42,206 research outputs found
How bio-friendly is the universe
The oft-repeated claim that life is written into the laws of nature are
examined and criticized. Arguments are given in favour of life spreading
between near-neighbour planets in rocky impact ejecta (transpermia), but
against panspermia, leading to the conclusion that if life is indeed found to
be widespread in the universe, some form of life principle or biological
determinism must be at work in the process of biogenesis. Criteria for what
would constitute a credible life principle are elucidated. I argue that the key
property of life is its information content, and speculate that the emergence
of the requisite information-processing machinery might require quantum
information theory for a satisfactory explanation. Some clues about how
decoherence might be evaded are discussed. The implications of some of these
ideas for fine tuning are discussed.Comment: 11 page conference report, no figure
Quantum mechanics and the equivalence principle
A quantum particle moving in a gravitational field may penetrate the
classically forbidden region of the gravitational potential. This raises the
question of whether the time of flight of a quantum particle in a gravitational
field might deviate systematically from that of a classical particle due to
tunnelling delay, representing a violation of the weak equivalence principle. I
investigate this using a model quantum clock to measure the time of flight of a
quantum particle in a uniform gravitational field, and show that a violation of
the equivalence principle does not occur when the measurement is made far from
the turning point of the classical trajectory. I conclude with some remarks
about the strong equivalence principle in quantum mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, research pape
Quantum fluctuations and life
There have been many claims that quantum mechanics plays a key role in the
origin and/or operation of biological organisms, beyond merely providing the
basis for the shapes and sizes of biological molecules and their chemical
affinities. These range from the suggestion by Schrodinger that quantum
fluctuations produce mutations, to the conjecture by Hameroff and Penrose that
quantum coherence in microtubules is linked to consciousness. I review some of
these claims in this paper, and discuss the serious problem of decoherence. I
advance some further conjectures about quantum information processing in
bio-systems. Some possible experiments are suggested.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, conference pape
Geological evaluation of Nimbus vidicon photography, Chesapeake Bay-Blue Ridge
Geological evaluation of Nimbus vidicon photography of Chesapeake Bay to Blue Ridge are
Quantum Determinism from Quantum General Covariance
The requirement of general covariance of quantum field theory (QFT) naturally
leads to quantization based on the manifestly covariant De Donder-Weyl
formalism. To recover the standard noncovariant formalism without violating
covariance, fields need to depend on time in a specific deterministic manner.
This deterministic evolution of quantum fields is recognized as a covariant
version of the Bohmian hidden-variable interpretation of QFT.Comment: 6 pages, revised, new references, Honorable Mention of the Gravity
Research Foundation 2006 Essay Competition, version to appear in Int. J. Mod.
Phys.
The Energy-Momentum Tensor in Fulling-Rindler Vacuum
The energy density in Fulling-Rindler vacuum, which is known to be negative
"everywhere" is shown to be positive and singular on the horizons in such a
fashion as to guarantee the positivity of the total energy. The mechanism of
compensation is displayed in detail.Comment: 9 pages, ULB-TH-15/9
Gravitational Entropy and Quantum Cosmology
We investigate the evolution of different measures of ``Gravitational
Entropy'' in Bianchi type I and Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models.
A new quantity behaving in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics
is introduced. We then go on and investigate whether a quantum calculation of
initial conditions for the universe based upon the Wheeler-DeWitt equation
supports Penrose's Weyl Curvature Conjecture, according to which the Ricci part
of the curvature dominates over the Weyl part at the initial singularity of the
universe. The theory is applied to the Bianchi type I universe models with dust
and a cosmological constant and to the Lema\^itre-Tolman universe models. We
investigate two different versions of the conjecture. First we investigate a
local version which fails to support the conjecture. Thereafter we construct a
non-local entity which shows more promising behaviour concerning the
conjecture.Comment: 20 pages, 7 ps figure
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