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Baaquie BE and Martin F. Quantum field theory of the human psyche

Invited Article

Quantum Psyche
Quantum Field Theory of the Human Psyche

1 Belal E. Baaquie and François Martin

Abstract
We postulate that the human psyche is a particular excitation of an underlying
universal psychic (consciousness) quantum field. The human psyche is postulated to
have a representation similar to a quantum system, with virtual and physical states
corresponding to the potentiality and actuality of the human mind. We postulate that
free will plays a central role in the transition from potentiality to actuality and vice
versa. We model the psyche as a non-Abelian and supersymmetric quantum field, with
its interactions mediated by another supersymmetric vector quantum field. We
propose a model for the ground state of the human species, and show how an
individual's psyche is created as excitations on the individual's ground state. We briefly
give a quantum description of the waking and sleeping states of the human psyche, and
lastly propose a model for the substructure of the human psyche based on the ideas
of bound and entangled states.

Key Words:
Words psyche, consciousness, Quantum Field Theory, nonlocality, quantum
entanglement
NeuroQ
NeuroQuantology 2005
2005; 1: 7-42

1.Introduction
1.Introduction
The subject of human consciousness (we use the terms psyche, consciousness, subjectivity,
mind and so on interchangeably in this paper) has intrigued mankind from the very inception
of human society, and a search for a greater understanding of the human psyche has been an
on-going endeavor, carried out in parallel to the striving for a greater understanding of
nature.

Corresponding author: B.E.B; Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3,
Singapore 117542. E-mail address: phybeb@nus.edu.sg and F.M; Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Hautes
Energies, Universites Paris 6 et 7, Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris Cedex 05, France. E-mail address:
martin@lpthe.jussieu.fr

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Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought regarding the study of human
consciousness. The materialist school of thought holds that consciousness can, in principle,
be fully explained by the properties of atoms and molecules that constitute the human brain,
and that the laws of nature, and the laws of physics in particular, are sufficient for such an
explanation. Many exponents of contemporary psychology also adhere to the materialist
outlook. On the other hand, for the `spiritually' inclined the explanation of human
consciousness, and of the subjective and spiritual aspect of the human self, is usually taken
to be the preserve of religion, and is taken to be beyond the domain of science. In
particular, some `spiritually' inclined persons are of the view that there can be no
mathematical and scientific theory for human consciousness, and that science can only be
applied to the study of physical phenomena.
The philosophical position that we take in this paper lies in-between the materialist
and `spiritual' points of views. We hold that the laws of the material world cannot by
themselves fully explain the phenomenon of human consciousness, and that human psyche is
a reflection of dimensions of reality that are not contained in physical quantities (fields) that
represent the physical processes and structures of matter. In this sense we do not subscribe
to the materialist point of view. At the same time, we are of the view that human psyche
can indeed be investigated quantitatively using mathematical models, which in principle can
also be empirically tested. In this sense the study of human consciousness can be carried out
by means and procedures that are quite similar to the scientific method used in the study of
matter.
In particular, we approach the question of the human psyche from the point of view
of quantum theory, and argue in favor of modelling the human psyche by using the
mathematical formalism of quantum theory. A quantitative theory can also in principle be
tested empirically, and we leave this aspect of the model for later research. However we
should mention the experiment done in this prospect by Grinberg-Zylberbaum et al
(Grinberg-Zylberbaum, 1994).
In creating a mathematical model for the human psyche there are two distinct and
inter-related questions, namely the representation of the human psyche, and that of its

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explanation in terms of more fundamental and deeper concepts. These two aspects are
closely interrelated, since only an appropriate representation will provide the requisite
concepts and language required for explaining consciousness.
We will show that quantum theory provides a transparent and tangible
representation of the human psyche. Moreover, once the structures and quantities of
quantum theory are related to features of the human psyche, it then follows that many new
and unexpected statements regarding the human psyche naturally follow from the inner
logic of quantum theory.

2.Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics

The question about the essence of human consciousness and especially the fact that it is
either a classical epiphenomenon or the manifestation of a quantum mechanism, or
something else, have been considered by many authors during the last ten years. In
particular it has been studied by Roger Penrose in his book Shadows of the Mind (Penrose,
1994).
As pointed out by Stanley A. Klein (Klein, 1995) there are two ways of making
quantum mechanics intervene in the mind-body problem. First, ``the physics of quantum
mechanics can be relevant to the neural correlates of awareness''. In other words there
could be quantum effects in the physical mechanisms taking place inside the brain.
Secondly, ``the metaphysics of quantum mechanics may be essential to
understanding the subjective nature of consciousness''.
The first question has been raised by Roger Penrose. With Stuart Hameroff, an
anesthesiologist at the University of Arizona, he has proposed that general anesthetics
interact with neurons via quantum level events in neural microtubules, which transport
chemicals down axons and dendrites. Another question raised by Penrose is: ``Are
long-range quantum effects able to produce measurable changes in neural activity?''
According to him ``the unity of a single mind can arise, in such a description, only if there is
some form of quantum coherence extending across at least an appreciable part of the entire
brain''. For Stanley A. Klein (Klein, 1995) and Bernard J. Baars (Baars, 1995) there is no

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evidence in the arguments of Roger Penrose that there exist quantum effects in the physical
processes taking place inside the brain.
``Consciousness is part of our universe, so any physical theory which makes no
proper place for it falls fundamentally short of providing a genuine description of the world.
I would maintain that there is yet no physical, biological, or computational theory that
comes very close to explaining our consciousness... ``, writes Roger Penrose.
From our point of view, the arguments of Roger Penrose lack for the existence of
the unconscious. According to Bernard J. Baars, Penrose appears to deny unconscious
mental processes altogether. Let us remind that there is a connection between conscious
and unconscious processes that have been studied in the framework of Quantum Mechanics
by W. Pauli and the psychoanalyst C. G. Jung, leading them to introduce the concept of
synchronicity (Pauli and Jung, 2000).
Even though the physical processes involved inside the brain, i.e. the neural activity,
can be explained by classical mechanics without referring to quantum mechanics, there still
remain ``the intriguing link between quantum mechanics and the role of the observer''
(Klein, 1995). In other words we still have to ask the question: ``Are observer effects in
quantum mechanics and conscious experience the same?''. ``The challenge is to find a
satisfactory way to associate the <<observer>> of subjective awareness with the
<<observer>> of quantum mechanics'' (Klein, 1995).
Even though the physics of quantum mechanics is not relevant to the neural
correlates of awareness, the metaphysics of quantum mechanics may be essential to
understand the subjective nature of consciousness (Klein, 1995).
Our paper does not deal with the existence of quantum effects in the neural activity
of the brain but rather on the other aspects raised by S. A. Klein in his review of Roger
Penrose's book Shadows of the Mind. One of these aspects is the link between quantum
measurement in microscopic physics and the existence of conscious experience. Another
aspect raised by Klein, related to the previous one, is the need to ask for the metaphysics of
quantum mechanics to understand the subjective nature of consciousness.

