2024/06/24 by Partha Ghose, Ghose, Partha
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Cognitive Science and Mapping #Complex Systems and Decision Making #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC) #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.16991
openalex publication_date 2024/06/24 · openalex created_date 2024/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Despite the prevalent view that quantum mechanics is irrelevant to macroscopic biological systems because of inherent noise and decoherence, this paper demonstrates that the electrical noise (Brownian motion) in neuron membranes gives rise to an `emergent' Schrödinger equation involving a new neuronal constant ℏ, fundamentally challenging the standard view of neuronal behaviour. This result could provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms of brain function, thus challenging existing paradigms in both quantum physics and neuroscience. A possible empirical test of this emergent quantum behaviour would be to look for quantum fluctuations in subthreshold neural oscillations.