Consciousness Beyond Neural Fields: Expanding the Possibilities of What Has Not Yet Happened

In the field theories in physics, any particular region of the presumed space-time continuum and all interactions between elementary objects therein can be objectively measured and/or accounted for mathematically. Since this does not apply to any of the field theories, or any other neural theory, of consciousness, their explanatory power is limited. As discussed in detail herein, the matter is complicated further by the facts than any scientifically operational definition of consciousness is inevitably partial, and that the phenomenon has no spatial dimensionality. Under the light of insights from research on meditation and expanded consciousness, chronic pain syndrome, healthy aging, and eudaimonic well-being, we may conceive consciousness as a source of potential energy that has no clearly defined spatial dimensionality, but can produce significant changes in others and in the world, observable in terms of changes in time. It is argued that consciousness may have evolved to enable the human species to generate such changes in order to cope with unprecedented and/or unpredictable adversity. Such coping could, ultimately, include the conscious planning of our own extinction when survival on the planet is no longer an acceptable option.

Bosonic spinons in anisotropic triangular antiferromagnets

Anisotropic triangular antiferromagnets can host two primary spin excitations, namely, spinons and triplons. Here, we utilize polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy to assess the statistics and dynamics of spinons in Ca3ReO5Cl2. We observe a magnetic Raman continuum consisting of one- and two-pair spinon-antispinon excitations as well as triplon excitations. The twofold rotational symmetry of the spinon and triplon excitations are distinct from magnons. The strong thermal evolution of spinon scattering is compatible with the bosonic spinon scenario. The quasilinear spinon hardening with decreasing temperature is envisaged as the ordering of one-dimensional topological defects. This discovery will enable a fundamental understanding of novel phenomena induced by lowering spatial dimensionality in quantum spin systems.

Thermodynamic Casimir forces in strongly anisotropic systems within the $N\to \infty$ class

We analyze the thermodynamic Casimir effect in strongly anisotropic systems from the vectorial N\to\inftyN→∞ class in a slab geometry. Employing the imperfect (mean-field) Bose gas as a representative example, we demonstrate the key role of spatial dimensionality dd in determining the character of the effective fluctuation-mediated interaction between the confining walls. For a particular, physically conceivable choice of anisotropic dispersion relation and periodic boundary conditions, we show that the Casimir force at criticality as well as within the low-temperature phase is repulsive for dimensionality d\in (\frac{5}{2},4)\cup (6,8)\cup (10,12)\cup\dotsd∈(52,4)∪(6,8)∪(10,12)∪… and attractive for d\in (4,6)\cup (8,10)\cup \dotsd∈(4,6)∪(8,10)∪…. We argue, that for d\in\{4,6,8\dots\}d∈{4,6,8…} the Casimir interaction entirely vanishes in the scaling limit. We discuss implications of our results for systems characterized by 1/N>01/N>0 and possible realizations in the contexts of optical lattice systems and quantum phase transitions.

Analyticity of critical exponents of the $O(N)$ models from nonperturbative renormalization

We employ the functional renormalization group framework at the second order in the derivative expansion to study the O(N)O(N) models continuously varying the number of field components NN and the spatial dimensionality dd. We in particular address the Cardy-Hamber prediction concerning nonanalytical behavior of the critical exponents \nuν and \etaη across a line in the (d,N)(d,N) plane, which passes through the point (2,2)(2,2). By direct numerical evaluation of \eta(d,N)η(d,N) and \nu^{-1}(d,N)ν−1(d,N) as well as analysis of the functional fixed-point profiles, we find clear indications of this line in the form of a crossover between two regimes in the (d,N)(d,N) plane, however no evidence of discontinuous or singular first and second derivatives of these functions for d>2d>2. The computed derivatives of \eta(d,N)η(d,N) and \nu^{-1}(d,N)ν−1(d,N) become increasingly large for d\to 2d→2 and N\to 2N→2 and it is only in this limit that \eta(d,N)η(d,N) and \nu^{-1}(d,N)ν−1(d,N) as obtained by us are evidently nonanalytical. By scanning the dependence of the subleading eigenvalue of the RG transformation on NN for d>2d>2 we find no indication of its vanishing as anticipated by the Cardy-Hamber scenario. For dimensionality dd approaching 3 there are no signatures of the Cardy-Hamber line even as a crossover and its existence in the form of a nonanalyticity of the anticipated form is excluded.