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As pointed out by Klein: ``The big problem in the metaphysics of quantum

mechanics is the question of where to place the split between the observer and the
observed. The astonishing finding of von Neumann (Neumann, 1955) is that its placement is
irrelevant to any measured event. The split is moveable. Contrarily to previous dualities of
Plato, Descartes and Kant that contain inconsistencies when the two sides are compared,
there are no inconsistencies between the two halves of the quantum duality. Present
quantum theory, with its flexible split placement, allows the neural correlates of awareness
to be above the split (the neural correlates of awareness become the observer) and the
remaining (unconscious) neural activity to be below. This is the placement advocated by von
Neumann (Neurmann, 1955), Wigner (Wigner, 1961) and Stapp (Stapp, 1993). Stapp, in
particular, has been lucid in writing about the conscious act being connected with the
reduction process''.
We will deal with this problem in our paper. In section 5 we will assume that the
concept of free will, a consequence of human awareness, is directly connected to
decoherence, i.e. to the reduction process in quantum mechanics.

3. State Space Description of the Human Psyche

To represent the human psyche, we need to consider its salient characteristics. We all
know that the mind can hold many ideas at the same time, and then choose to actualize any
one of them. For instance, one can be reading a newspaper and think of drinking water at
the same time. More complex superpositions of thoughts and ideas occur for example in
solving difficult research problems in science. One also responds to external stimuli and
forms ideas in response to such stimuli. In quantum theory, any system is represented by a
state vector that is an element of a linear vector space. We follow the approach of quantum

theory and consider the individual human psyche, denoted by |P > , to be an element of the

state space, whose elements are all possible states of the individual's psyche.

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Suppose a person has been lost in a desert without water for days and is
desperately thirsty; the psyche of such a thirsty person has only one thought in his mind,
namely, that he needs to drink water.2 We can represent the psyche of such a person as

|P >= |water >

Eq.1
The psyche thinking of only one thought is a possible state for a person. In general, any idea
--such as water in the above example-- when it exists in a person's mind, will be

represented by a state vector |Idea > . It is intuitively obvious to most people that some

ideas are completely independent of other ideas, and others are not. For example, the idea

of |water > has no connection with the idea of |lion > ; ideas that are independent of each

other are modelled in quantum theory as being orthogonal, and this is expressed as

< lion|water >= 0

Eq.2
Ideas that are directly related to each other, such as two breeds of dogs, are not
orthogonal, and we have

< Greyhound|Alsatian >≠ 0

Eq.3
Some ideas are combinations of more fundamental ideas; for example, one may think of a
greeting card as a combination of orthogonal (independent) components such as the
greeting, drawing, paper, ink and so on, and we can represent this by

|Greeting Card >= c1|greeting > +c2|drawings > +c3|paper > +c4|ink > +. . .
Eq.4
where the coefficients of the component ideas are complex numbers whose square modulus
express the relative importance of the specific idea in the Greeting Card:

|c1| 2 = 0. 90, |c2| 2 = 0. 05, |c3| 2 = 0. 01, |c4| 2 = 0. 01, . . .

Eq.5
Let us examine more closely the waking state of a person, which we denote by the state

vector |a > . Suppose the wakened psyche is in a state in which the person has many

2For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to a person as `he', and will take it to refer to both the male and the
female gender.

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simultaneous thoughts -- he may be driving, and at the same time thinking of a problem at
the office, and of picking up his daughter from school, and so on. The person's psyche is not
completely in any one state, and is `spread out' amongst many possible ones. The way such
a state of multiplicity is represented in quantum mechanics is by adding the state vectors
that represent the different ideas. Let us label the specific thoughts (states) of the psyche by

|Idea1 >, |Idea2 >, . . . |IdeaN > , and assume for simplicity that all the ideas are

orthogonal to each other. We represent the total psyche by the simplest possible means,
again as is the case in quantum theory, by considering the individual's composite psyche to
be the superposition of these thoughts, and hence have

|a >= c1|Idea1 > +c2|Idea2 > +. . . cN|IdeaN > #

< Ideai|Ideaj >= δ i−j #
Eq.5 and 6

The coefficients ci are complex numbers that quantify how important a

particular idea is in the mind of the person. If one were to ask the person: ``what are you
thinking?'', then the probability that he would say that he was thinking of Idea(i) is given by

|ci| 2 . In other words, asking a person what he or she is thinking is making an observation

on the person's psyche.

Since the psyche is always in some state when it is observed, we need to have

N
∑|ci|2 =1
i=1
Eq.7

and the state |P > is said to be normalizable. A state space consisting of only normalizable

states is called a Hilbert space, and for the individual's psyche we denote it's Hilbert space

by P .

The representation of the undisturbed human psyche as a superposed state finds

strong support in quantum theory. Consider the spin of an electron that can point either up
or down. In quantum mechanics, the spin of an electron has two forms of existence, namely
the physical and the virtual. When it is observed it is in a physical state in which the spin

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points either up or down. On the other hand, if it is not being observed the spin is in a
virtual state in which the spin can simultaneously exist in two mutually exclusive states.
Note that every time the spin is observed, it is found to point in only one direction. Hence
the virtual state can never be directly observed by the five senses, and that is why one can
never observe in nature a bizarre situation where a single entity is simultaneously in two
mutually exclusive states. Nevertheless the existence of the virtual state has dramatic
experimentally measurable consequences.
The virtual state in quantum theory is a superposed state of different possible states
of the system. In quantum theory, only the human mind can `see' the virtual state. It follows,
since the mind can hold a superposed state of nature, the human psyche itself must possess
a similar virtual state, and that is what we have represented in eq 5 above.

4. Consciousness and Self-

Self-Consciousness
What about the relationship of a person with his own psyche? Is the state of superposition
something that can be resolved into the component ideas by the person himself, without
any intervention by the external environment (which includes other people)?
Consciousness and self-consciousness differ in only one aspect, and which is that the
`object' for self-consciousness is consciousness itself. How does self-consciousness
differentiate itself from consciousness?
We identify the rate of change of the psyche with self-consciousness, since it is only
in the change of consciousness that self-consciousness can be experienced.
Self-consciousness `sees' consciousness in the process of time evolution. Another important
feature of the consciousness and self-consciousness dialectic is that one can either be in a
state of self-consciousness or of consciousness--one cannot be in both states
simultaneously. One can either be carrying out an act that requires consciousness, such as
doing a problem of arithmetic, or be aware of one's own state of consciousness, in this case
being aware of oneself doing arithmetic. Consciousness and self-consciousness are two
`moments' of the human psyche; when self-consciousness views consciousness as a distinct
entity, the human psyche has to identify itself with one of its aspect so as to view the other

