WATER COHERENCE AND CONSCIOUSNESS
Giuseppe VitielloSalerno University, Italy*G. Vitiello, Dissipation and memory capacity in the quantum brain model,
Int. J. Mod. Phys. B9, 973-989 (1995)
G. Vitiello, My Double Unveiled. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2001
W. J. Freeman and G. Vitiello, Physics of Life Reviews 3, 93 (2006)
G.Vitiello, New Mathematics and Natural Computation 5, 245-264 (2009);
E. Pessa and G. Vitiello, Mind and Matter 1 59 (2003)
W. J. Freeman and G. Vitiello, Matter and mind are entangled in two streamsof images guiding behavior and informing the subject through awareness,
Mind and Matter 14 (1), 7-24 (2016).
T.Re and G. Vitiello, Non-linear Dynamics and Chaotic Trajectories in BrainMind Visual Experiences during Dreams, Meditation, and Non-Ordinary Brain
Activity States OBM Neurobiology 2020; 4(2), IJCNN, Glasgow Proc. 2020

..

Herbert Frohlich, Long Range Coherence and Energy Storage in Biological
Systems, Int. J. Quantum Chem., v.II, 641–649 (1968)

What is needed is the passage from the naturalistic description to
the discovery and understanding of dynamical unifying laws.
In the study of living matter of crucial relevance is the distinction
between two ways of producing orderliness (Schrödinger, p.80):
ordering generated by the “statistical mechanisms”
and ordering generated by “dynamical” interactions.
“...it needs no poetical imagination but only clear and sober
scientific reflection to recognize that we are here obviously facedwith events whose regular and lawful unfolding is guided by a“mechanism” entirely different from the “probability mechanismof physics” (p.79).

The “regularities only in the average” (Schrödinger, What is
Life?1944, p.78) emerging from the “statistical mechanisms” arenot enough to explain the “enigmatic biological stability” (p.47).
The attempt to explain biological functional stability in terms ofregularities of statistical origin would be the “classical physicists
expectation” that “far from being trivial, is wrong" (p.19).
The “naïve physicist" (Schrödinger, p. 20), does not bring toconcrete advancements on answering such a basic question.
The collection of data, sophisticate observations of the propertiesof the components, their connections in larger entities
characterizes the naturalistic level of the research, which is
absolutely necessary.
However, it is not sufficient to the comprehension of the system atthe level of their collective behavior.

Volume 95A, number 9

PHYSICS LETTERS

30 May 1983

SPONTANEOUS SYMMETRY BREAKDOWN AND BOSON CONDENSATION IN BIOLOGY
E. DEL GIUDICE, S. DOGLIA, M. MILANI

Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università, Via Celorla 16, 20133 Milan, Italy and
G. VITIELL0

Istituto di Fisica dell'Universitd, 84100 Salerno, Italy

Nuclear Physics B275 [FS17] (1986) 185-199

North-Holland, Amsterdam

ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD AND SPONTANEOUS SYMMETRY BREAKING IN BIOLOGICAL MATTER
E. DEL GIUDICE, S. DOGLIA and M. MILANI
Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universitit di Milano, Via Celoria, l 0-20133 Milano, lta!v and lstituto
Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Milano, Milano, Italy
G. VITIELLO
Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universith di Salerno, 84100 Salerno, lta 6' and lstimto Na=ionale di
Fisica Nucleare, Se.z. di Napoli, Napoli, Italy
Received 7 February 1986
VOLUME 61, NUMBER 9

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Water as a Free Electric Dipole Laser
Emilio Del Giudice
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy
Giuliano Preparata
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Mi/ano, Milano, Ita/y, andSezione di Mi/ano,Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Milano, Italy
and
Giuseppe VitielloDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Salerno, Salerno, Italy, andSezione di Napoli, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Napoli, Italy(Received 23 May 1988)

The mesoscopic activity of neocortex:
dynamical formation of spatially extended domains of amplitude modulated (AM) synchronized oscillations with near zero phase dispersion.
These “packets of waves” form in few ms, have properties of location,size, duration (80−120 ms) and carrier frequencies in the beta-gamma
range (12 − 80 Hz),re-synchronize in frames at frame rates in the theta-alpha range (3 −12 Hz) through a sequence of repeated collective phase transitions.
Such patterns of oscillations cover much of the hemisphere in rabbits
and cats and over domains of linear size of 19 cm in humans

