
       | 
       | > _Actually, photons do interact with photons; as phonons in
       | matter: "Quantum vortices of strongly interacting photons" (2024)
       | https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh5315
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40600762 _
       | 
       | "New theory links quantum geometry to electron-phonon coupling"
       | (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40663966
       | https://phys.org/news/2024-06-theory-links-quantum-geometry-... :
       | 
       | > _A new study published in Nature Physics introduces a theory of
       | electron-phonon coupling that is affected by the quantum geometry
       | of the electronic wavefunctions_
        
         | itishappy wrote:
         | The field of nonlinear optics deals with photon-photon
         | interactions in matter, and has been around for almost a
         | century.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_optics
        
           | westurner wrote:
           | Do they model photons as rays, vectors, particles, waves, or
           | fluids?
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_optics :
           | 
           | > _In nonlinear optics, the superposition principle no longer
           | holds.[1][2][3]_
           | 
           | But phonons are quantum waves in or through matter and the
           | superposition principle holds with phonons AFAIU
        
       | beardyw wrote:
       | I had always assumed that activity in the brain was
       | unsynchronized and that it is that which produces the necessary
       | randomness through race conditions. I am considering the need to
       | find synchronization as making some sort of computer analogy
       | which doesn't exist.
        
         | bhouston wrote:
         | Brain activity is highly synchronized, at least according to
         | the definition used by neuroscientists. Brain waves operate at
         | certain hertz based on your level of arousal.
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_oscillation
        
           | westurner wrote:
           | Brain waves also synchronize to other brain waves;
           | "interbrain synchrony"
           | 
           | - "The Social Benefits of Getting Our Brains in Sync" (2024)
           | https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-social-benefits-of-
           | gettin...
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-16 23:02 UTC)