Are we quantum computers, or merely clever robots? (Prof. M. Fisher)

  • Date: Jul 18, 2017
  • Time: 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prof. Dr. Matthew Fisher
  • Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
  • Room: Herbert Walther Lecture Hall
  • Host: MPQ
Of course quantum information processing is not possible in the warm wet brain. There is, however, one \loophole" - oered by nuclear spins - that must be closed before acknowledging that we are merely clever robots.

Putative neural quantum processing with nuclear spins seemingly requires fulllment of many unrealizable conditions: for example, a common biological element with a very isolated nuclear spin to serve as a qubit, a mechanism for quantum entangling qubits, a mechanism for quantum memory storage and processing, a quantum to biochemical transduction that modulates neuron ring rates, among others. My strategy, guided by these requirements, is one of reverse engineering seeking to identify the bio-chemical substrate and mechanisms hosting such putative quantum processing. Remarkably, a specic neural qubit and a unique collection of ions, molecules and enzymes is identied, illuminating an apparently single path towards nuclear spin quantum processing in the brain.

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