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aspect as a separate entity. In normal circumstances a person is `in-between' the two polar
aspects of the consciousness and self-consciousness dialectic, and it is the continuous
transitions that the psyche undergoes between these two polar opposites that comprises
the essential dynamism of the human psyche.
When self-consciousness critically observes consciousness, it finds that there is a
wide range of thoughts that are being sustained by consciousness, and this collection of
thoughts forms a superposed state. A superposed state of the psyche |P > is a state of
consciousness, and self-consciousness performs observations on consciousness in the
process of the evolution of consciousness.
For a person who is involved in any particular activity, including theoretical work,
one particular idea dominates; but even in such a circumstance, there is a whole battery of
ideas that are in the background of the person's mind, and form a superposed state with the
dominant idea. Any particular idea that is in the consciousness of a person can become the
central idea, and this process of bringing an idea from the background to the foreground can
be thought of as an act of observation performed by the self-consciousness of the individual.
Another manner in which a person performs an observation on his own psyche is
by self-consciousness acting on one of the ideas that is part of a superposed state -- for
example, he can go get a sandwich, and hence completely reduce his thoughts from an array
of thoughts to one thought.
We can think of the superposed state of an individual as the condition of
potentiality for the psyche, and the particular thought that the person acts on,
on be it a mental
ty of the person's psyche.3
or physical action, as the actual state, or the actuality
actuality,
We should not forget the existence of the unconscious. The unconscious is part of
the psyche of an individual and, as we postulate it for conscious thoughts, is a linear

3 Clearly there are questions whether we can at all represent the psyche using probability theory, since the
underlying requirement in all probabilistic models is the need to repeat -- under identical conditions -- the
experiment many times. One may wonder whether it is possible, even in principle, to repeat a person's mental
state, and we leave this question for later discussion.

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superposition of state vectors. Like for the metaphysics of quantum mechanics, as

mentioned in section 2 for the place of the split between the observer and the observed,
the placement of the split between conscious thoughts and the unconscious is irrelevant to
any measured event (Neumann, 1955). This split is moveable. Conscious thoughts are above
the split unlike unconscious states that are below the split but the position of the split is not
well defined and moveable. This is the reason why the state |P > associated to the psyche
of an individual includes in itself conscious thoughts (consciousness) and the unconscious.
Therefore there are no inconsistencies between the two halves of the quantum duality of
the human psyche: consciousness and unconscious. It is also the reason why we can state
that even if it seems that we can have only one thought at a time, consciousness remains a
superposition of vector states.
Quantum theory of the human psyche, with its flexible split placement between
consciousness and unconscious, allows the self-awareness of the observer to be above the
split and the remaining unconscious activity to be below.
Let us consider in the next section how the conscious act is connected with the
reduction process of the superposition of states of the human psyche via free will and
decoherence.

5. Free Will and Decoherence

The concept of free will is naturally represented in our quantum model of the psyche. Free
will operates in two distinct manners; in forming a superposed state, a person has freedom
to choose what are the states he includes in his mental state, namely he can choose the

coefficients ci ; the other manner in which free will operates is in the freedom of choosing

to actualize a particular state |Ideai > . More precisely, the virtual state of the human

psyche is represented by the density matrix for a pure state given by

ρ = |a >< a|
Eq.8

where |a > is given in equation 5. When the mind is observed either externally or by itself,

the density matrix undergoes decoherence, and we have

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N
ρ = |a >< a|⇒ Measurement ⇒ ∑|ci| 2 |Ideai >< Ideai|
i=1 Eq.9

Free will acts to break the coherent state represented by ρ ; on being observed, free will

decides to actualize one of the states |Ideai > with probability |ci| . The manner in
2

which the superposed state of the awake state |a > was prepared will determine the

2
coefficients |ci| .

Of course, no person has absolute freedom of will, since a person has to eat and
sleep whether he or she likes it or not. Moreover, a person is often forced to think in
certain ways due to external circumstances. Hence, there are also thoughts and states of
the psyche that are created by external stimuli and circumstances, including the needs of the
physical body. But within all these limitations, the mind still chooses to hold some ideas and
actualize some ideas and not others.4
In conclusion, to a leading approximation one can think of the state vector for the
psyche |P > as referring to both, the state of the psyche as seen by another person, as
well as the psyche as seen by the person himself. The state |P > represents the virtual and
potential state of the human psyche. The transition from the virtual to the physical state is
made by the free will of the person -- either as a consequence of an act of measurement
carried out by the environment, or by the person himself (by an act of self consciousness) --
leading to a physical and actual state.

6. Universal Quantum Field Underlying the Human Psyche

What is the individual human psyche `made out of'? What is its relation with the psyche of
other individuals? Our starting point in understanding the human psyche is to consider it be

4The electron has no `free will' and hence it is a complete mystery in quantum mechanics as to how the electron
`chooses' to actualize a particular state when it is observed.

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a universal phenomena, and not something specific and unique that only human beings
possess. Subjectivity is as universal and 'objective' as an electron. Similar to an electron, we
hold that consciousness can occur anywhere in the universe, and is governed by the same
laws of consciousness as those that determine the structure and processes of human
consciousness.
All electrons in the universe are excitations of the same underlying electron quantum
field that extends throughout space and time; an electron in a distant galaxy is identical to
the electron in our living room because both are excitations of the same electron quantum
field. The quantum field can be thought of as a universal ocean, and individual electrons as
being waves on this ocean. Every fundamental particle like the electron, photon (which is
the quantum of ordinary light) and so on have their own quantum field.
Quantum fields come in two varieties, of which the electron field represents one
category called fermions, and the other category is called boson, of which the photon is a
typical example. Fermions are generally localized in space and all ordinary matter -- like
atoms -- is composed out of fermions. The salient property of fermions is that no two
identical fermions can occupy the same point of space, called the exclusion principle; for
example two electrons cannot ever simultaneously be found at the same point of space.
Bosons are the mediators of interactions between the fermions; and unlike fermions, there
can be any number of bosons at a single point of space.
Quantum fields can be used to model the 'stuff' that consciousness is made out of.
We postulate that human subjectivity is constituted by quantum fields that span all of space
and time; a particular psyche, similar to a specific electron, is an excitation of the quantum
field.5
What can we say about the psyche-generating quantum field? If one examines the
phenomenology of the mind, we see that it is broadly composed of two genre of ideas,

5One of the authors [BEB] had constructed a simple model of consciousness as a quantum field theory in
(Baaquie, 1987).

