"Measurement" as a neurophysical process: a hypothetical linear and deterministic scenario
arXiv:quant-ph/0309166
Abstract
Tunnel amplitudes of molecular configurations (like neuronal channel pores) may be very sensitive to thermal vibrations of the barrier width (vibration-assisted tunneling) resulting in pseudo-random spikes of widely varying sizes. An observer who ``lives'' behind the barrier would experience as an ``event'' an accidental minimum of the barrier width, the timing being determined by the microstate of the neuron's heat bath. In two neurons, set to detect a ``left'' or ``right'' state of an object, firing amplitudes typically differ so much as to produce a quasi-selection of one option.
13 pages, 3 figures; v2: reference added, some points elaborated; v3: internal reference added on p12