2Lashley dilemma
Concept of “mass action” in the storage and retrieval of memories inthe brain:“...Here is the dilemma. Nerve impulses are transmitted ...form cellto cell through definite intercellular connections. Yet, all behavior
seems to be determined by masses of excitation...within general fieldsof activity, without regard to particular nerve cells... What sort ofnervous organization might be capable of responding to a patternof excitation without limited specialized path of conduction? The
problem is almost universal in the activity of the nervous system.” ∗Pribram: analogy between the fields of distributed neural activity inthe brain and the wave patterns in holograms † .
∗ K. Lashley, The Mechanism of Vision, Journal Press, Provincetown MA, 1948, pp.

302-306† K. H. Pribram, Languages of the Brain.

Engelwood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, 19715

9 1997 Nicholas DeSclose

K.H.Pribram, Brain and Mathematics, Chapter 12 in "Brain and Being", Edis. G.G.Globus,K.Pribram
and G. Vitiello, John Benjamins Publ. Co., Amsterdam 2004, p.215-239

The dissipative quantum model of brain
is the extension to the dissipative dynamics of the many-body model
proposed in 1967 by Ricciardi and Umezawa ∗the extended patterns of neuronal excitations may be described by
the spontaneous breakdown of symmetry (SBS) formalism in QFT.
Umezawa †: “In any material in condensed matter physics any particular information is carried by certain ordered pattern maintainedby certain long range correlation mediated by massless quanta. It
looked to me that this is the only way to memorize some information; memory is a printed pattern of order supported by long range
correlations...”∗ L. M. Ricciardi and H. Umezawa, Kibernetik 4, 44 (1967)

C. I. J. Stuart, Y. Takahashi and H. Umezawa, J.Theor. Biol. 71, 605 (1978);Found. Phys. 9, 301 (1979)† H.Umezawa, Math.

Japonica 41, 109 (1995)
8

Penrose, Umezawa

x
Walter J Freeman

48

University of California at Berkeley

Another promising avenue of exploration is provided by quantum field theory(Ricciardi and Umezawa, 1967), as distinct from quantum mechanics (Penrose,
2001), which holds at the atomic level but not at the macroscopic or mesoscopic
levels.
Freeman WJ, Vitiello G (2006) Nonlinear brain dynamics as
macroscopic manifestation of underlying many-body field
dynamics. Physics of Life Reviews 3: 93-118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2006.02.001,
http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1515

48

H.Umezawa, Development in concepts in quantum field theory in half
century, Math. Japonica 41, 109-124 (1995)

In QFT long range correlations are indeed dynamically generated
through the mechanism of SBS.
These correlations manifest themselves as the Nambu-Goldstone (NG)boson particles or modes,
which have zero mass and therefore are able to span the whole system.
The NG bosons are coherently condensed in the system lowest energy
state, the vacuum or ground state (Bose-Einstein condensation).
Due to such correlations the system appears in an ordered state.
The vacuum density of the NG bosons provides a measure of thedegree of ordering or coherence: the order parameter, a classicalfield specifying (labeling) the observed ordered pattern.
9QFT self-focusing leads* to the damped e.m. vector potential A(x):with x the transverse (to the filament) direction and=with the polarization density P = q x n; n the number of oriented
dipoles per unit volume; m = 2me , q = 2e. Use of d = ℏ/Mc , in the(extreme) case of all oriented dipoles n = N/18, N the Avogadro
number, is Mphoton = 13,60 eV andd = 14.6 nm !!

the observed value: 11 -15 nm!***Del Giudice, Doglia, Milani, Vitiello, Nucl. Phys. 1986**Chalfie M, Thomson JN, Journal of Cell Biology, 1979

In the case of microtubules: Mphoton= 13,60 eV (i.e thehydrogen ionization energy); diameter d = 146 Å (internal
diameter of the microtubulus = 140 Å = 14 nm; external
diameter is 25 nm).
E. Del Giudice, S. Doglia, M. Milani and G. Vitiello, Nucl. Phys. B 251 (FS 13),375 (1985); Nucl. Phys. B 275 (FS 17), 185 (1986).

