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# Quantum Zeno Features of Bistable Perception

## 1 Introduction

Quantum theory has revolutionized our understanding of the physical world in both scientific and epistemological respects. It was developed in the third decade of the $`20^{\mathrm{th}}`$ century as a theory describing the behavior of atomic systems. Subsequently, its range of validity turned out to be much wider. Not only are nuclei and elementary particles, more than seven orders of magnitude smaller than atomic systems, governed by quantum theory, but also macroscopic phenomena like superconductivity or superfluidity are successfully described in quantum theoretical terms.

¿From the present state of knowledge, the broad validity of quantum theory in physics is not surprising. Investigations of its conceptual structure and axiomatic foundations have revealed that quantum theory is a logical consequence of some rather simple and plausible basic assumptions on the nature of observables and states of physical systems. In this framework, classical physics results from basically one additional assumption: the commutativity of the algebra of observables. On the other hand, the axiomatic framework has shown how deeply rooted apparently bizarre concepts of quantum theory like complementarity and entanglement really are, and that there is no way back to classical concepts on a fundamental level of physical description.

Since the early days of quantum theory, starting with Niels Bohr, the idea has been entertained that quantum theoretical concepts like complementarity and entanglement might be meaningful and important even beyond the realm of the physical world in its strict sense. Concerning such “quantum-like” phenomena, encorporating complementarity or entanglement beyond physics, three different stances, not completely exclusive with respect to each other from a logical point of view, are possible and have found proponents.

1. The application of quantum theoretical concepts to non-physical situations is merely metaphoric and not elucidated in a precise and general way. The analogies are selected ad hoc and change with the given situation.
2. In the spirit of a strict physicalism, everything can be reduced to physics. There is nothing left beyond the world of physics, and quantum-like phenomena as adressed above are simply physical quantum phenomena.
3. Assuming a non-reductive framework, it might be possible and adequate to describe vital features of parts of the world, physical or non-physical, by a formalism isomorphic to the formalism of quantum theory. This isomorphy may be total or, more often, partial, such that only particular features of the quantum theoretical formalism are realized in a non-physical context.

An approach within option (3), denoted as weak quantum theory, was recently proposed on an axiomatic basis . The starting point in this approach is the algebraic formulation of quantum theory, where the observables of a physical system generate a $`C^{}`$-algebra $`𝒜`$, and the states of the system are positive linear functionals on $`𝒜`$. A careful analysis of this formulation shows that its axioms are not equally fundamental. They can be sifted out into general, indispensable axioms, applying to any (physical or non-physical) system as long as it is a possible object of meaningful investigation, and more special axioms used in quantum physical applications only.

The most general formal system thus arising, in which concepts like complementarity and entanglement are still meaningful, is a minimal version of weak quantum theory. In short, it can be described in the following way (for details we refer to ):

The notions of system, observables, and states remain unchanged. Observables are identified with functions mapping states to states. This emphasizes the importance of observables as representing active processes with the capacity of changing states, which is vital in quantum theory.

Observables, conceived as functions, can be composed. This composition defines a multiplication of observables endowing the set of all observables with the simple structure of a semigroup. Two observables are incompatible, or complementary with respect to each other, whenever they do not commute. Entanglement can be rephrased as complementarity of a global observable pertaining to a system as a whole and local observables pertaining to its parts. Propositions are special observables related to yes-no-questions about the system.

The minimal, most general formal system of weak quantum theory can be stepwise supplemented and enriched up to isomorphy with the full quantum theory used in physics. In its minimal form, weak quantum theory, although it implies complementarity and entanglement, is vastly more general and flexible than the full quantum theory. The main differences are:

* In the most general form of weak quantum theory, the sum of observables is not defined in an empirically meaningful way. As a consequence, there is no Hilbert space of states and no way to attribute probabilities to the outcomes of measurements corresponding to the observables.
* Planck’s constant $`h`$, which determines the amount of non-commutativity and complementarity in quantum physics, enters nowhere. This implies that conspicuous quantum-like phenomena may be effective in situations beyond standard quantum physics.
* Unlike in quantum theory, where Bell’s inequalities can be derived, there is in general no way to rule out local realism. As a consequence, indeterminacies and complementarities can be of epistemic rather than ontic origin.

Quantum-like behavior as described by weak quantum theory or its refinements is expected for systems with complex internal organization. This implies strong and intricate coupling of their parts and the practical impossibility of observation from outside without influencing the state of such systems.

A paradigmatic example for such a situation is the cognitive system and its neural correlates in the brain. This may be one of the reasons why quite a number of approaches have been developed, in more or less detail, to relate conscious activities to quantum theory or describe particular brain operations quantum theoretically. Besides the fairly popular approaches associated with the names of von Neumann/Wigner/Stapp  and Penrose/Hameroff , other interesting options have been proposed by Beck/Eccles  and Umezawa/Vitiello .

All these approaches are essentially discussed within the usual quantum physics. This is at variance with the strategy of weak quantum theory; a recently discussed example refers to the perception of temporally subsequent events . This approach proposes a type of temporal entanglement which is not contained in standard quantum physics, but can be formulated in the theory of chaotic systems. In the present paper, we intend to apply the framework of weak quantum theory to another scenario of cognitive science: the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli.111Niels Bohr was familiar with the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli through his psychologist friend Edgar Rubin. There are indications  that this fact, together with Bohr’s studies of the writings of Harald Høffding and William James, played an important role in the complicated genesis of his concept of complementarity in quantum physics.

Bistable perception arises whenever a stimulus can be interpreted in two different ways with approximately equal plausibility. A very simple and often investigated example of bistable perception is the so-called Necker cube. (For an overview concerning the current discussion of cognitive and neural features of the perception of the Necker cube see .) A grid of a cube in two-dimensional representation can be perceived as a three dimensional-object in two different perspectives, either as a cube seen from above or from below. The perception of the Necker cube switches back and forth between the two possible interpretations spontaneously and inevitably.

