59,135 research outputs found
Quantum Theory and Conceptuality: Matter, Stories, Semantics and Space-Time
We elaborate the new interpretation of quantum theory that we recently
proposed, according to which quantum particles are considered conceptual
entities mediating between pieces of ordinary matter which are considered to
act as memory structures for them. Our aim is to identify what is the
equivalent for the human cognitive realm of what physical space-time is for the
realm of quantum particles and ordinary matter. For this purpose, we identify
the notion of 'story' as the equivalent within the human cognitive realm of
what ordinary matter is in the physical quantum realm, and analyze the role
played by the logical connectives of disjunction and conjunction with respect
to the notion of locality. Similarly to what we have done in earlier
investigations on this new quantum interpretation, we use the specific
cognitive environment of the World-Wide Web to elucidate the comparisons we
make between the human cognitive realm and the physical quantum realm.Comment: 14 page
Relativity Theory Refounded
We put forward a new view of relativity theory that makes the existence of a
flow of time compatible with the four-dimensional block universe. To this end,
we apply the creation-discovery view elaborated for quantum mechanics to
relativity theory and in such a way that time and space become creations
instead of discoveries and an underlying non-temporal and non-spatial reality
comes into existence. We study the nature of this underlying non-temporal and
non-spatial reality and reinterpret many aspects of the theory within this new
view. We show that data of relativistic measurements are sufficient to derive
the three-dimensionality of physical space. The nature of light and massive
entities is reconsidered, and an analogy with human cognition is worked out.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figure
A Potentiality and Conceptuality Interpretation of Quantum Physics
We elaborate on a new interpretation of quantum mechanics which we introduced
recently. The main hypothesis of this new interpretation is that quantum
particles are entities interacting with matter conceptually, which means that
pieces of matter function as interfaces for the conceptual content carried by
the quantum particles. We explain how our interpretation was inspired by our
earlier analysis of non-locality as non-spatiality and a specific
interpretation of quantum potentiality, which we illustrate by means of the
example of two interconnected vessels of water. We show by means of this
example that philosophical realism is not in contradiction with the recent
findings with respect to Leggett's inequalities and their violations. We
explain our recent work on using the quantum formalism to model human concepts
and their combinations and how this has given rise to the foundational ideas of
our new quantum interpretation. We analyze the equivalence of meaning in the
realm of human concepts and coherence in the realm of quantum particles, and
how the duality of abstract and concrete leads naturally to a Heisenberg
uncertainty relation. We illustrate the role played by interference and
entanglement and show how the new interpretation explains the problems related
to identity and individuality in quantum mechanics. We put forward a possible
scenario for the emergence of the reality of macroscopic objects.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
Ultra-Fast Semi-Empirical Quantum Chemistry for High-Throughput Computational Campaigns with Sparrow
Semi-empirical quantum chemical approaches are known to compromise accuracy
for feasibility of calculations on huge molecules. However, the need for
ultrafast calculations in interactive quantum mechanical studies,
high-throughput virtual screening, and for data-driven machine learning has
shifted the emphasis towards calculation runtimes recently. This comes with new
constraints for the software implementation as many fast calculations would
suffer from a large overhead of manual setup and other procedures that are
comparatively fast when studying a single molecular structure, but which become
prohibitively slow for high-throughput demands. In this work, we discuss the
effect of various well-established semi-empirical approximations on calculation
speed and relate this to data transfer rates from the raw-data source computer
to the results visualization front end. For the former, we consider desktop
computers, local high performance computing, as well as remote cloud services
in order to elucidate the effect on interactive calculations, for web and cloud
interfaces in local applications, and in world-wide interactive virtual
sessions. The models discussed in this work have been implemented into our
open-source software SCINE Sparrow.Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures, 4 table
Modeling Meaning Associated with Documental Entities: Introducing the Brussels Quantum Approach
We show that the Brussels operational-realistic approach to quantum physics
and quantum cognition offers a fundamental strategy for modeling the meaning
associated with collections of documental entities. To do so, we take the World
Wide Web as a paradigmatic example and emphasize the importance of
distinguishing the Web, made of printed documents, from a more abstract meaning
entity, which we call the Quantum Web, or QWeb, where the former is considered
to be the collection of traces that can be left by the latter, in specific
measurements, similarly to how a non-spatial quantum entity, like an electron,
can leave localized traces of impact on a detection screen. The double-slit
experiment is extensively used to illustrate the rationale of the modeling,
which is guided by how physicists constructed quantum theory to describe the