• The many-body model fails in explaining the observed coexistenceof AM patterns and also their irreversible time evolution.
• One shortcoming of the model is that any subsequent stimulus
would cancel the previously recorded memory by renewing the SBS
process, thus overprinting the ’new’ memory over the previous one(’memory capacity problem’).
• The fact that the brain is an open system in permanent interaction
with the environment was not considered in the many-body model.
⇒

Include Dissipation!!

12

In the QFT formalism for dissipative systems the environment is described as the time-reversal image of the system ∗.
This is realized by doubling the system degrees of freedom:
external stimulus ⇒ SBS ⇒ dynamical generation of DWQ Aκ
dissipation ⇒ doubling:Aκ → (Aκ , Ãκ)Ãκ ≡ “time-reversed mirror image” or “doubled modes”
energy flux balance ⇔ E0 = ESyst − EEnv =Pκ h̄Ωκ(NAκ − NÃκ ) = 0∗ E. Celeghini, M. Rasetti and G. Vitiello, Annals Phys.

215, 156 (1992)
13

The canonical commutation relations are the usual ones and†(1)[ Aκ, Ãλ ] = 0 = [ Aκ, Ãλ ] etc..

The Hamiltonian for the infinite collection of damped harmonic oscillators Aκ (a simple prototype of a dissipative system) and the Ãκis
H = H0 + HI
H0 =X

HI = ih̄Ωκ(A†κAκ − Ã†κÃκ) ,κXκh̄Γκ(A†κÃ†κ − AκÃκ) ,(2)Ωκ is the frequency, Γκ the damping constant.
κ generically labels degrees of freedom such as, e.g., spatial momentum, etc..
The Aκ and Ãκ modes are actually quasi-massless, i.e. they have a
non-zero effective mass, due to finite volume effects.
14

†

†

- {|NAκ , NÃκ i} ≡ simultaneous eigenvectors of AκAκ and ÃκÃκ,- NAκ and NÃκ non-negative integers- |0i0 ≡ |NAκ = 0, NÃκ = 0i the vacuum state for Aκ and Ãκ: Aκ|0i0 =0 = Ãκ|0i0 for any κ.
The balanced nonequilibrium state is a ground state.
At some initial time t0 = 0, we define it to be a zero energy eigenstateof H0 and denote it by |0iN
⇒ the ”memory state” |0iN is a condensate of equal number of Aκ andmirror Ãκ for any κ: NAκ − NÃκ = 0.
label N ≡ {NAκ = NÃκ , ∀ κ, at t0 = 0} ≡ order parameter identifying
the vacuum |0iN (the ”memory state”) associated to the information
recorded at time t0 = 0.
15

Balancing E0 to be zero, does not fix the value of either EAκ or EÃκ
for any κ. It only fixes, for any κ, their difference.
⇒ at t0 we may have infinitely many perceptual states, each one in
one-to-one correspondence to a given N set: a huge memory capacity.
The important point is:{|0iN } and {|0iN ′ }, N 6= N ′, are ui in the infinite volume limit:
N h0|0iN ′ −→ 0
V →∞∀ N, N′ ,N 6= N ′ .

(3)

In contrast with the non-dissipative model, a huge number of sequentially recorded memories may coexist without destructive interference
since infinitely many vacua |0iN , ∀ N , are independently accessible.
16

The commutativity of H0 with HI ([H0, HI ] = 0) ensures that the number (NAκ −NÃκ ) is a constant of motion for any κ, which also guaranties
that H0 remains bounded from below if this has been assumed to holdat t0.
The state |0iN is given, at finite volume V , by |0iN = exp (−iG(θ))|0i0,with generator
G(θ) = −iXκand N h0|0iN = 1 ∀ N .

θκ(A†κÃ†κ − AκÃκ) .

(4)The average number NAκ is given byNAκ = N h0|A†κAκ|0iN = sinh2 θκ ,which relates the N -set, N ≡ {NAκ = NÃκ , ∀κ, atθ ≡ {θκ, ∀κ, at t0 = 0}.