We propose to describe bistable perception with the formalism of a two-state quantum system, where the two basis states correspond to the two different ways to interpret the visual stimulus. Measurement is considered as the mental process determining in which way the figure is perceived. The switching between the different perceptions corresponds to the quantum transition between the two states which are eigenstates of the operator representing a particular perception and unstable under the time evolution of the system.

Such a description of bistable perception employs a non-minimal version of weak quantum theory with a linear structure and a two-dimensional linear state space. This version is fairly close to the structure of the full quantum theory used in physics. This does not imply, however, that we propose to understand bistable perception as a quantum phenomenon in the sense that the related brain processes are usual quantum processes. (Planck’s constant $`h`$ will nowhere enter in our arguments.) Rather, we will discuss the quantum-like behavior of bistable perception as a result of the truncation of an extremely complicated system to a two-state system, into which the effect of many uncontrolled variables and influences is lumped in a global way.

For this purpose, we consider a quantum mechanical system with a state space spanned by two states $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$, neither of which is an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian $`H`$ generating the evolution matrix $`U(t)=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}Ht}`$. If the system is initially in the state $`\psi _1`$ and allowed to evolve freely according to $`U(t)`$, then its state will oscillate between the states $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$. This oscillation can be slowed down by increasing the frequency at which the system is measured, asking whether it still resides in its initial state. In the limit of continuous measurement, the evolution of the system can be completely suppressed. This phenomenon is known as the quantum Zeno effect.222See  for a review of theoretical and experimental results concerning the quantum Zeno effect. Its possible cognitive significance was indicated previously by Stapp .

In the following section 2, the quantum Zeno effect will be described in as much detail as required for the purpose of this paper. The quantitative relation between different time scales of crucial significance will be emphasized in particular. In section 3, cognitive time scales satisfying this relation will be presented with particular respect to the dynamics of bistable perception. Section 4 summarizes the results and concludes the article.

## 2 Quantum Zeno effect

The quantum Zeno effect was originally discussed as the quantum Zeno “paradox”333The Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed the following antinomy: “As long as anything is in space equal to itself, it is at rest. An arrow is in a space equal to itself at every moment in its flight, and therefore also during the whole of its flight. Thus the flying arrow is at rest.”  by Misra and Sudarshan  for the decay of unstable quantum systems. As mentioned above, its key meaning is that repeated observations of the system decelerate the time evolution which it would undergo without observations, e.g. its decay. The metaphor “a watched pot never boils” paraphrases this behavior in the limit of continuous observation.

The situation addressed in the following refers to a quantum system oscillating between two non-stationary states. For this purpose, we consider a system with the following properties:

1. For convenience, a two-state system will be considered. (The results apply to more general systems as well.)
2. An observation is represented by the operator

$$\sigma _3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$

Immediately after an observation, the system will be in one of the corresponding eigenstates

$$\psi _1=|+=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right)\mathrm{or}\psi _2=|=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right).$$
3. Both $`\sigma _3`$-eigenstates may also be represented by their projection operators

$$P_+=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right)\mathrm{and}P_{}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
4. Without loss of generality, the Hamilton operator giving rise to transitions of the system can be written as

$$H=g\sigma _1=g\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right),$$

where $`g`$ is a coupling constant. Hence, the unitary operator of time evolution is represented by

$$U(t)=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}Ht}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}gt& \mathrm{i}\mathrm{sin}gt\\ \mathrm{i}\mathrm{sin}gt& \mathrm{cos}gt\end{array}\right).$$
5. In this model, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ defines the time interval between two successive observations, and $`T`$ defines the time scale after which the state has changed with $`50\%`$ probability. Concerning the cognitive interpretation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`T`$ we refer to the next section. It is assumed that $`T/\mathrm{\Delta }T=N1`$.

We now calculate the probability that an eigenstate of the observation operator $`\sigma _3`$ (representing the perception of the Necker cube) remains unchanged after a time $`T=N\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ under the condition that repeated observations (measurements of $`\sigma _3`$) occur in time intervalls $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. For $`t=0`$ we assume the system to be in the eigenstate $`|+`$, and this state is confirmed after each observation.

The probability that the system is still in state $`|+`$ after time $`t`$ is:

$$w(t)=|+|U(t)|+|^2=\mathrm{cos}^2gt.$$
(1)
This oscillation determines a characteristic time scale $`t_0`$, given by the requirement that the state of the system contains the eigenstates $`|+`$ and $`|`$ with equal probability, corresponding to $`1/8`$ of a period of the oscillation or $`t_0=\pi /4g`$.

By contrast, if the system is observed $`N`$ times with time step $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$, the probability that it is still in state $`|+`$ after all $`N`$ observations, each with the result $`+`$, is given by

$$w(N)=|+|(P_+U(\mathrm{\Delta }T)P_+)^N|+|^2=\left[\mathrm{cos}(g\mathrm{\Delta }T)\right]^{2N}.$$
(2)
This is simply the product of the survival probabilities for each individual observation. The number of observations $`N`$ after which the probability $`w(N)`$ decreases to $`1/2`$ is given by

$$w(N)=\frac{1}{2}[\mathrm{cos}(g\mathrm{\Delta }T)]^{2N}=\frac{1}{2},$$
(3)
or

$$\mathrm{cos}(g\mathrm{\Delta }T)=\mathrm{e}^{\frac{1}{2N}\mathrm{ln}2}.$$

According to $`N=T/\mathrm{\Delta }T1`$, the right hand side of this equation is close to unity. Therefore, the argument of the cosine is close to zero and we may expand the cosine function according to

$$\left(1\frac{(g\mathrm{\Delta }T)^2}{2}+\mathrm{}\right)1\frac{1}{2N}\mathrm{ln}2+\mathrm{}$$
(4)
or

$$g=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{ln}2}{N\mathrm{\Delta }T^2}}=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{ln}2}{T\mathrm{\Delta }T}}.$$
(5)
In this way, the unknown coupling constant $`g`$ is expressed by the experimentally accessible quantities $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`T`$.