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namely ideas, thoughts and concepts that are completely and purely individual's private
preserve and need not have any validity for any other individual; for example, a person's
preference for music, choice of reading material and so on. The other category of an
individual's thoughts are those that have a more universal character; for example the proof
of a mathematical theorem may be found by an individual, but the process of reasoning and
the conclusions reached thereof can, in principle, be followed by all individuals, and
represents the universal aspect of human consciousness.
A person's awareness of his own body would fall in the category of specific and
individual state of the psyche that excludes all other persons, whereas the universal
thoughts and ideas that are common to all of mankind would include all scientific and
mathematical ideas.
Consequently, to describe the human psyche we need two kinds of quantum fields,
namely one that refers to the specific individuality of the person, and which should be more
or less localized with the person's specific existence and exclude others, and the other that
represents the universality of the human psyche, and which can overlap and include other's
consciousness. It is natural to represent the individualized state of the human psyche by a

fermion field ψt, x and the universal character of human consciousness by a boson field

φt, x , where t, x are time and space coordinates. These two fields ψ, φ are projections

of a consciousness superfield denoted by

Ψt, x;Θ = ψt, x + Θφt, x

ψt, x : Individual centered consciousness field
φt, x : Impersonal general consciousness field

where Θ is an extension of space by a special kind of fermionic co-ordinate that we take to

indicate realms of consciousness that are beyond the usual physical realm.
There are more features of the consciousness superfield that we need to represent.
Note that the human psyche has various grades and stations that span the range from evil to
good. Most individuals are in the mainstream of society, with some being below the average,
and others such as saints and prophets who are above the average. Every individual has the

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potentiality in him or her to be a saint or a sinner, and what the person actualizes is in the
final analysis the free choice of individual. A person moves between different stations and
levels of perfection and imperfection, depending of the person's activities. The possibility of
a person changing his state of being reflects the many internal states and levels of the psyche
that are present in all individuals.
To represent these internal states of the human psyche, similar to the case in
physics, the superfield is imparted internal non-Abelian symmetries, that in effect yield a
whole collection of superfields -- all related by symmetry transformations forming for

example a Lie Group G . Hence we write the consciousness superfield as

Ψ = T a Ψ a ; a = 1, 2, . . .
T a , T b  = i ∑ C ab c
c T : Lie Algebra
c

The various superfields Ψ a represent internal states of the human psyche that are
qualitatively different, and their presence varies from person to person, depending on the
knowledge of the individual as well as the individual's moral and social behaviour.
We are not yet done. Human psyche's interact with each other by exchanging ideas,
concepts, thoughts on the one hand, and on the other hand by exchanging feelings and
emotions that may not be articulated as ideas. The interactions of the human psyche are the
result of the interactions that exist between the consciousness superfield at two different
points of space and time. The analogy from physics is given by the interactions between
electrons: the electrons at two different points interact with each other by creating
disturbances in the photon field that they are coupled to. The photon field is a distinct entity
that is the carrier and mediator of interactions between electrons. Reasoning by analogy, we

postulate a vector superfield V that is coupled to the consciousness superfield Ψ , and

mediates the interaction between individual psyche. The vector superfield V has bosonic

and fermionic components similar to the psychic superfield Ψ . All communications

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between individual psyches -- both those that are articulated and those that are not -- are

mediated by the vector superfield V .

In summary, in our quantum model of the human psyche, an individual's psyche is the
expression of underlying global quantum fields that span the entire universe, namely the

consciousness superfield Ψ interacting via the vector superfield V .

As we mentioned earlier, a metaphor for an individual human psyche is a wave that

is created in the underlying ocean of the universal consciousness superfield. Hence, to
create an individual human psyche, we first need to represent the quiescent 'ocean' on
which the individual psyches will appear as waves.

7. Dynamics of the Consciousness Superfield

Similar to the case of the electron quantum field, we need to define how the consciousness
superfield evolves in time, as this has far reaching consequences for the structure and
evolution of an individual's psyche. The energetics and structure of a quantum field are

defined by what is called the 'Action', namely AΨ, V , which is a functional of the two

superfields; the action AΨ, V is a result of the energy of the various configurations of the

superfields. The action could be supersymmetric, or could break supersymmetry depending

on which form of Reality exists in the Universe.
Similar to the case of an individual psyche that is described by states that are

elements of a Hilbert space P , the global superfields Ψ, V also have states that describe

their universal state, and the collection of all the states of the superfields form a huge

Hilbert space of states for the superfields, which we denote by S . The individual states of

the human psyche are also states of the quantum superfield, and the state space of an

individual, namely P , is a (small) subspace of the Hilbert space S , that is P ⊂ S . The

Hilbert space of any number N of individuals are spanned by the N - fold tensor

product P ⊗ P ⊗. . . . ⊗P ⊂ S .

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There is a special state of the Hilbert space of the superfield that has the lowest
possible energy allowed for the superfield, and this state is called the vacuum state of the

quantum field, and is usually denoted by |Ω > . The vacuum state corresponds to the

undisturbed state of the quantum field which we earlier metaphorically referred to as an

ocean. The vacuum is the `quiescent' lowest energy state of the ocean.

Localized excitations of the consciousness superfield Ψ are created by `creation'

operators acting on the vacuum state |Ω > , which we denote by a composite symbol

a  t, x , and the `destruction' of consciousness is denoted by at, x . 6 The universal

vacuum state is defined by the absence of any form of particular consciousness, which in
equations is written as

at, x|Ω >= 0

Eq.10

What is our interpretation of the vacuum state |Ω > ? It contains the seeds of all

possible forms of subjectivity and consciousness that can exist in the Universe -- be it
human consciousness, or the consciousness of animals, or that of other alien species in
some other galaxy. It is the state of possibility of all the psychic qualities and attributes of
the Universe, all the laws and theoretical superstructure of the physical Universe.

We can start our representation of the psyche of one, or N -individuals, located at

different points x i , and at time t i , by the following

|Pt, x >= a  t, x|Ω >

Eq.11

Many psyche's, located at points t 1 , x 1 ;t 2 , x 2 ;. . . t N , x N can be represented as

6 For notational simplicity we have suppressed all non-Abelian and spinor structure for the creation and
destruction operators. The states created by the quantum superfield V enter in a more complete representation
of the human psyche.

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|P 1 t 1 , x 1 , P 2 t 2 , x 2 , P 3 t 3 , x 3 . . . P N t N , x N  >= a t 1 , x 1 a t 2 , x 2 a t 3 , x 3 . . . a t N , x N |Ω >

If we base the analysis of the allowed states of the human consciousness on the
representation of the human psyche given above in eq.11, one can show that for
interactions mediated by the vector superfield V, a whole array of bound states of the
human psyche with each other can be formed. For some special cases of non-Abelian
symmetry of the superfield, we can identify male and female psyche with certain `charges'
that can be assigned to the states of the superfield, with say the plus charge being assigned
to males (analogous to a 'particle') and negative charge being assigned to women (analogous
to an 'anti-particle'). Bound states of a male and a female emerges naturally due to the
interaction being mediated by a vector superfield. For the Lie Group of symmetries that is

given by G = SU3 , bound states of only three or more can be formed of all males or of

all females.