behavior of the microscopic entities. We also emphasize that the superposition
principle and the associated interference effects are not sufficient to model
all experimental probabilistic data, like those obtained by counting the
relative number of documents containing certain words and co-occurrences of
words. For this, additional effects, like context effects, must also be taken
into consideration.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, Late
Quantum Theory and Human Perception of the Macro-World
We investigate the question of 'why customary macroscopic entities appear to
us humans as they do, i.e. as bounded entities occupying space and persisting
through time', starting from our knowledge of quantum theory, how it affects
the behavior of such customary macroscopic entities, and how it influences our
perception of them. For this purpose, we approach the question from three
perspectives. Firstly, we look at the situation from the standard quantum
angle, more specifically the de Broglie wavelength analysis of the behavior of
macroscopic entities, indicate how a problem with spin and identity arises, and
illustrate how both play a fundamental role in well-established experimental
quantum-macroscopical phenomena, such as Bose-Einstein condensates. Secondly,
we analyze how the question is influenced by our result in axiomatic quantum
theory, which proves that standard quantum theory is structurally incapable of
describing separated entities. Thirdly, we put forward our new 'conceptual
quantum interpretation', including a highly detailed reformulation of the
question to confront the new insights and views that arise with the foregoing
analysis. At the end of the final section, a nuanced answer is given that can
be summarized as follows. The specific and very classical perception of human
seeing -- light as a geometric theory -- and human touching -- only ruled by
Pauli's exclusion principle -- plays a role in our perception of macroscopic
entities as ontologically stable entities in space. To ascertain quantum
behavior in such macroscopic entities, we will need measuring apparatuses
capable of its detection. Future experimental research will have to show if
sharp quantum effects -- as they occur in smaller entities -- appear to be
ontological aspects of customary macroscopic entities.Comment: 28 page
Quantum Particles as Conceptual Entities: A Possible Explanatory Framework for Quantum Theory
We put forward a possible new interpretation and explanatory framework for
quantum theory. The basic hypothesis underlying this new framework is that
quantum particles are conceptual entities. More concretely, we propose that
quantum particles interact with ordinary matter, nuclei, atoms, molecules,
macroscopic material entities, measuring apparatuses, ..., in a similar way to
how human concepts interact with memory structures, human minds or artificial
memories. We analyze the most characteristic aspects of quantum theory, i.e.
entanglement and non-locality, interference and superposition, identity and
individuality in the light of this new interpretation, and we put forward a
specific explanation and understanding of these aspects. The basic hypothesis
of our framework gives rise in a natural way to a Heisenberg uncertainty
principle which introduces an understanding of the general situation of 'the
one and the many' in quantum physics. A specific view on macro and micro
different from the common one follows from the basic hypothesis and leads to an
analysis of Schrodinger's Cat paradox and the measurement problem different
from the existing ones. We reflect about the influence of this new quantum
interpretation and explanatory framework on the global nature and evolutionary
aspects of the world and human worldviews, and point out potential explanations
for specific situations, such as the generation problem in particle physics,
the confinement of quarks and the existence of dark matter.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figure
Comb-e-Chem: an e-science research project
The background to the Comb-e-Chem e-Science pilot project funded under the UK-Science Programme is presented and the areas being addresses within chemistry and more specifically combinatorial chemistry are discussed. The ways in which the ideas underlying the application of computer technology can improve the production, analysis and dissemination of chemical information and knowledge in a collaborative environment are discussed
Interpreting Quantum Particles as Conceptual Entities
We elaborate an interpretation of quantum physics founded on the hypothesis
that quantum particles are conceptual entities playing the role of
communication vehicles between material entities composed of ordinary matter
which function as memory structures for these quantum particles. We show in
which way this new interpretation gives rise to a natural explanation for the
quantum effects of interference and entanglement by analyzing how interference
and entanglement emerge for the case of human concepts. We put forward a scheme
to derive a metric based on similarity as a predecessor for the structure of
'space, time, momentum, energy' and 'quantum particles interacting with
ordinary matter' underlying standard quantum physics, within the new
interpretation, and making use of aspects of traditional quantum axiomatics.
More specifically, we analyze how the effect of non-locality arises as a
consequence of the confrontation of such an emerging metric type of structure
and the remaining presence of the basic conceptual structure on the fundamental
level, with the potential of being revealed in specific situations.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
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