These quantities can be related to the evolution of the system under the condition that no observations are performed. In this case, the time evolution is given by $`U(t)`$ and, as mentioned above, the state oscillates between the two eigenstates $`|+`$ and $`|`$ with period $`t_0=\pi /4g`$. This leads to the relation

$$t_0=\frac{\pi }{4\sqrt{\mathrm{ln}2}}\sqrt{T\mathrm{\Delta }T}.$$
(6)
between the three time scales involved. (Note that Planck’s action $`h`$ is absent in this relation. If at all, it would enter in $`g`$, but $`g`$ is eliminated in eq. 6.)

The derivation of this relation depends on two arbitrary choices: $`T`$ is determined from the condition that the probability of state flipping is $`1/2`$ (eq. 3) , and $`t_0`$ is determined from the condition that the oscillating state is a superposition of eigenstates of $`\sigma _3`$ with equal coefficients (eq. 6). Even if these conditions are varied, the general result

$$t_0=C\sqrt{T\mathrm{\Delta }T},$$
(7)
remains unchanged ($`C1`$; cf. eq. 6). It entails the following two predictions:

1. As long as the time interval $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ between two observations is non-zero, the states will spontaneously switch into each other after an average time $`T`$, which is large compared to $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`t_0`$.
2. The relation between the time scales $`T`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`t_0`$ is given by eq. 7.

## 3 Cognitive time scales

In order to assign significance to the time scales $`T`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`t_0`$ in terms of the process of bistable perception, corresponding cognitive time scales have to be identified with particular respect to bistable perception. In this section, we will argue that there are natural choices for $`T`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. As a consequence, $`t_0`$ can be calculated, and its possible significance will be discussed.

### 3.1 $`T3`$ sec

The perception of ambiguous visual stimuli is a prominent topic of modern research in cognitive science and neurophysiology . One of the elementary examples is a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional cube, the so-called Necker cube. The Swiss geologist Necker  first discovered that the front-back orientation of the cube switches spontaneously. Since then, numerous other stimuli have been studied generating the same basic phenomenon. Due to its simplicity and, in comparison with other stimuli, fairly low semantic content, the Necker cube remains one of the most popular objects for investigation.

There are two basically different approaches to study the perception of ambiguous stimuli. The first one refers to the behavioral response to a stimulus which is (assumed to be) based on psychological (mental) processes. Measuring the frequency of reversals is a typical example. The second perspective is to look for neural correlates of psychological processes triggered by stimuli, using either electrophysiological tools or, more recently, imaging techniques.

One of the fairly invariant patterns, which the perception of ambiguous stimuli presents, is a remarkably stable rate of reversals for individual subjects, ranging between about 4 and 60 switches per minute for different subjects . This reversal rate corresponds to a “mean first passage time” between 1 and 15 seconds. The duration after which the stimulus orientation spontaneously reverses was found to be gamma-distributed around a maximum of about 3 seconds . This time scale can straightforwardly be attributed as the extended oscillation period $`T`$ due to observations.

The time scale of approximately 3 seconds was not only found in the bistable perception of visual stimuli, but also of auditory ambiguous stimuli. For instance, the phoneme sequence BA-CU-BA-CU-… switches into CU-BA-CU-BA-… after a corresponding time interval  . In addition, there are other features in perception, cognition, memory, and movement control for which the 3 second interval is crucial. Here are some of the most conspicuous observations, discussed in more detailed in :

* length of lines in classical verse in different languages , also of melody phrases;
* segmentation of spontaneous speech acts, i.e. closed verbal utterances ;
* rhythmic accentuation of successive beats within 3 second windows ;
* length of spontaneous motor activity (e.g., scratching) in different mammalian species ;
* information retrieving by short-time (working) memory within 3 second windows
* the reproduction of time intervals is overestimated for time intervals smaller than 3 seconds, and underestimated for intervals greater than 3 seconds; the “indifference point” is at 3 seconds .

All these observations and more indicate that temporal segmentation into 3 second windows is a basic principle of many aspects of conscious activity. Therefore Pöppel refers to single 3 second intervals as “states of being conscious” and emphasizes that the segmentation mechanism itself is automatic and presemantic . Such discrete successive states are semantically linked with their predecessor and successor. The resulting subjective experience of the continuity of consciousness is, thus, intimately related to the assignment of meaning.

The ubiquity and the basic significance of the time scale of approximately 3 seconds suggests that $`T3`$ sec is also significant for cognitive processes beyond the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli. In the context of the present article, however, the focus remains bistable perception of Necker type stimuli, since it offers a scenario which is conceptually better defined and experimentally better controllable than transitions between arbitrary other mental representations.

### 3.2 $`\mathrm{\Delta }T30`$ msec

A reasonable estimate for the time between observations in the sense of the quantum Zeno effect, $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$, is difficult to obtain from the phenomenology of bistable perception. It has to satisfy at least one condition: the perceptual system must be able to assign a temporal sequence to successive events, i.e. observations.

Experiments concerning the capabilities of discriminating and sequentializing temporally separate perceptual events have been carried out for a long time . A particular version of such experiments was reported by Pöppel . Exposing subjects to two successive separable (e.g. by frequency) stimuli and varying the time interval $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ between them, three regimes of different kinds of perception of the stimuli were observed.