8. The Human Species Ground State

There are a number of shortcomings of the representation for human psyche given in eq.11.
We know, for example, that an individual's consciousness and psyche is the result of
socialization, and is grounded on an immense pre-existing theoretical structure -- such as
language, culture, information and so on -- that are fundamental to the formation of an

individual's consciousness. The vacuum state |Ω > of the quantum superfield, from which

we are creating an individual's consciousness in eq.11. is a global state spanning the entire
universe, with no reference to human beings or to the specific history and evolution of
human consciousness.
We need to define the `ground state', represented by the state vector

|GT >∈ S , on which the consciousness of the human species `stands' at time T of

human evolution. We postulate that the ground of all forms of human consciousness, at a

particular instant t , is the result of the subjective life of all human beings who have lived

before time t . Prophets, saints, artists, leaders, scientists and so on clearly should be

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weighed more in the structure of the species ground state that those individuals who have
had little impact on the general human condition. Hence, the contribution of different
individuals should be weighed according to the importance of their contribution to the
formation of human consciousness.
To make the representation more transparent, consider the `first' human beings,

namely `Adam' and `Eve'. For Adam the ground state |GT > would be almost identical to

the vacuum state |Ω > . 7 The psyche of Adam would be represented as in Eq.11. The

contribution of Adam to the ground state, during the interval of time t, t +  , will be given

by the action on the vacuum state of the operator:

U Adam t,  = 1 + μ 1 t, x 1 ta Adam t, x 1 t

Eq.12

where x 1 t is the path followed in space by Adam at time t and μ 1 t, x 1 t the weight

attached to him at time t . At the same time, the contribution of Eve to the ground state,

during the interval of time t, t +  , will be given by the action on the vacuum state of the

operator:

U Eve t,  = 1 + μ 2 t, x 2 ta Eve t, x 2 t

Eq.13
So for the generation that came after Adam and Eve, we can represent the ground state by

100 years

|G100 years >= ∏ U Eve t, U Adam t, |Ω >
t=0
Eq.14
where, for simplicity, we have assumed that both Adam and Eve lived for a 100 years

following paths in space given by x 1 t, x 2 t , and that only the two of them affected the

consciousness ground state for the next generation.

7The vacuum state of consciousness is affected by all forms of consciousness that emerged on earth before the
advent of human consciousness and hence altered |Ω > , but we ignore these for simplicity.

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Note that the operators U Adam t,  and U Eve t,  symbolize the

exponentiation of the creation operators associated to Adam and Eve.

To mathematically represent the ground state |G > in full generality we need some

notation. Let Nt be the number of persons who have lived up to time t , and let n

label a particular human being who followed a particular physical path x n t during his or

her lifetime; we choose the origin of time t = 0 from the point of real time at which

human consciousness emerged on the earth. We can then write the human ground state as

T Nt
|GT >= T∏ ∏ U n t, |Ω >
t=0 n=1 Eq.15

where U n t,  is the analogue of U Adam t,  given by equaton 12 but for the

particular human being labelled by n . For the product of operators, the time ordering

symbol T. .  means that the earlier times should be placed on the right, and the later

times consequently should be on the left hand side. Operators U n t,  contain functions

μ n t, x n t which are the weights attached to the individual n , and that vary during his

lifetime.
Given that the population of the human species has been growing exponentially

since the last few centuries starting at time denoted by t 0 , we approximately have that

Nt ≃ e λt−t 0  N 0 . Hence on an exponentially increasing product of operators given by

|GT > it is more and more unlikely that any individual consciousness can change the

ground state in a dramatic manner; rather it seems that the coherent and organized effect of

millions of psyche is more likely to have a significant impact on |GT > .

The ground state |GT > represents the sum total of all the excitations on the
vacuum state |Ω > of the consciousness superfield that has been effected by human
subjectivity over the entire period of human evolution. It is on this ground that the present

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day psyche of human beings is standing, and the entire theoretical superstructure that we

are born into is encoded in the ground state |GT >= |G > , where T stands for our

contemporary time. The species ground state contains the sum total of human subjectivity,
and includes language, culture, historical identity, religions, mythologies and folklore of the
past, the theories of science, and all such human creations that have left a lasting impact on
human consciousness.

The individual human psyche, located at time t and at position x can be

represented as

|P >≡ |Pt, xt >≃ a  t, xt|Gt >

Eq.16
We will refine this representation of an individual's psyche in the next section.

Using symmetry principles, for G = SU3 , one could show that bound states of

the psyche of a male and a female still exist for psyche |P > created from the ground state

|G > , as well as the triplets (or more) of all males and females . One could explore other

symmetry groups G to see what other forms of bound states for human psyche can be

formed.
The human psyche is one form of excitation of the consciousness superfield. In

terms of the psychic `energy' required to create a human psyche from |G > , the human

psyche is probably a very high energy state, given that |G > is already energetically well

above the vacuum energy. One may question as to how are the consciousness superfields
coupled to the quantum fields of the physical universe. Just as one needs to infuse energy
into physical fields to excite them, the biophysical structure of the human brain may be the
physical means of coupling the consciousness superfield to the body of a human being.
Moreover, other animals like monkeys, dogs, cats and so on might have sufficiently complex
biophysical structures to energize the lower psychic energy states of the consciousness
quantum field, explaining the rudiments of consciousness that these animals display.

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Complex ideas about Reality, both physical and spiritual, might be very `energetic'
states of the consciousness superfield -- similar to the Sun being a high energy state in the
physical universe -- and could explain the mentally illuminating power these ideas have.
8.1 Quantum Model for Consciousness and Self-
Self-Consciousness
In quantum mechanics we have a rather unexpected representation of the consciousness
and self-consciousness dialectic (Baaquie, 1987. Since the 'object' of self consciousness is
consciousness itself, the human psyche can be either in the state of consciousness or in a
state of self-consciousness in which it is viewing its own consciousness. A psychic state

corresponds to an operator a -- as expressed in equation 11. The fact that the human

psyche cannot simultaneously be in both states leads us to identify consciousness and self
consciousness with canonically conjugate and non-commuting operators.

We hence identify a with consciousness and rate of change of consciousness with

self-consciousness. Note that the rate of change of a particular consciousness is a subjective

construct, with some individuals having a very high rate of subjective change compared to

others. We denote the subjective and psychological time of an individual by t I , which is

some function of physical time. Self consciousness can then be defined as the state created
by the following operator, namely

∂a  = ∂t ∂a 
∂t I ∂t I ∂t Eq.17
  
These two operators a , ∂a /∂t are canonical conjugate operators, namely ∂a /∂t does


not commute with a , which is the essence of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The

fact that we cannot simultaneously be in the state of consciousness and self-consciousness is

 
reflected in the fact that ∂a /∂t, a  ∝ ℎ ≠ 0 .

