Zenith Grant Awardee
Aephraim Steinberg
University of Toronto
Project Title
Quantum and classical agents and their ability to clone and erase information
Project Summary
Quantum mechanics makes measurement central to the understanding of reality, and has taught us that every observation must disturb the system we observe. Nevertheless, our understanding of conscious agents typically relies on fundamentally classical notions of measurement. (This even despite much speculation about whether quantum phenomena play a role in consciousness). Classical observations of a quantum system irreversibly disturb it, but their results can for instance be copied with ease. Quantum measurements are different: they cannot be “cloned,” but on the other hand, they may in some cases be undone (“erased”). We will study, theoretically and experimentally, what measurements with varying degrees of “quantumness” enable agents to accomplish. This is a first step towards elucidating the implications of such quantum agents, and in particular whether it is even possible to observe the world “quantumly” and still maintain a sense of independence and an objective view of reality.
Technical Abstract
Agency is usually conceived of semi-classically, agents relying only on classical information obtained via von Neumann-type interactions. Such agents retain the abilities to replicate the information or erase it. The disadvantage of this type of measurement is incomplete knowledge about the system, for example learning only about one component of the spin. In principle, one could consider quantum agents who can interact with the world in an arbitrary way and obtain a more general description of another quantum system. It could even store complete information about the system in a quantum memory – but in this limit, all information in the system is destroyed, and the information is not replicatable. We are proposing to study the interplay between an agent’s ability to replicate information and erase (or undo) a measurement in more general scenarios. Through this study we hope to further understand the implications of the degree to which an agent’s interaction with the world are quantum-mechanical. The project will involve a theoretical study of the interplay between quantum erasure and quantum cloning followed by an experimental study of the behaviour of quantum agents with varying-strength interactions.
QSpace Latest
PressRelease: Shining a light on the roots of plant “intelligence”
All living organisms emit a low level of light radiation, but the origin and function of these ‘biophotons’ are not yet fully understood. An international team of physicists, funded by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, has proposed a new approach for investigating this phenomenon based on statistical analyses of this emission. Their aim is to test whether biophotons can play a role in the transport of information within and between living organisms, and whether monitoring biophotons could contribute to the development of medical techniques for the early diagnosis of various diseases. Their analyses of the measurements of the faint glow emitted by lentil seeds support models for the emergence of a kind of plant ‘intelligence,’ in which the biophotonic emission carries information and may thus be used by plants as a means to communicate. The team reported this and reviewed the history of biophotons in an article in the journal Applied Sciences in June 2024.