(5)t0 = 0} to the θ-set,17

We also use the notation NAκ (θ) ≡ NAκ and |0(θ)i ≡ |0iN .
The θ-set is conditioned by the requirement that A and Ã modes
satisfy the Bose distribution at time t0 = 0:
1NAκ (θ) = sinh2 θκ = βE
e κ−1

(6)

,

β≡ k 1T is the inverse temperature at t0 = 0. {|0iN } is recognized to beBa representation of the CCR’s at finite temperature: |0iN is a thermo
field dynamics (TFD) state in the real time formalism and can beshown to be an SU (1, 1) squeezed coherent state.
The mirror Ã modes actually account for the quantum noise of Brownian nature in the fluctuating random force in the system-environment
coupling (entanglement).
18

Stability of order parameter N against quantum fluctuations is a manifestation of the coherence of boson condensation.
⇒ memory N not affected by quantum fluctuations. In this sense, it
is a macroscopic observable. |0iN is a “macroscopic quantum state”.
⇒ “change of scale” (from microscopic to macroscopic scale) dynamically achieved through the coherent boson condensation mechanism.

19

At finite volume V , time evolution of |0iN is formally given byH|0(t)iN = exp −it I |0iN
h̄


Y
1
†
†
=
exp tanh (Γκt − θκ)A Ã |0i0 ,κ cosh (Γκt − θκ )




(7)

obtained by using the commutativity between HI and G(θ).
|0(t)iN is an SU (1, 1) generalized coherent state, it is specified by the
initial value N , at t0 = 0, and N h0(t)|0(t)iN = 1,∀t.
P
Provided κ Γκ > 0,lim N h0(t)|0iN ∝ lim exp −t

t→∞

t→∞

X

Γκ

!

=0 .

(8)

κ
R
In the infinite volume limit we have (for d3κ Γκ finite and positive)
N h0(t)|0iN −→ 0
V →∞′N h0(t)|0(t )iN −→ 0V →∞∀ t 6= 0 ,∀ t , t′ ,t 6= t′ .

(9)20

In agreement with observations:
the QFT dissipative dynamics ⇒∗ (quasi-)non-interfering degenerate vacua (AM pattern textures)∗ (phase) transitions among them (AM patterns sequencing)∗ huge memory capacity

The original many-body model could not describe these features.
22

In the “memory space”, or the brain state space (the space of uir),{|0iN }, for each N -set, describes a physical phase of the system andmay be thought as a “point” identified by that specific N .
The system may shift, under the influence of one or more stimuli acting as a control parameter, from vacuum to vacuum in the collectionof brain-environment equilibrium vacua (E0 = 0), i.e. from phase tophase,⇒ the system undergoes an extremely rich sequence of phase transitions, leading to the actualization of a sequence of dissipative structures formed by AM patterns, as indeed experimentally observed.

23

Let |0(t)iN ≡ |0iN at t, specified by the initial value N at t0 = 0.
Time evolution of |0(t)iN = trajectory of ”initial condition” specified
by the N -set in the space of the representations {|0(t)iN } .
Provided changes in the inverse temperature β are slow, the changes
Pin the energy Ea ≡ k Ek Nak and in the entropy Sa are related by
dEa =

X
k

Ek Ṅak dt =1
dSa = dQ
β

,

(10)

i.e. the minimization of the free energy dFa = 0 holds at any t⇒ change in time of the condensate, i.e.
turns into heat dissipation dQ.

of the order parameter,24

Dissipation ⇒ time-evolution of |0(t)iN at finite volume V controlled
by the entropy variations ⇒ irreversibility of time evolution (breakdownof time-reversal symmetry) ⇒ arrow of time (a privileged direction intime evolution)

25

Other predictions in agreement with experiments :• very low energy required to excite correlated neuronal patterns,• AM patterns have large diameters, with respect to the small sizesof the component neurons,• duration, size and power of AM patterns are decreasing functionsof their carrier wave number k,• there is lack of invariance of AM patterns with invariant stimuli,• heat dissipation at (almost) constant in time temperature,26

• the occurrence of spikes (vortices) in the process of phase transitions,• the whole phenomenology of phase gradients and phase singularities
in the vortices formation,• the constancy of the phase field within the frames,• the insurgence of a phase singularity associated with the abrupt
decrease of the order parameter and the concomitant increase of
spatial variance of the phase field,27• the onsets of vortices between frames, not within them,• the occurrence of phase cones (spatial phase gradients) and randomvariation of sign (implosive and explosive) at the apex,• that the phase cone apices occur at random spatial locations,• that the apex is never initiated within frames, but between frames(during phase transitions).
•
The model leads to the classicality (not derived as the classicallimit, but as a dynamical output) of functionally self-regulated andself-organized background activity of the brain.