Hence we see that, in the quantum theory of consciousness, it is only due to the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle that self-consciousness is differentiated from
consciousness.
9. A Particular Human Psyche

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Every person considers his psyche as a private entity that is the sole preserve of only his
own subjectivity. From the construction of the human psyche from an underlying
consciousness superfield, it is clear that no individual psyche can be considered in isolation
from the rest of the human species. Nevertheless, for simplicity, and to reflect the fact that
to a good approximation every individual seems to constitute an independent and integral
entity, we start our analysis of the human psyche by considering a particular individual
psyche in isolation, and only in later will we discuss the essentially social nature of an
individual's psyche.
From equation 16, we see that an individual's psyche is a disturbance on the

underlying `ocean' of the species ground state |G > . From his birth, a person acts on the

species ground state to actualize his own psyche. Since the effect caused by most individuals

on |G > is limited to his own self and those of his family -- with little impact on society as a

whole -- to a good approximation we consider that part of the ground state that is directly

acted upon by an individual to be |G Individual > .

To construct |G Individual > note that the formative years of most individuals is deeply

affected by his parents -- and the extended family in general -- in the earlier stages of his life,
and only when he is a mature adult does he interact independently with society at large.
Hence the individual's ground state can be modelled as the following. Suppose the individual
is taken to be mature by the time he is 20 years old; till this time, the individual's psyche has
access to the species' ground state only through the filter provided by his parents. We
define the effective ground state on which the individual's psyche acts as 8

U Mother t, U Father t, |Gt > t < 20 years

|G Effective t >=
|Gt > t > 20 years
Eq.18

8In principle, one can include the entire family tree in the preparation of an individual's ground state; for a more
accurate construction, all those who have interaction in person with the individual should be included in the
preparation of an individualÊs ground state, including all the siblings, the grandparents and uncles and aunts and
first cousins and so on.

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Where U Mother t,  and U Father t,  are the analogues of the operators U Eve t, 

and U Adam t,  given by equations 13 and 12, respectively for the mother and the father.

The individual's ground state is generated by the action of the person's psyche on the
effective ground state over his lifetime, and is given by

To the leading approximation, an individual's psyche is generated by the individual's mental

action on his own ground state |G Individual t  > . We hence have that the psyche of an

individual is given by

|Pt, xt >= a Individual t, x Individual t|G Individual t >
Eq.19

9.1. Human Essence

Where does the ground state |G Individual > reside in the human psyche? 9 What is its

significance? Part of it is in the conscious waking state, as is the case with language, and part
of it is something that we may not be aware of consciously, and can be said to be an
unconscious substratum of the human psyche that many thinkers have propounded. If one
self-consciously reflects on one's own psyche, then one can gauge some of the elements that
are accessible to conscious recall; maybe on further effort, other `hidden' facts about one
own ground state can become accessible to conscious recall. Since self-analysis and
conscious recall are in the domain of self-consciousness, we postulate that the parts of one's
own ground state that is amenable to conscious recall, which we label by the state

|Accessible to Consciousness > , are the memories of an individual that can be consciously

9We suppress the time index for |G Individual > in this section.

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recalled. We associate the recalling of memories, and self-reflection in general with the
process of self-consciousness, and hence postulate that

|Accessible to Waking State >= ∂a |G Individual >
∂t I Eq.20
We hence have the following decomposition of an individual's ground state

Since we have excluded the ground state from both the sleeping state and the waking state
-- one can only be aware of psychic events that are excitations on the individual's ground

state -- we need to give an interpretation of |G Individual > . Note since both the waking and

sleeping states are excitations of |G Individual > , the very nature of the excitations of waking

and sleeping state, and its range and scope, reflect features of |G Individual > ; for example

waves on an inland lake are different from the waves on a salty ocean. Hence |G Individual >

permeates both the waking and sleeping state and we consider it to be the ground of an
individual's psyche.

In this sense, the ground state |G Individual > can be said to be close to the essential

structure of a person's psyche, and hence we call it the essence of the person.

10. Waking and Sleeping States

At the most basic level, consciousness is linked to the state of the body, namely a person
can be awake or can be sleeping, or in a state in-between the two. Since the person may not
necessarily be completely awake or completely asleep, we need to represent the psyche as
an `admixture' of the sleeping and the awake state. We first discuss sleeping and waking
states by themselves, and will then address the question of how the psyche is constituted
out of these.

10.1. Waking State

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Consider the state of a person who is awake. A person can bring a thought to his conscious
mind either by recalling a pre-existing thought (say the name of a friend) or by creating a
brand new thought, for example, the name of a new road he is on. The individual's ability to
create and remove (destroy) thoughts from the conscious state of his mind can be
represented, similar to the case of creating a complete psyche out of the ground state

|G > , by creation and destruction operators that exist only at the command of a particular


individual, and which we label by c and c respectively. The mental excitations of an

individual's psyche are low 'energy' excitations of the psychic field and the creation and
destruction operators create the low energy excitations of this field.
Again, similar to the case of the definition of the vacuum state given in eq.10, an
individual psyche in its own ground state has no excitations (no thoughts), and hence

c|G Individual >= 0

Eq.21
To quantify how an individual psyche creates ideas and thoughts inside its mind, we
postulate that we can assign a `psychic energy' to all the ideas in a person's mind. Minor and
mechanistic thoughts for an adult, such as pouring out a glass of water or recalling the
multiplication table, require little mental effort and can be said to have low amounts of
psychic energy. Ideas exist as integral entities; there is no such thing as 'half an idea'; an idea
either has an integral reality, or does not exist. Following the quantum principle that energy

comes in discrete packets with a minimum energy ε , we postulate that all the conscious

thoughts that an individual has, or can be trained to have, have an integral multiple of ε ,

and a particular idea, labelled |Idean > , has a discrete psychic energy of nε , reflecting

that it is an integral quantum of an idea. We then have, from quantum theory, that

Idean >= c   n |G Individual >

Eq.22
Many ideas can have the same amount of psychic energy, and hence this classification is
highly degenerate; a more detailed and refined analysis is required to distinguish the space of
ideas more closely.

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Let us assume that the earlier superposed state of the individual's psyche that we wrote

in eq.5 is the result of acting on the individual's ground state n -times; we can then

represent the awake state of the human psyche as

|a >= c1c  |G Individual > +c2c   2 |G Individual > +. . . cNc   N |G Individual >
Eq.23

10.2. Sleeping State

How should we represent the sleeping state of an individual? From physiological studies of
the brain during its sleeping state, it is known that the brain is as active in the sleeping state
as it is in the awake state. Moreover, the mind experiences a myriad of phantasmagoric
world of dreams and of imaginary events. The creation of the sleeping state of the human
mind does not proceed along the same lines as that of the waking mind, which consciously
creates and manipulates ideas. Instead, the sleeping mind generates dreams and dreamless
sleep almost spontaneously, perhaps dominated by biophysical and other agents. It is the
same human psyche that sleeps and awakens, and so is grounded on the same individual

ground state |G Individual > .

We represent the difference between the waking and sleeping state by postulating
that there is another set of creation and destruction operators -- separate from the waking

state operators c , c , that create the sleeping state (including dreams and dreamless sleep)


labelled by b , b .10 Similar to the case for the waking state, we have for the individual's

ground state

b|G Individual >= 0

Eq.24
A sleeping state is then represented, similar to eq.23, by

10According to Alain Connes the creation and destruction operators b  , b can be thought of as the

anti-particles of the waking state creation and destruction operators c , c .