For $`\mathrm{\Delta }t30`$ msec, two different individual events are clearly separable, and their sequence can be correctly assigned. For $`\mathrm{\Delta }t<3`$ msec (in the auditory modality), the two different events remain unresolved and, as a consequence, a sequential order cannot be assigned to them. Most interesting is the result for the regime 3 msec $`<\mathrm{\Delta }t<`$ 30 msec. Here, two individual different events can be discriminated, but their temporal sequence cannot be assigned correctly (rather, the sequence assignment is more or less at random). This implies that the discrimination of temporally distinct events and their sequentialization are different perceptual capabilities.

These results, which were found for different sensory modalities , suggest the existence of two different kinds of temporal thresholds for the discrimination and sequentialization of perceived events:
(1) a so-called fusion threshold (or transduction threshold) which can be interpreted as an elementary integration interval for discriminating perceived events. This threshold is modality-dependent. While the mentioned value of approximately 3 msec refers to auditory perception, the fusion threshold in visual and tactile perception is of the order of 10 msec .
(2) a so-called order threshold of approximately 30 msec which can be interpreted as an elementary integration interval for the capability to assign sequential order to perceived events. This modality-independent threshold is often characterized as an extended period of nowness.

While the fusion threshold can be explained by transduction properties of signals in the brain, a proper understanding of the order threshold remains a topic of vivid discussion. Since its size ($``$ 30 msec) is the same for different modalities, it was speculated that the order threshold might be related to the problem of how pieces of information from an external event, which are received in terms of different sensory modalities, are bound together such that the external event is perceived as a whole (binding problem). In addition, the approximate equivalence of $``$ 20–40 msec with $``$ 30–50 Hz ($`\gamma `$-band) brain activity suggests that the order threshold could be related to collective neural oscillations as first reported in . For a recent approach to understand the relation between the order threshold and collective oscillations see .

The nature of the order threshold as an elementary integration interval prevents the sequentialization of successive stimuli with a temporal interval smaller than approximately 30 msec. This strongly suggests the idea to use it as a generic lower bound of the time $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ between successive observations in the quantum Zeno effect. Observations with smaller temporal distance cannot be perceptually time-ordered. The fact that the order threshold is modality-independent and its fundamental significance for the binding problem add to the plausibility of this suggestion.

### 3.3 The significance of $`t_0`$

In the quantum Zeno scenario, $`t_0`$ is the oscillation period of the transition process between the considered non-stationary states, under the assumption that there is no observation and the evolution of the system is governed by $`U(t)`$. According to eq. 7 and setting $`C=1`$, observation leads to an increase of the effective oscillation time from $`t_0`$ to

$$T=\frac{t_0^2}{\mathrm{\Delta }T}.$$
(8)
With $`T3`$ sec and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T30`$ msec, this provides $`t_0300`$ msec. Under the influence of observations at a temporal distance of 30 msec, the observation-free oscillation period of 300 msec due to $`U(t)`$ is increased to an oscillation period of 3 sec. It has to be understood, though, that the value of $`t_0`$ is as approximate as those of $`T`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. A cognitive time scale corresponding to $`t_0`$ should, thus, be of the order of some hundred milliseconds.

Roughly speaking, this is the order of magnitude which is most often discussed as the time required for a stimulus to become “conscious”. It essentially consists of the time required for signal transduction from sensory input to the relevant parts of the cortex plus “unconscious” preprocessing. Neurophysiological studies with event-related potentials show a distinctive universal signature after approximately 300 msec, the so-called P300 component, sometimes referring to additional features up to 900 msec . It is independent of the specific stimulus and has been attributed to the fact that the perception of a stimulus is a process demanding conscious attention (see  and references therein). From another perspective, it has been proposed that any cognitive processing requires about 100 msec to lead to a consciously available result , e.g. in terms of a representation.

The significance of the hundred millisecond time scale with respect to the conscious availability of a mental representation offers an intuitive understanding of $`t_0`$ in the cognitive context. In contrast to $`T`$, which represents the “lifetime” (or mean first passage time) of each of the perceptual representations, $`t_0`$ can be regarded as the transition time between those representations. The relaxation into each one of the representations is much faster than the lifetime in each representation due to the Zeno effect. Without Zeno effect, the lifetime $`T`$ would be more or less identical with the transition time $`t_0`$.

It has been observed that the lifetime $`T`$, i.e., the inverse switching rate, for bistable Necker cube perception changes considerably if the stimulus is presented in a non-continuous way . Particular combinations of on- and off-time intervals lead to a significantly enhanced value of $`T`$. Recent observations  show that $`T`$ depends essentially on off-times rather than on on-times. $`T`$ is maximal for long off-times (on the order of a second).

The relation between $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$, $`T`$ and $`t_0`$ implies that $`T`$ increases if $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ is decreased or $`t_0`$ is increased. Is it possible to interpret the situation for non-continuous presentation in such a way that either $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ or $`t_0`$ is effectively changed due to the discrete on- and off-times and, thus, leads to an increase of $`T`$?

Let us first consider the time scale $`\mathrm{\Delta }T30`$ msec. It represents an intrinsically (due to the operation of the cognitive system) given lower bound to the time between observations. Therefore, it would be implausible to consider significantly smaller values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. Moreover, there is no empirical evidence at hand that an increase of $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ could be forced by long off-times in non-continuous presentation.

On the other hand, long off-times obviously increase the interval after which a reversal of the Necker cube perception becomes possible at all. ¿From the theoretical point of view outlined in Sec. 2, non-continuous presentation of the Necker cube with considerable off-times effectively modifies the Hamiltonian of the system, leading to an increased oscillation time $`t_0`$. In detail, this argument applies if off-times are greater than the value of $`t_0`$ under continuous presentation (with vanishing off-time). For non-continuous presentation, off-times (provided they are long enough) can therefore be identified with $`t_0`$ and utilized for an experimentally well-controlled variation of its numerical value. For such a situation, Fig. 1 shows experimental results for $`\mathrm{\Delta }T=f(t_0)`$ from  together with a theoretically obtained curve according to eq. 8 and with $`\mathrm{\Delta }T=70`$ msec. The theoretical curve fits the empirical results perfectly well. Using $`\mathrm{\Delta }T=70`$ msec to estimate $`t_0`$ for continuous presentation provides $`t_0460`$ msec.

