Phase transitions generating dark phases and sensory perception

The TGD based model for biological self-organization relies on the hierarchy heff=nh0 of effective Planck constants labelling dark phases of ordinary particles residing at magnetic flux quanta. This model generalizes and suggests the replacement of non-equilibrium thermodynamics as basis of self-organization with its quantum variant based on dark matter hierarchy. The challenge is to formulate basic thermodynamical notions like work in terms TGD based quantum theory relying on zero energy ontology (ZEO).

The basic mechanism would be a phase transition creating dark matter phase as a Bose-Einstein condensate like state with particles having identical conserved quantum numbers. Conservation laws would force the ordinary matter to have opposite total charges. For instance, in the case of work one has momentum or angular momentum as a conserved charge. In the case of charge separation and high Tc superconductivity it would be em charge. Even color charges can correspond to conserved charges in TGD framework allowing scaled variants of strong interaction physics.

Basic biological functions involving the notion of work and also the formation of sensory percepts would rely on this mechanism. Also the ZEO based theory of consciousness predicting the change the arrow of time in ordinary state function reduction plays a central role and a model of nerve pulse is discussed as an example.

Sensory perception (time reversal of motor action could involve generation of coherent phases of dark matter carrying collective quantum numbers in 1-1 corresponds with the sensory qualia. This would represent a general charge separation process.

Consider first sensory capacitor model for color qualia.

  1. The notion of QCD color as analog of ordinary visual colors was originally introduced as a joke since the algebra of color summation resembles that for the summation of QCD colors in tensor product. In TGD however the dark hierarchy (heff) and p-adic length scale hierarchy predict that scaled variants of QCD type physics are possible for arbitrarily large length scales. In cellular scales scaled up QCDs are predicted. In the length scale range between cell membrane thickness and nucleus size there are as many as 4 Gaussian Mersennes, which is a number theoretical miracle. They could label copies of QCDs with size scale for the analogs of hadrons given by the corresponding p-adic length scales. QCD type colors could correspond to perceived colors.
  2. Gluons or quarks labelled by color charge characterizing particular color quale would flow between the plates of "capacitor" associated with the sensory receptor. The amount of particular color charge increases at the other plate giving rise to sensation of this particular color quale and its complement at the other plate - by color confinement also the same plate could also contain regions with complementary colors. This would explain why we see around a region of particular color a narrow boundary with complementary color.
  3. The model for sensory perception as sequences of analogs of weak measurements suggest that the flow of color charges could induce color qualia. The prediction emerging from the structure of SU(3) color algebra would be four pairs of basic color and complement color: 3 ordinary pairs and white-black pair. They could correspond to particular changes of color quantum numbers and color quantum numbers of gluons. Also color mixing could be understood.
  4. Photons are not coloured but gluons (and also quarks) are, and the latter and could be responsible for color sensation. How photon flux can generate a flow of color quantum numbers? The notion of induced gauge field -classical color gauge potentials would be projections of SU(3) Killing vectors - explains this.

    In TGD classical em field is sum of two terms induced Kähler form and neutral vectorial component of spinor curvature. Classical gluon field has components proportional to classical color Hamiltonian (function in CP2 which can be said to have quantum numbers of gluon) and induced Kähler form. In general case any classical em field is accompanied by a classical color field.

    Photons are accompanied by classical em fields and therefore also by classical gluon fields at the fundamental level: this correspondence disappears at QFT limit unable to describe biology and sensory experience. The flow of photons to retina would be accompanied by classical em and color fields and therefore a flow of gluons. Also quark flow between the plates of sensory capacitor could generate the color qualia.

  5. A simple model for the visual qualia is in terms of a phase transition transforming gluons of a scaled copy of QCD to ordinary gluons. Dark gluons would form a BE condensate and force a formation its shadow at the level of ordinary matter. This is a variant of sensory receptor as quantum capacitor. The plates of capacitor correspond to dark and ordinary phase and the analog of electric breakdown means formation of the dark phase. Cooper pairs of quarks with quantum numbers of gluon would be second option but gluons in TGD framework are actually this kind of pairs!!
See the chapter General theory of qualia or the article Quantum self-organization by heff changing phase transitions.