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|s >= b1b  |G Individual > +b2b   2 |G Individual > +. . . bNb   N |G Individual >
Eq.25
The main difference between the waking and sleeping state is that in the waking state a

person can consciously apply the creation and destruction operators c , c to create and

destroy ideas in response to either an external stimuli or by free will. In contrast, the

application of operators b , b that create the various sleeping states of the individual's

psyche are out of reach of the waking mind, and it is not clear who or what causes the

application of these operators on |G Individual t  > .

One possible explanation of why dream states occur is that the person's ground

state |G Individual t  > depends on time; as the person experiences new states of the psyche

during the waking state, the individual's ground state has an influx of new ideas, and this
changes it. To maintain its property of the ground state that is annihilated by the operators

c, b , the ground state needs to be re-diagonalized and this process would generate changes

in consciousness that are experienced as dreams. The ground state re-diagonalizes itself
continuously, but during the waking state these effects are over-shadowed by the waking
state.

10.3. Combination of Waking and Sleeping States

Should the state of the psyche be a superposition of these two states: the awake state |a > ,

and the sleeping state |s > ? The answer is no. The reason being that waking and sleeping

are two qualitatively different states of the human psyche, in the former we can exert free
will and choose the thoughts we wish to engage in, whereas in the sleeping state we have no
conscious control on what we dream. We hence need to expand the Hilbert space to
accommodate the dreaming states, and write the composite state of the psyche as a tensor
product of the waking and sleeping states. In symbols we tentatively have

|P >≃ |a > |s >

Eq.26

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We are not done yet. The expression for |P > for the individual's psyche given above

represents a state in which the waking and sleeping state are decoupled. We all know that
there are circumstances when a dream is so `strong' that one even wakes up disturbed and
woken by the dream itself. It is quite common that students faced with exams often wake up
from a dream in which they have missed the examination.
In general, if the dream comes into strong conflict with ideas held by the waking
state, the dream tends to be remembered. From these facts, it is clear that the waking and

sleeping states are not decoupled, but instead the state |P > is a correlated combination of

the waking and sleeping states. There is a special way in which a state can be a correlated
combination of its constituents; it is called an entangled state in quantum mechanics. To

illustrate how |P > is constructed, suppose there are two waking states, namely |a;t >

which denotes taking the exam, and state |a;m > which denotes missing the exam, and

similarly, dream states |s;t >, |s;m > which denote the person having a dream that he has

taken or missed the exam, respectively. The following state

|P >= |a;taken > |s;missed > +|a;missed > |s;taken >

Eq.27
is a candidate for the entanglement of the waking and sleeping states since there is
discordance between taking the exam in the waking state and the dream of a missed exam
and vice versa. On waking up from one of the two types of dream, the superposed state
that the psyche is in, given in above equation, will be lost. One can say, in the language of
quantum measurement theory, that the waking state has performed a measurement on the
sleeping state.
In general, the psyche of a person can be represented as

|P >= ∑ α ij |a;i > |s;j >

ij
Eq.28

where we label the various waking and sleeping states by indices i, j and coefficients α ij

specify how these states are entangled in the person's psyche.

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11. Time Evolution of an Individual Psyche

The evolution in time of a human psyche, like any other quantum system, is determined by
 
its psychic energy operator, called the Hamiltonian and denoted by Hc, c ;b, b  . The

Hamiltonian couples the waking and sleeping state operators, and hence a person's waking
and sleeping states communicate with each other in the development and change of the
individual's psyche.
As a human psyche evolves in time, it may enrich itself internally, as well as get

more `entangled' with other individuals as well as with the ground state |G > and in

principle even with the global vacuum state |Ω > . To study the development of a human

psyche in full generality is a formidable problem, requiring the full mathematics of

supersymmetric quantum field theory.
A first approximation to studying the dynamics of an individual is to consider the

internal evolution of a person and only its entanglement with the ground state |G > , and

bring in its entanglement with other individuals as higher order terms.

The non-Abelian Lie Group G yields a multi-dimensional internal space for the

evolution of a single individual. Every human being can choose his or her own destiny, and
decide on the path to take in life; a person can also change at any point of one's life, specially
where it concerns one's own private habits and state of mind. For example, a person can
choose to become a drug addict, and another person can decide to break the addiction to
drugs. These internal states of the human psyche are an everyday reality, and to explicate

this aspect of the human psyche, let us label the individual's psyche by |P;t > . Let |i >

be a set of appropriate basis states that span the Lie Algebra of G ; then to a first

approximation we have

m
|P;t >= ∑ c i t|i >
i=1

From eq.19

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Baaquie BE and Martin F. Quantum field theory of the human psyche

a  t, x I t|G Individual t >

|Pt, xt >= #

∂a t, x I t
⇒ ∂ |Pt, xt > = |G Individual > +a  t, x I t ∂ |G Individual t >
∂t I ∂t I ∂t I Eq.29
The evolution equation above is too complex to start our analysis, and we hence
approximate the evolution of an individual's psyche by
m
∂ |Pt, xt >≃
∂t I
∑ ∂c∂ti t
I
|i >
i=1
∂c i t
∂t I
= ∑ Hαi c α t
α

α α  
In our approximation, the Hamiltonian Hi = Hi c, c ;b, b  is driving the

evolution of the individual psyche. Suppose |i = 10 > corresponds to a purified state; then

it would be up to the free will of a person who wishes to purify his or her soul to choose
α
the appropriate Hamiltonian Hi to achieve this end. For example, for a person breaking

the addiction to drugs, a person's free will can choose to make some of the addictive and
destructive elements of the Hamiltonian -- that are perpetuating the addicted state -- equal
to zero, and hence evolve to a non-addicted state.

12. Human Psyche and its substructure: Entanglement

An individual is not an isolated and complete entity, given the many forms of relationships
and networks that every individual is a part of. We now look at the `many body' nature of
the individual human psyche, and the fine features of an individualÊs psyche, its so called
substructure, that results due to the individual's interactions with society.
The `many bodies' structure of the human psyche and the representation of its
substructure emerge from its model by a quantum superfield. From quantum field theory we
know that if we probe an electron at a definite scale, we measure a definite electric charge
and a definite mass for the electron, i.e. we probe a definite structure of the electron. If we
change the scale of the probe, for example if we probe the electron at a smaller scale, the
measured electric charge and the measured mass of the electron will be different, i.e. the

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structure of the electron will be different. This is a consequence of the fact that in quantum
field theory there is an effective theory for each scale.
Suppose one observes the electron at lengths always greater than say

l = 10 −12 cm. We will observe an effective electron state |el > in which all the effects of

all the length scales shorter than l have been incorporated into the electron state

|el > . 11 Now suppose we observe the electron more closely, at distances larger than

l/10 = 10 −13 cm. What shall we see? Quantum field theory tells us that viewed from the

smaller scale, the electron state |el > can be constructed from the electron state

|el/10 > and other states which contain photons of energies up to a maximum energy

corresponding to the scale l/10 and virtual electron-positron pairs.12 The transformation

from the state |el > to the state |el/10 > is mathematically accomplished by the

Renormalization Group equation.