Features of Poetic Ecphrasis in A. Pushkin’s Poem “The Commander” (1835): from Draft to Clean Copy

The urgency of the matter is associated with the need to clarify the features of Pushkin's pictorial ecphrasis. For the first time it is indicated that the originality of the ecphrasis in the poem “The Commander” is determined by its odic genre content, characterized by plasticity, kaleidoscopicity, and spatial dimensionality. The role of lexical and grammatical semantics, semantics of syntactic constructions in the visualization of the verbal image and the verbalization of the pictorial artifact was determined by comparing the drafts and the clean copy of the poem “The Commander”. Particular attention is paid to verbs with visual and mental meaning, creating the effect of presence, the effect of visual allusions, the effect of a revived picture, creating a psychological portrait of the hero. The role of adverbs and demonstrative pronouns with deictic semantics, contributing to the creation of the effect of presence and serving as a means of designating spatial coordinates, is indicated. The role of reception of movement and reception of contrast in creating the illusion of a visually perceived image is emphasized. Through an analytical analysis of the ecphrasis of the poem "The Commander", Pushkin's concept of the image of General M. B. Barclay de Tolly, who appears as a rejected and unappreciated heroic figure by the crowd. The hypothesis is put forward that by verbalizing the portrait of the work of J. Dow, Pushkin canonizes in the mind of the reader the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, poetically transforming his portrait into an icon.

How creating one additional well can generate Bose-Einstein condensation

The realization of Bose-Einstein condensation in ultracold trapped gases has led to a revival of interest in this fascinating quantum phenomenon. This experimental achievement necessitated both extremely low temperatures and sufficiently weak interactions. Particularly in reduced spatial dimensionality even an infinitesimal interaction immediately leads to a departure to quasi-condensation. We propose a system of strongly interacting bosons, which overcomes those obstacles by exhibiting a number of intriguing related features: (i) The tuning of just a single control parameter drives a transition from quasi-condensation to complete condensation, (ii) the destructive influence of strong interactions is compensated by the respective increased mobility, (iii) topology plays a crucial role since a crossover from one- to ‘infinite’-dimensionality is simulated, (iv) a ground state gap opens, which makes the condensation robust to thermal noise. Remarkably, all these features can be derived by analytical and exact numerical means despite the non-perturbative character of the system.

Spatial dimensionality and the binding of small clusters

The effect of spatial dimensionality D on the near-threshold binding of small clusters of identical particles is shown.

Electron energization in quasi-parallel shocks

Context. In situ observations of energetic particles at the Earth’s bow-shock that are attainable by the satellite missions have fostered the opinion for a long time that electrons are most efficiently accelerated in a quasi-perpendicular shock geometry. However, shocks that are deemed to be responsible for the production of cosmic ray electrons and their radiation from sources such as supernova remnants are much more powerful and larger than the Earth’s bow-shock. Their remote observations and also in situ measurements at Saturn’s bow shock, that is, the strongest shock in the Solar System, suggest that electrons are accelerated very efficiently in the quasi-parallel shocks as well. Aims. In this paper we investigate the possibility that protons that are accelerated to high energies create sufficient wave turbulence, which is necessary for the electron preheating and subsequent injection into the diffusive shock acceleration in a quasi-parallel shock geometry. Methods. An additional test-particle-electron population, which is meant to be a low-density addition to the electron core-distribution on which the hybrid simulation operates, is introduced. Our purpose is to investigate how these electrons are energized by the “hybrid” electromagnetic field. The reduced spatial dimensionality allowed us to dramatically increase the number of macro-ions per numerical cell and achieve the converged results for the velocity distributions of test electrons. Results. We discuss the electron preheating mechanisms, which can make a significant part of thermal electrons accessible to the ion-driven waves observed in hybrid simulations. We find that the precursor wave field supplied by ions has a considerable potential to preheat the electrons before they are shocked at the subshock. Our results indicate that a downstream thermal equilibration of the hot test electrons and protons does not occur. Instead, the resulting electron-to-proton temperature ratio is a decreasing function of the shock Mach number, MA, which has a tendency for a saturation at high MA.

DIGITAL IMAGING BASED ON FRACTAL THEORY AND ITS SPATIAL DIMENSIONALITY

Due to the complexity of digital imaging targets and imaging conditions, fractal theory techniques in existing digital imaging systems still have various shortcomings. In this paper, a digital imaging processing method based on fractal theory is proposed for the first time. For X-ray images, the rapid calculation method of H-parameters is derived based on the fractional Brownian random field model. The H-parameters of X-ray images are calculated point by point. After that, all the singular points are connected, which is the edge of the defect in the image. We apply this method to analyze and process the X-ray images with defects such as missing joints, skins and hollows. Secondly, by means of fractal geometry, the contour slice measurement of the digital imaging space of this fractal is studied. The approximate index value is the digital imaging section profile dimension (D1 dimension) and the section shadow dimension (D2 dimension), so that the dimension determines the complexity of the form and detail of digital imaging. Finally, it can be seen from the experimental results that this method is effective and explores a new way for the development of digital imaging technology. At the same time, it is of great significance to the automatic pattern recognition of the application.