28

In the dissipative model of brain:
Step 1. Spontaneous breakdown of the rotational symmetry of electrical dipoles of water and other molecules ⇒ existence of NambuGoldstone quanta (NG) (the dipole wave quanta (DWQ)).
non-vanishing polarization density P = ρδρ and δ: charge density and (average) dipole length
coherent condensation of the DWQ in the system ground state
Step 2. Spontaneous breakdown of the phase symmetry
charge density wave function σ(x) =q

ρ(x)eiθ(x)The “phase” θ(x) is the NG field associated with the breakdown ofglobal phase symmetry.
32

The coherent condensation of θ(x) in the ground state is induced by
e0v 2
θ(x) → θ(x) −f (x) .
(11)Z
The condensation function f (x) satisfies the same equation satisfied
by the θ(x) field, i.e. ∂ 2f (x) = 0.
Z is the wave function renormalization constant, e0 and v are theelectron charge and the constant entering the symmetry breakdown
condition < 0|ρ(x)|0 >= v 6= 0.
Non-homogeneous boson condensation ⇒ formation of coherent domains.
In the presence of a gauge field, f (x) has to carry some topological singularity in order for the condensation process to be physicallydetectable.
33

In the ordered region: f (x) does not have topological singularities
In the “normal”, i.e. disordered region: f (x) presents singularities
e.g. on the line r = 0 in the core of a vortex.
On the boundaries between the normal and the ordered regions gradients of the phase field are non-zero.
Instead they are zero in the normal region, i.e. in the vortex core.
We also know that phase transition from one state space to another(unitarily inequivalent) one can be only induced by a singular condensation function f (x).
This is the reason why topologically non-trivial objects, such as vortices, appear in the processes of phase transitions.
34

Observation: the location of the phase cone apex is a random variable
across frames that is determined by the accidents of where the null
spike is lowest and the background input is highest.
In the model: the initial site where non-homogeneous condensation
starts (the phase cone apex) is not conditioned by the incoming stimulus, but is randomly determined by the concurrence of a number of
local conditions.
The apex is never initiated within frames (in the broken symmetry
phase or ordered region), but between frames (during phase transitions)
From each frame to the next, it is observed the random variationof the slope of the conic phase gradient, negative with explosion,
positive with implosion.
The dissipative model predicts both slopes (explosion and implosion:(e+Γ/2 t, e−Γ/2 t))
36

We thus observe converging (imploding) and diverging (exploding)wave packets.
The exploding gradient is consistent with conventional neurodynamics, e.g., in terms of a pacemaker, but there is no classical explanation
for the imploding gradient.
Instead, the dissipative many-body model predicts that the phase coneevolves in time as exp(±Γ t), i.e. the converging regime and its timereversed, diverging, copy, in agreement with the observed phase cone
behaviors.

August 5, 2010 14:48 WSPC/140-IJMPB

3274

S0217979210056025

W. J. Freeman & G. VitielloFig. 4. A. Color-coded contour plot of analytic power (square of amplitude) showing a null spike.
B. Perspective view. C. Color-coded plot of analytic phase referenced to spatial average showing
phase discontinuity at the site of the null spike. D. Apex of a stable phase cone (sampled 12 ms
later) is near the site of the null spike; its negative phase gradient shows the residue of an explosionthat occurred in the first quarter cycle after the null spike.

During periods of high amplitude the spatial deviation of phase (SDX ) is low
and the phase spatial mean tends to be constant within frames and to change
suddenly between frames, indicating coherence and CAPD. The reduction in theamplitude of the spontaneous background activity induces a brief state of indeterminacy in which the power in a significant pass band of the ECoG is near zero andthe phase of ECoG is undefined.
Null spikes are observed by band pass filtering the ECoG, applying the Hilberttransform to get the analytic power and taking the logarithm (Fig. 5). The spikes
form clusters in time but are not precisely synchronized. One of these null spikes
coincides with phase transitions leading to emergence of AM patterns. The analytic
frequency, ∆φ(t)/∆t in rad/sec (∆t = digitizing step), is undefined at and near
the cusp, giving high spatial and temporal variance. The null spikes tend to recur
aperiodically at rates in the theta (3–7 Hz) ranges, which exemplifies the widely
observed cross-spectral linkage of theta and gamma oscillations.6,25 The theoreticalconstant of proportionality (0.64126 ) between the null spike repetition rate andThe possibility of deriving from the microscopic (quantum) dynamics
the classicality of trajectories in the memory space is one of the meritsof the dissipative many-body field model.
These trajectories are found to be classical deterministic chaotic trajectories ∗The manifold on which the attractor landscapes sit covers as a “classical blanket” the quantum dynamics going on in each of the representations of the CCR’s (the AM patterns recurring at rates in thetheta range (3 − 8 Hz)).