Let us make an analogy between this quantum structure of the electron and the
structure of the human psyche. As a first approximation of the human psyche, if one
observes a person in a crowd, say in a public bus, one observes a composite person who
appears interchangeable with anyone else in the crowd, and can be represented by the

psychic state |P > . The analogy with the electron is that we are performing a crude

observation on the person.

One can probe more deeply into the psyche of the individual, and similar to the

case of the electron, we will find that there is more substructure to the state |P > . We can

11More precisely, every length scale l has its own effective Hamiltonian Hl whose energy eigenstate is given by

|el >

12Length scale l/10 has its own effective Hamiltonian Hl/10 whose energy eigenstate is given by |el/10 >

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represent the substructure of |P > in the same manner as we did for the electron, except

now we have to find the analogy for the states at a more fine scale for the person. The finer
scale in the case of the psyche is given by the likes and dislikes of the person, his family ,
friends, his profession, his acquaintances and so on. To start with, the person has a psyche
′
on a more refined scale given by the state |P > , and this is the psyche that one would

observe if one was meeting the person, not as a faceless member of a crowd, but rather at a
dinner party or at some similar social occasion.
A person is known by the company he or she keeps, and this is also reflected in the

state of the person's psyche. Suppose the person has a friend denoted by a state |P 1 > .

Two individuals, two human beings can be entangled through their conscious and
unconscious states. There is no absolute separation between the two psyche. Probing such
an entangled structure by one of the two psyche, let us say by the consciousness of the

psyche P , is to become aware of the underlying common values and views that are shared

by the two individuals. A person and a friend can be said to form an entangled state

|P ′ , P 1 > .

Similar to our analysis of the waking and sleeping states, two persons, say |P a >

and |P b > who are completely disconnected -- for example two strangers in the bus -- are

represented as a product of their two states |P a > |P b > , and these states are called

dis-entangled states. On the other hand, two states that cannot be factorized are called
entangled states in quantum mechanics, and there are precise quantitative measures of the
degree of entanglement of quantum states.
The main difference between a bound state and an entangled state is that for a
bound state there needs to be continual interactions between the elements that are bound;
for example, in the hydrogen atom the proton and electron are in a bound state due to
continuous exchange of photons. In contrast, for an entangled state, even when the particles

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are far outside the range of any possible interaction between them, they continue to persist
in globally correlated states, and the name 'entanglement' is given to such states.
Entangled states need to be prepared by using the interaction between the
entangled constituents, but once this preparation is completed, the entanglement
(correlation) continues to persist even in the absence of any interaction.
The analogy for the human psyche of a bound state is a nuclear family, where all the
elements of a family are kept `bound' together by constant interaction, be its emotional,
financial, social interactions that arise due to living in the same household. The analogy of
the entanglement between two individuals is for example the continuing bonds between
children who are adults with their aging parents; for such a case there is no longer any
common household, and no financial or other co-dependence; but entanglement can
continue to exist over great distances and over many decades. The correlation between
such apparently disconnected individuals is very well represented by the concept of the
quantum entanglement of two or more psyche.
The preparation of an entangled state need not necessarily take a long time; the well
known phenomenon of `love at first sight' shows that there can be an almost instantaneous
entanglement of two individuals, who continue to be `in love' (correlated) even if they are
subsequently separated -- without any communication -- for long periods of time.
The psyche at the coarse level can be represented by the same person's psyche at a
more refined level as

|P >= c 0 |P ′ > +c 1 |P ′ , P 1 >

Eq.30

There may exist also an entangled state of individual P with yet another individual labelled

as P 2 , ... In this case we have to consider the following quantum superposition

|P >= c 0 |P ′ > +c 1 |P ′ , P 1 > +c 2 |P ′ , P 2 > +. .

Eq.31
It is also possible to consider a triple entangled state involving three individuals

|P ′ , P 1 , P 2 > and so on. In this case we will have the following quantum superposition

|P >= d 0 |P ′ > +d 1 |P ′ , P 1 > +d 2 |P ′ , P 2 > +d 3 |P ′ , P 1 , P 2 >

Eq.32

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There are other forms of entanglement that come from the effect of the ground
state on the person's psyche. For example, the attachment to a race or nation or religion

affects an individual through the ground state |G > , and in some circumstances can be

strong enough to launch wars based on nationalism or race or religion. Entanglement with

the species ground state |G > can also be strong enough so that peace prevails over war.

By resolving a person's psyche in a more and more refined basis, we are in fact

probing the inner structure, and the interactions, of the consciousness superfield Ψ as well

as the ground state |G > that the human species has evolved over the last few thousand

years.
There are further refinements that need to be considered. The entanglement and
interaction of a person with his friends and colleagues can be taken to be the system that
the person is directly involved with. What about the millions of people with whom a person
has no direct connection? How do they enter into the psychic world of an individual? Any
interaction with strangers can be modelled as the interaction of a person with the
environment, and the role of the environment in every person's live is of great importance.
The environment acts as an observer in the life of an individual, tending to decohere
the superposed states of an individual. This may be a reason why some sensitive and
creative persons like spiritual masters, artists, scientists and so on prefer to live in relative
isolation as the carefully prepared superposed states of their psyche then have less of a
likelihood of undergoing decoherence due to interactions with the environment.

13. Conclusions
We have proposed a quantum theory of consciousness, and applied it to represent and
explain some of the key features of the observed phenomena that are displayed by human
consciousness.
A few key assumptions that have been made in this article can be addressed
empirically. The most important of these being to provide experimental evidence that the
mind in fact can be in a superposed state. Another key concept that needs to be studied

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further is how two human psyche become entangled, and if there are any measurable
quantities that can provide evidence for this entanglement.
The analysis of the waking and sleeping states using the concepts of quantum
mechanics needs to be further developed to provide a more detailed explanation and
interpretation of dreams.
The larger question of how the collective consciousness (and unconsciousness)
emerges from the quantum field theory of consciousness is similar to the phenomenon of
cooperative behaviour in physical systems, and needs to be studied.
And lastly, the psychic quantum field extends over the entire universe, and one can
study if there are any `global' oscillations of the supersymmetric vector field, similar to the
excitations of the physical electromagnetic field that reach us from distant galaxies.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Alain Connes for fruitful discussions; FM would like to thank him for his lifelong
friendship and his constant support in this difficult field over years. FM would also like to thank Louis Bonpunt
for his support. BEB would like to thank Yamin Chowdhury for his lifelong friendship, and for having introduced
him to the idea that the human mind is a quantum system. Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Hautes
Energies, LPTHE, at University Paris 6 and 7 is supported by CNRS as Unite Mixte de Recherche, UMR7589.

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