## 4 Summary and conclusions

In the framework of a generalized, “weak” quantum theory, the quantum Zeno effect was applied to the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli. In this application to a phenomenon of cognitive science, which obviously exceeds the domain of standard quantum physics, the quantum feature of measurement corresponds to the act of perception. The main result of this paper is the derivation and cognitive interpretation of three crucial time scales:

the time between successive observations; as a lower bound for $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ in cognitive operations, the so-called order threshold of $`30`$ msec is proposed.

the oscillation period for the switching process between two non-stationary states under the unperturbed evolution of the system; $`t_0`$ will be increased to $`T`$ if measurements are carried out.

the increased switching period for the case that measurements are carried out; cognitively this corresponds to the switching period of $`3`$ sec for bistable perception under continuous presentation of the stimulus.

The quantum Zeno model establishes a relation between these three time scales, yielding $`t_0300`$ msec for $`\mathrm{\Delta }T30`$ msec and $`T3`$ sec under the condition of continuous stimulus presentation. Such a value of $`t_0`$ is often discussed as the approximate size of the time interval after which the processing of sensory inputs leads to a consciously available result, i.e. a mental representation of the stimulus.

Non-continuous presentation of the Necker cube provides the possibility to vary $`t_0`$ in an experimentally controlled manner in terms of off-times between stimulus presentation. Empirical results for $`T`$ as a function of $`t_0`$ support the relation between the three times scales with respect to their cognitive significance. However, further experimental material will be needed to firmly establish the cognitive relevance of the quantum Zeno time scales.

Another prediction of the cognitive quantum Zeno effect is the existence of superpositions $`c_1\psi _1+c_2\psi _2`$ of the individual well-defined perception states $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$. It is presumably not easy to prepare and observe such superposition states. Nevertheless, they should appear at least as unstable, transitional states between $`\psi _1`$ and $`\psi _2`$. Elsewhere  such states were tentatively described as “acategoreal” states, indicating that they do not encode categoreal representations in the usual sense of cognitive science. In , a specific neural correlate of such states was for the first time reported in terms of an early (250 msec) component in event-related potentials.

An interesting option for the preparation of superposition states is the perception of paradoxical rather than ambiguous figures. In this case, the key idea is that both alternatives of perception operate as repellors rather than attractors, thus pushing the state of the system toward the unstable superposition in between them. So far, no experimental material is available concerning such a scenario.

## Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Werner Ehm, Jürgen Kornmeier and Jiri Wackermann for helpful discussions.


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# Photon interferometry and size of the hot zone in relativistic heavy ion collisions

## I INTRODUCTION

Two-particle intensity interferometry along with the analysis of single-particle spectra has been widely used for a quantitative characterization of the hot zone created by the collision of two heavy ions at high energies. The method was first applied to measure the angular diameter of stars and other astronomical objects using the measurements based on two-photon correlations known as Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) correlations hb1 . Later in the field of particle physics, two-pion correlations were used to obtain the spatial extent of the fireball in proton - anti-proton reactions hb2 . In high energy heavy ion collisions two-particle (e.g. pions, kaons etc) correlations have been extensively studied both experimentally na35 ; hb7 ; hb8  and theoretically hb3 ; uaw  to obtain direct information about the size, shape and dynamics of the source at freeze-out. This is usually done via selection of transverse momentum and rapidity of the correlated particles. Compared to two-particle correlation, the three-particle correlation has been shown to provide additional information on chaoticity and asymmetry of the source emission hb4 . Recently, it has been argued that spatial separation between sources of different species can be extracted from non-identical particle correlation functions, hence these can provide an independent cross-check of the transverse flow prescription hb5 . One of the major limitations of carrying out the correlation studies with hadrons appearing at the final state is that, the information about the possible early dense state of matter is diluted or lost through re-scattering. Although, some calculations suggest that the ratio of the radius of the source along the direction of the total transverse momentum ($`\stackrel{}{K}_T`$) of the two detected particles to the source radius perpendicular to $`\stackrel{}{K}_T`$ and the beam direction, as a function of transverse momentum can provide useful information hb6 . However, the results at relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) where quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is expected to be formed does not show any encouraging result on the above signal hb7 ; hb8 . Investigations to understand the partonic effects on the interferometry with final state particles (pions) at RHIC hb9  are being pursued. HBT interferometry as a sensitive probe of the QCD equation of state and hence formation of QGP has been discussed in hb6 ; hb9 ; hb10 . It has been argued dks ; timmermann  that in contrast to hadrons, two-particle intensity interferometry of photons which are produced throughout the space-time evolution of the reaction and which suffer almost no interactions with the surrounding medium can provide information on the the history of the evolution of the hot matter created in heavy ion collisions.

From the experimental point of view, photon interferometry encounters considerable difficulties compared to hadron interferometry due to small yield of direct photons from the early hot and dense region of the matter and the associated large background of photons primarily from the electro-magnetic decay processes of hadrons at freeze-out wa98 . However, recent calculations demonstrate that it is still possible to experimentally filter out the correlations of photons from the hot and dense zone from those arising due to the residual correlations of decay photons. This can be done by studying photon interferometry as a function of invariant relative momentum of the two photons peressounko . One expects the contribution from the photons coming from the early stage of the reactions to contribute predominantly to the region of small invariant relative momentum.

