A
model of quantum-von Neumann hybrid cellular automata: principles and
simulation of quantum coherent superposition and dehoerence in
cytoskeletal microtubules
(pp0022-0036)
Manuel
Alfonseca, Alfonso Ortega, Marina de la Cruz, Stuart R. Hameroff, and
Rafael Lahoz-Beltra
doi:
https://doi.org/10.26421/QIC15.1-2-2
Abstracts:
Although experimental evidence suggests the influence of
quantum effects in living organisms, one of the most critical problems
in quantum biology is the explanation of how those effects that take
place in a microscopic level can manifest in the macroscopic world of
living beings. At present, quantum decoherence associated with the wave
function collapse is one of the most accepted mechanisms explaining how
the classical world of living beings emerges from the quantum world.
Whatever the cause of wave function collapse, there exist biological
systems where a biological function arises as a result of this collapse
(e.g. birds navigation, plants photosynthesis, sense of smell, etc.), as
well as the opposite examples (e.g. release of energy from ATP molecules
at actomyosin muscle) where a biological function takes place in a
quantum coherent environment. In this paper we report the modelling and
simulation of quantum coherent superposition in cytoskeletal
microtubules including decoherence, thus the effect of the collapse of
the microtubule coherent state wave function. Our model is based on a
new class of hybrid cellular automata (QvN), capable of performing as
either a quantum cellular automata (QCA) or as a classical von Neumann
automata (CA). These automata are able to simulate the transition or
reduction from a quantum microscopic level with superposition of several
quantum states, to a macroscopic level with a single stable state. Our
results illustrate the significance of quantum biology explaining the
emergence of some biological functions. We believe that in the future
quantum biology will have a deep effect on the design of new devices,
e.g. quantum hardware, in electrical engineering.
Key words:
Quantum Biology, hybrid cellular automata, wave-function collapse,
emergence biological functions, coherence-decoherence modeling,
cytoskeletal microtubules, human consciousness |