∗ E. Pessa and G. Vitiello, Mind and Matter 1 59 (2003)

E. Pessa and G. Vitiello, Intern. J. Modern Physics B 18, 841, (2004)
G. Vitiello, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 18, 785 (2004)
37

The specific ordered pattern generated through SBS by an external
input does not depend on the stimulus features. It depends on thesystem internal dynamics.
⇒ The stored memory is not a representation of the stimulus.
The model accounts for the laboratory observation of lack of invariance of the AM neuronal oscillation patterns with invariant stimuli
The engagement of the subject with the environment in the actionperception cycle is the essential basis for the emergence and maintenance of meaning through successful interaction and its knowledge
base within the brain.
It is an active mirror, because the environment impacts onto the self
independently as well as reactively.
The brain-environment “inter-action” is ruled by the free energy minimization processes.
39

The relations between the self and its surround constitute the meanings of the flows of information exchanged during their interactions.
In this way the brain builds the knowledge of its own world, i.e. its
Double.

Memory is not recording of information(in the Shannon sense).
Memory is recorded through the mechanism of creation of a coherent
state.
The process of formation of the meaning consists in the process ofdynamical generation of the coherent state and its contextualizationin the attractor landscape.

Memory recording is thus always formation of meanings.

The rearrangement of the attractor landscape constitutes the learning
process.
The flux of information exchanged with the environment becomes
knowledge through such a learning process.
The growth of knowledge is realized at each rearrangement processof the attractor landscape, namely at each new formation of meaning,since in each rearrangement process the past story of the perception
experiences is fully taken into account.
This generates the vision of the world and creates expectations which
drive the brain in the intentional search of situations considered satisfactorily on the basis of previous experiences.

The problem for brains is that, being finite, they cannot know theirenvironment in its infinite richness;
They can only imagine what the relevant part of the environment may
be like, which we describe as making hypotheses.
Brains test them by use of the action-perception cycle.
Action creates the perception of time and simultaneously of causation,
because the experience of the body in action is infallibly followed by
the experience of changes in the sensorium.

In dissipative quantum field theory each status summary is constructedby cortical field dynamics, and the cortex runs the copy in reverse time.
Time reversal gives brains the best available access to that finite
fraction of the infinite environment that is relevant to the organism.
It is the best source of the hypotheses needed by the organism inorder to implement the action-perception cycle.
The AM pattern models the otherwise inaccessible environment.
The Double is conceived as a coherent, highly textured brain activity
pattern that by replaying the past can predict the future.
Therefore the Double is Mind, not Matter,yet it is completely entangled with brain matter that is shaped in theoriginal AM pattern.

The brain functioning is characterized by the continuous effort inpursuing the perfect harmony of the self in the world, the satisfying
accomplishment of our relation and trade with our Double⇒
the aesthetical experience consists in the harmonious ”to-be-in-theworld”, flavoured by the ”emotion” of the perception†
The aesthetical experience also enters the construction of knowledge,
thus establishing a link with Spinoza’s ”intuitive science”‡† F. Desideri, in F. Desideri and G. Matteucci, Estetiche della percezione.

Firenze

UP p.13, 2006
F. Desideri, La percezione riflessa, Milano Cortina Editore, 2011
G. Vitiello, Atque 5, 155 (2008)‡ R.