The aim of the present work is to first analyze the single photon spectra observed by the WA98 collaboration wa98  in Pb + Pb interactions at SPS energies. In the next step we evaluate the two photon correlations with the initial conditions, equation of states (EOS) and freeze-out conditions which reproduce the photon spectra mentioned above. The EOS used here bm2  contains all hadrons upto mass $`2.5`$ GeV pdg . The freeze-out conditions are fixed from the study of hadronic spectra measured by NA49 collaboration na49 . The effects of the possible spectral modifications of hadrons in a thermal bath on the single photon spectra and two photons correlations have been included. The results at RHIC energy for the single photon distributions and two photon correlations are also presented.

It is necessary to point out here that our calculation contains some significant improvements over the previous works dks ; timmermann . The correlation function evaluated here (i) contain contributions from two loop calculations of photon emission rate pa , (ii) emission rate from hadronic matter contain in-medium effects, (iii) the EOS contains all hadronic degrees of freedom upto mass $`2.5`$ GeV and (iv) the initial conditions, freeze-out conditions and the EOS reproduces the WA98 single photon spectra wa98  and NA49 hadronic spectra. Moreover, in Ref. timmermann  where the correct definition of the BEC was used, the space time evolution was only one-dimensional.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we give a general discussion on the correlation function and the associated kinematics. This is followed by the section which deals with the space time evolution. Section IV, deals with the results. First we present the results for SPS energies. Then we discuss the single photon spectra and two photon correlations at RHIC energies. In section V we summarize our findings.

## II CORRELATION FUNCTION

The Bose-Einstein correlation (BEC) function for two identical particles is defined as,

$$C_2(\stackrel{}{k_1},\stackrel{}{k_2})=\frac{P_2(\stackrel{}{k_1},\stackrel{}{k_2})}{P_1(\stackrel{}{k_1})P_1(\stackrel{}{k_2})}$$
(1)
where $`\stackrel{}{k_i}`$ is the three momentum of the particle $`i`$ and $`P_1(\stackrel{}{k_i})`$ and $`P_2(\stackrel{}{k_1},\stackrel{}{k_2})`$ represent the one- and two- particle inclusive photon spectra respectively. These are defined as,

$$P_1(\stackrel{}{k})=d^4x\omega (x,k)$$
(2)
and

$`P_2(\stackrel{}{k_1},\stackrel{}{k_2})=P_1(\stackrel{}{k_1})P_1(\stackrel{}{k_2})+{\displaystyle d^4x_1d^4x_2\omega (x_1,K)\omega (x_2,K)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Delta }x^\mu \mathrm{\Delta }k_\mu )}`$ (3)
where, $`K=(k_1+k_2)/2`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }k_\mu =k_{1\mu }k_{2\mu }=q_\mu `$, $`x`$ and $`k`$ are the four-coordinates of position and momentum respectively and $`\omega (x,k)`$ is the source function, which defines the average number of particles with four-momentum $`k`$ emitted from a source element centered at the space-time point $`x`$. $`\omega (x,k)`$ is actually the thermal emission rate of photons per unit four volume. For the QGP phase at a temperature $`T`$ this is given by jk ; rb ; pa ,

$$\omega (x,k)=\frac{5}{9}\frac{\alpha \alpha _s}{2\pi ^2}T^2(x)e^{k/T(x)}\left[\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{2.912k}{g^2T(x)}\right]+\frac{4(J_TJ_L)}{\pi ^3}\left(\mathrm{ln}2+\frac{k}{3T(x)}\right)\right]$$
(4)
where, $`\alpha `$ = 1/137, $`\alpha _s`$ is the strong coupling constant, $`J_T`$ = 4.45 and $`J_L`$ = -4.26. Note that $`C_2`$ is independent of the strong coupling constant. For photon emission from a hot hadronic gas, we have considered a host of reaction processes involving $`\pi `$, $`\rho `$, $`\eta `$ and $`\omega `$ mesons as well as from the decay of the $`\rho `$ and $`\omega `$ jk . For the details on the evaluations of the photon emission rate form a hadronic gas we refer to npa1 ; npa2 . The effects of the intermediary $`a_1`$ meson have also been considered in evaluating the photon emission rate kim ; annals .

We shall be presenting the results in terms of difference in rapidity ($`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$) of the two photons, outward ($`q_{out}`$), side-ward ($`q_{side}`$) and invariant momentum differences($`q_{inv}`$) of the two photons and these are defined as,

$`q_{out}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{q}_T\stackrel{}{K}_T}{\left|K_T\right|}}`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(k_{1T}^2k_{2T}^2)}{\sqrt{k_{1T}^2+k_{2T}^2+2k_{1T}k_{2T}\mathrm{cos}(\psi _1\psi _2)}}}`$
$`q_{side}`$ $`=`$ $`\left|\stackrel{}{q}_Tq_{out}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{K}_T}{K_T}}\right|`$ (6)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2k_{1T}k_{2T}\sqrt{1\mathrm{cos}^2(\psi _1\psi _2)}}{\sqrt{k_{1T}^2+k_{2T}^2+2k_{1T}k_{2T}\mathrm{cos}(\psi _1\psi _2)}}}`$
$`q_{inv}`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{2k_{1T}k_{2T}\left[\mathrm{cosh}(y_1y_2)\mathrm{cos}(\psi _1\psi _2)\right]},`$
where, $`\stackrel{}{q}_T=\stackrel{}{k}_{1T}\stackrel{}{k}_{2T}`$, $`\stackrel{}{K}_T=(\stackrel{}{k}_{1T}+\stackrel{}{k}_{2T})/2`$ with the subscript $`T`$ indicating the transverse component, $`y_i`$ is the rapidity and $`\psi _i`$’s are the angles made by $`k_{iT}`$ with the $`x`$-axis. One also defines another kinematic variable $`q_{long}`$ as

