Quantum Field and Potential of Consciousness

Abstract
From a thermodynamic perspective, living organisms are similar to open systems, operating far from equilibrium. Indeed, the metabolic processes of life are based on continuous internal flows and exchanges of energy, matter, and information between organisms and their surrounding environment.

At a deeper physical level, however, these exchanges are mediated by wave-like quantum oscillations, including, for example, mechanical, electromagnetic, nuclear, and thermal oscillations. Even the vacuum, according to Quantum Field Theory (QFT), is home to unstoppable quantum fluctuations. In light of this, it is reasonable to argue that living organisms are open systems, far not only from thermodynamic equilibrium, but also from quantum equilibrium. This also determines and influences the different levels of consciousness of living organisms.

The article proposes a model of the consciousness of living organisms based on a broader approach than that of quantum mechanics and QFT: this new approach aims to consider the processes of consciousness beyond quantum equilibrium, a fundamental characteristic of life. The proposed model of consciousness leverages the de Broglie-Bohm theory, which led to the definition of the quantum field and quantum potential. Specifically, consciousness is defined as a quantum field, whose associated potential is processed by the living organism as active information. Analogous to the quantum field of the de Broglie-Bohm theory for inanimate matter, the quantum field of consciousness of living matter also has no sources, and its shape or curvature is more physically important than its amplitude. Specifically, it is proposed that this curvature is associated with condensations of Nambu Goldstone bosons (as predicted by QFT) following symmetry breaking of this field.