Diodato, Vermeer, Gngora, Spinosa. L’estetica come scienza intuitiva. Milano:Bruno Mondatori(1997)

The act of thinking, usually synonymous of ”rationality”, of ”logicalconsequential necessity”, acquires a new perspective: ”to think” appears much better grounded on the erratic walk described by chaotic
trajectories in the attractor space.
The missing of strict consequential necessity in the acts of consciousness and in brain activity gives us the ’privilege’ of being able to ’makemistakes’, namely to follow unexplored paths, eluding conformity andhomologation, thus opening the possibility to ’novelties’, contrarily
to mechanical machines which by definition are ’broken’ if their functioning deviates from planned steps∗∗Thus, errare e pensare (to err and to think) get along much more
and much better than one may suspect.
Maybe, pensare is errare.
∗∗ G.

Minati, and G. Vitiello, Mistake making machines, in G.Minati, E.Pessa and
M.Abram eds., Systemics of emergence. Berlin: Springer. p. 67 (2006)

Aesthetical experience also implies ”active responses” of the self tothe world and the reciprocal action of the world on the self, and inturn active responses imply responsibility and thus they become moral,
ethical responses through which the self and its Double become partof the larger social dialog.
An interpersonal, collective level of consciousness thus arises, a ’social
brain’,
a larger stage where a common ’culture’ is originated from the many
individual aesthetical experiences.
One’s construction of knowledge, the meanings formed at personallevels produce a higher level of knowledge, in a shared common viewof the world; new cultural trends, whose novelty may even acquirea revolutionary character, or simply new ’fashions’, may swap over alarge assembly of people, which thus become a community.

It has been shown∗∗ that the dynamics underlying the formation ofself-similar fractal structures is the one of coherent boson condensation in quantum field theory: fractals appear to emerge as the macroscopic result of microscopic coherent local deformation processes.
The result relating the coherent dynamics to the fractal formationaccounts for the universality of the recurrence in space and in timeof self-similar patterns, including the so widely observed logarithmic
spiral and Fibonacci progression.
Coherence appears as the universal morphogenetic paradigm.
An integrated ecological vision thus emerges, where the appearanceof forms through coherence becomes the formation of meanings.
∗∗ G. Vitiello, New Mathematics and Natural Computation 5, 245 (2009); Phys.
Lett. A 376, 2527 (2012)

In conclusion,
John von Neumann noted that“...the mathematical or logical language truly used by the central
nervous system is characterized by less logical and arithmetical depth
than what we are normally used to. ...We require exquisite numericalprecision over many logical steps to achieve what brains accomplishin very few short steps” ∗.
The observation of textured AM patterns and sequential phase transitions in brain functioning and the dissipative quantum model describing them perhaps provide a way to the understanding of such aview.
∗ J. von Neumann, The Computer and the Brain.

New Haven: Yale University Press,

1958, pp.80-81
42

“The other one, the one called Borges, is the one things happen
to....It would be an exaggeration to say that ours is a hostile relationship; I live, let myself go on living, so that Borges may contrive
his literature, and this literature justifies me....Besides, I am destined
to perish, definitively, and only some instant of myself can survive
him....Spinoza knew that all things long to persist in their being; thestone eternally wants to be a stone and a tiger a tiger. I shall remain
in Borges, not in myself (if it is true that I am someone)....Years ago
I tried to free myself from him and went from the mythologies of thesuburbs to the games with time and infinity, but those games belong
to Borges now and I shall have to imagine other things. Thus my life
is a flight and I lose everything and everything belongs to oblivion, or
to him.
I do not know which of us has written this page.”∗∗ JorgeLouis Borges, “Borges and I”, in El hacedor, Biblioteca Borges, Alianza
Editorial, 1960.
41

AiCR

32

….the clearest exposition of the theory of brain functions, based on the highly abstract
and mathematical theory of Quantum Field. Professor Vitiello successfully carries out thisdifficult task without a single equation”.
Yasushi Takahashi, Department of Physics, University of Alberta“...by comparing different formulations of analogues concepts, this book encourages
various scientific communities (physics, biology, neurophysiology, psychology) toreinforce a fruitful dialogue.”Francesco Guerra , Director Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural
Sciences, University of Roma “La Sapienza”“... an exciting and delightful book. The excitement stems from his innovative use of
Quantum Field Theory (actually a doubling of such ¼elds) to explain how brain
processing can entail our awareness of our existential imbeddedness in the world and at
the same time our awareness of the aware ‘self ’.”
Karl Pribram, Center for Brain research and Information Science, Radford
University

John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN 90 272 5152 5 (Eur) / 1 58811 076 1 (US)• Zwart • Pantone 2612 • Pantone 299 • Pantone 192 •Giuseppe VitielloAdvances
inin
Consciousness
Research
Advances
Consciousness
Research

Gordon Globus, Irvine, CA

My Double Unveiled“Prof. Vitiello writings provide a fundamental advance in the quantum theory of brain
functioning, and astonishingly in the present book, without requiring any technicalmathematics.”