$`q_{long}`$ $`=`$ $`k_{1z}k_{2z}`$ (8)
$`=`$ $`k_{1T}\mathrm{sinh}(y_1)k_{2T}\mathrm{sinh}(y_2)`$
It may be mentioned that the BEC function has values $`1C_2(\stackrel{}{k}_1,\stackrel{}{k}_2)2`$ for a chaotic source. These bounds are from quantum statistics. While the radius corresponding to $`q_{side}`$ ($`R_{side}`$) is closely related to the transverse size of the system, the radius corresponding to $`q_{out}`$ ($`R_{out}`$) measures both the transverse size and duration of particle emission hb3 ; uaw . So studying $`R_{side}`$/$`R_{out}`$ will indicate about the duration of particle emission hermm ; chappm ; hb11 . These source dimensions can be obtained by parametrizing the calculated correlation function with the empirical Gaussian form

$$C_2=1+\mathrm{exp}(R_{out}^2q_{out}^2R_{side}^2q_{side}^2R_{long}^2q_{long}^2)$$
(9)
A gross idea of the source size can also be inferred from $`R_{inv}`$ which is defined as

$$C_2=1+\mathrm{exp}(R_{inv}^2q_{inv}^2)$$
(10)
## III Space-time evolution

To compare transverse momentum spectra of photon with the experiments we have to convolute the static emission rate (fixed temperature, e.g. given by eq. 4) by the space-time evolution from the formation to the freeze-out state. This is done solving the relativistic hydrodynamical equations in (3+1) dimension hvg  with boost invariance along the longitudinal direction jdb . One then needs to specify the following: the initial temperature and time when the hot system reaches a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the EOS which guides the rate of expansion/cooling, and the freeze-out temperature when the system decouples into free-streaming hadrons. We will not discuss here the details on the EOS, initial conditions and the modification of the hadronic masses in a thermal bath because these topics had been discussed in our earlier works in great detail, which will be appropriately referred below. For SPS conditions we will assume a hot hadronic gas in the initial state with temperature dependent masses of the constituent hadrons which expands and cools till freeze-out. The two-photon correlations at SPS energies will also be given for a possible phase transition scenario i.e. when QGP is formed at the initial state. The EOS used here is given in bm2 . The initial conditions are similar to ref. prcr ; reds . The variation of hadronic masses (except pseudoscalar) with temperature follows universal scaling law proposed by Brown and Rho (BR) geb . It is necessary to point out that a substantial amount of literature is devoted to the calculation of effective masses of hadrons in the medium. Our principal motivation for choosing the BR conjecture is that this has been used successfully to explain the WA98 photon spectra prcr  and CERES/NA45 ceres  low mass dilepton spectra liko ; ss . For higher collision energies, i.e. at RHIC we will consider a situation where QGP is formed in the initial state, then the quark matter evolves with time to a hadronic phase via an intermediate mixed phase in a first order phase transition scenario. The mixed phase is a mixture of both quark matter and hadronic matter, with the fraction of quark matter decreasing with time to zero when the phase transition is complete. The hot hadronic gas then expands till the system freezes-out. The initial condition for the SPS and RHIC energies in terms of the initial temperature ($`T_i`$) is set from the number of particles per unit rapidity at the mid-rapidity region for those energies according to the following equation,

$$T_i^3=\frac{2\pi ^4}{45\zeta (3)}\frac{1}{\pi R_A^2\tau _i4a_k}\frac{dN}{dy}$$
(11)
$`a_k=\pi ^2g_k/90`$ is determined by the statistical degeneracy ($`g_k`$) of the system formed after the collision. Taking the particle multiplicity per unit rapidity at mid rapidity to be 700 for SPS, we get $`T_i`$ = 200 MeV with the formation time $`(\tau _i)`$ taken as 1.0 fm/c. With a multiplicity of 1100 for Au+Au collisions at RHIC, we get $`T_i`$ = 264 MeV for an initial time of 0.6 fm/c dumitru . The critical temperature ($`T_c`$) is taken to be 170 MeV karsch  here. The freeze-out temperature ($`T_f`$) is taken to be 120 MeV for both SPS and RHIC energies; a value that describes the transverse momentum distributions of hadrons produced bkp . Let us now turn to the EOS which plays a central role in the space time evolution, we have considered. For the hadronic phase the EOS corresponds to that for the hadronic gas with particles of mass up to 2.5 GeV and includes the effects of non-zero widths of various mesonic and hadronic degrees of freedom bm2 . The velocity of sound ($`c_s^2`$) corresponding to this EOS at freeze-out is about 0.18 bm2  (the value corresponding to a free gas of massless particles being 0.33). We emphasize that the medium modifications of the constituent hadrons play a non trivial role in the estimation of the quantities mentioned above. Of special mention is the velocity of sound and the estimation of the initial temperature for the hot hadronic gas considered at SPS. These have been exhaustively dealt with in a number of our earlier works bm2 ; annals ; prcr ; bkp  and we do not repeat them here. With these inputs we have performed a (3+1)-dimensional hydrodynamic expansion. The solution of the hydrodynamic equations has been used to evaluate the space time integration involved in Eqs. 2 and 3.

## IV Results

In this section we present the results of two-photon interferometry. We shall first present the results for SPS energies and then give our predictions for RHIC. In both the cases, we will first start with the single photon spectra and then present the two-photon correlation as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$, $`q_{out}`$, $`q_{side}`$ and $`q_{inv}`$. At the SPS energies we present the two-photon correlation results using the inputs which reproduces the the measured single photon spectra wa98  as mentioned before. For RHIC our predictions are based on the same model as that explains the SPS data, but for different initial conditions as expected at RHIC energies.

Fig. 1, shows the single photon yield measured by the WA98 experiment at CERN SPS, as a function of transverse momentum. The contributions from hard scattering of partons (hard photons) and from a hot hadronic gas (thermal photons) have been shown separately. The hard photon contribution has been normalized to reproduce the scaled p+C data e629  as well as the scaled p-p data e704  (p-p data is not shown here. Please see ref. prcr ). The experimental results of WA98 collaboration show some “excess” photons over the hard photons for $`1.5p_T`$ (GeV) $`<2.5`$ GeV, which we argue to originate from a thermal source either of QGP or hot hadronic gas of initial temperature 200 MeV (see also prcr ; reds  for details). In the present work we have evaluated the thermal photon from a hot hadronic gas with their mass reduced according to the universal scaling scenario geb . The combined results of hard and thermal photons is found to explain the data reasonably well.