My Double Unveiled

Giuseppe VitielloThis introduction to the dissipative quantum model of brain
and to its possible implications for consciousness studies isaddressed to a broad interdisciplinary audience. Memory andconsciousness are approached from the physicist point of view
focusing on the basic observation that the brain is an open
system continuously interacting with its environment. The
unavoidable dissipative character of the brain functioning
turns out to be the root of the brain’s large memory capacityand of other memory features such as memory association,
memory confusion, duration of memory. The openness of thebrain implies a formal picture of the world which is modeledon the same brain image: a sort of brain copy or “double”
where world objectiveness and the brain implicit subjectivity
are conjugated. Consciousness is seen to arise from thepermanent “dialogue” of the brain with its Double.
The author’s narration of his (re-)search gives a cross-over ofthe physics of elementary particles and condensed matter, andthe brain’s basic dynamics. This dynamic interplay makes for a“satisfying feeling of the unity of knowledge”.

Boson Condensation, Ordered Patterns and Topological Defects”Physicists believe quantum fields to be the true protagonists of nature in the full variety of its
wonderful, manifold manifestations. Quantum field theory is the tool they created to fulfill theirvisionary dream of describing with a universal, unique language all of nature, be it single particles
or condensed matter, fields or many-body objects.
This is perhaps the first book on quantum field theory whose aim is to grasp and describe withrigor and completeness, but at the same time in a compelling, fascinating way, all the facets ofthe complex challenge it faces scientists with. It is a book that presents solutions but poses
questions as well; hard, demanding yet fascinating; a book that can at the same time be used asa textbook and as a book of dreams that any scientist would like to make come true.”
Mario Rasetti
Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy“This remarkable book dispels the common misconception that quantum field theory is ‘justquantum mechanics with an infinite number of degrees of freedom’, revealing vast newmathematical terrains, and new ways of understanding physical phenomena in both commonplaceand exotic systems.
Uniquely valuable, and covering material difficult or impossible to find coherently assembled
elsewhere, it will be welcomed by students and researchers in all fields of physics and mathematics.”
John Swain
Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland“This book gives an overall presentation of the most important aspects of quantum field theory,leading to its macroscopic manifestations, as in the formation of ordered structures. The list of
topics, all covered in full detail and easy-to-follow steps, is really impressive.
The main features of the presentation rely on very simple and powerful unifying principles, givenby the intermixing of symmetry and dynamics, under the general texture of quantum coherence.
Most of the chapters share the typical flavor of the very intense personal research carried out by
the authors over many years, but the style of presentation is always perfectly coherent, and all
topics are presented in a mature and well-organized way.
I think that the book will be most useful for graduate students who are willing to be engaged in
the fascinating task of exploring the full potentiality of quantum field theory in explaining the
emergence of ordering at the macroscopic level, from the large-scale structure of the universe,to the ordering of biological systems. Of course, active researchers in all formation stages, andeven mature scientists, will appreciate the intellectual depth and the scientific efficacy that theauthors have transfused in their work.”
Francesco Guerra
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma, “La Sapienza”, Italy“This book gives a very thorough treatment of a range of topics that are of increasing importance,from a rather unusual, and very instructive, point of view.”
Tom W. Kibble
Theoretical Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK

Quantum Field Theory and its
Macroscopic Manifestations

Quantum Field Theory and its Macroscopic Manifestations

Blasone
Jizba
Vitiello

P592 hc

Imperial College Press

www.icpress.co.uk

ISBN-13 978-1-84816-280-8
ISBN-10 1-84816-280-4,!7IB8E8-bgciai!

ICP

Quantum Field Theory and its

Macroscopic Manifestations
Boson Condensation, Ordered Patterns
and Topological Defects

Massimo Blasone, Petr Jizba & Giuseppe VitielloImperial College Press