From the expressions given in Eqs. 5 ,6 ,LABEL:eq7 one can see that several combinations can be made in the variables $`y`$, $`\psi `$ and $`k_T`$ to present the results for two-photon correlation. For simplicity, we will present all two-photon correlation results for direct photons with momentum around 2 GeV/c since it lies in the range of momentum where excess direct photons have been observed at SPS energies. We take $`\psi _2=0`$ and $`y_2=0`$ for all cases. We vary $`\psi _1`$ and $`y_1`$ wherever necessary.

Figs. 2(a-d) show the variation of the correlation strength ($`C_2`$) as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$, $`q_{out}`$, $`q_{side}`$ and $`q_{inv}`$ for various phases (sum $``$ QGP+Mixed+hadrons). The HBT radii of the evolving hot hadronic matter (denoted by Hadron indicating that the masses of the hadrons are modified in the medium according to BR scaling) is shown in Table 1. Please note that to get the quantity $`R_{long}`$ in the longitudinally co-moving system (LCMS)of reference one should multiply the numbers given in Table I by $`cosh(y_K)`$ where $`y_K`$ is the rapidity corresponding to the momentum $`K`$ defined in section II. We would like to mention here that the HBT radii give the length of homogeneity of the source and this is equal to the geometric size if the source is static. However, for a dynamic source e.g. the system formed after ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions, the HBT radii is smaller than the geometric size (see chappm ; csorgo ; bertsch ; xu ).

Our earlier analysis prcr  shows that the WA98 single photon spectra can be explained by two different kind of initial states: (i) hot hadronic gas, with the masses of the hadrons vary according to BR scaling hypothesis or (ii) QGP is created initially. It is rather difficult to distinguish between the two at present. Therefore, in the following we show the results on two-photon correlation functions for case (ii) also. In Fig. 3 the variation of the two-photon correlations is depicted in a scenario when QGP is formed initially at SPS. The initial conditions here are similar to the that of Ref. prcr . The HBT dimensions extracted from these correlation functions are shown in Table I. The difference in the correlation function as a function of $`q_{out}`$ for the QGP and the mixed phase is negligible. When plotted as a function of $`q_{side}`$ (Fig. 3b) the correlation function for the QGP, mixed phase and the sum almost overlap. The width of the correlation function for the hadronic phase is the largest as compared to the other phases. The HBT dimensions satisfy the relation $`R_{side}/R_{out}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ for the correlation functions denoted by ‘sum’ in the Table I. This is irrespective of the formation of the QGP or hot hadronic gas with the mass of the hadrons (except pseudo-scalar) approaching zero at the initial temperature. Although the later scenario is closely related to the chiral/deconfinement phase transition it is very difficult at this stage to draw a firm conclusion.

Fig. 4, shows our predictions for the single photon spectra at RHIC energies. Here the thermal photons contain contribution from QGP, mixed and the hadronic phases. The results show a clear dominance of the thermal photon over the hard photons for $`p_T<3`$ GeV. We calculate the two-photon correlation at RHIC energies with the inputs that are used to evaluate the single photon spectra as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$, $`q_{out}`$, $`q_{side}`$ and $`q_{inv}`$.

|  |  | $`R_{inv}`$ | $`R_{out}`$ | $`R_{side}`$ | $`R_{long}`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SPS | Hadron | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 0.5 |
|  | QGP | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 0.37 |
| SPS | Mixed | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 |
|  | Hadron | 3.0 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 |
|  | Sum | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 0.9 |
|  | QGP | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.55 |
| RHIC | Mixed | 3 | 5.4 | 3 | 2.0 |
|  | Hadron | 2.7 | 6.8 | 2.7 | 2.3 |
|  | Sum | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 1.6 |

Table 1 : Values of the various parameters (in fm) of the correlation functions in the forms given in Eqs. 9 and 10 for SPS and RHIC energies at a transverse momentum 2 GeV.

Fig. 5a shows the variation of $`C_2`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$, for two photons with momentum of 2 GeV/c. We have taken $`\psi _1=\psi _2=0`$ for simplicity. The contribution from all the three phases are shown. We observe that the width of the correlation function is largest for the QGP phase followed by that from the mixed phase and then the hadronic phase. The inverse will reflect the corresponding HBT radii of the source. Fig. 5b shows the variation of $`C_2`$ with $`q_{out}`$, for $`y_1=y_2=0`$, $`\psi _1=\psi _2=0`$ and $`k_{1T}`$ = 2 GeV. The contribution of all three phases are shown. One observes that the $`C_2`$ variation is similar for the three phases and is similar to that for the case with $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$ but the widths are considerably smaller. Fig. 5c shows how $`C_2`$ varies with $`q_{side}`$ for all the three phases as well as the sum. For this case we have taken, $`y_1=y_2=0`$, $`\psi _2=0`$ and $`k_{1T}=k_{2T}=2`$ GeV. The trend in the variation of the width for the three phase has reversed. The width of $`C_2`$ distribution for QGP is smallest, followed by that for the mixed phase and then the hadronic phase. Fig. 5d shows how $`C_2`$ varies with $`q_{inv}`$ for all the three phases as well as the sum. For this case we have taken, $`y_1=y_2=0`$, $`\psi _2=0`$ and $`k_{1T}=k_{2T}=2`$ GeV. The trend in the variation of the width for the three phases is similar to that for the case of $`q_{side}`$.

## V SUMMARY

The two photon correlation functions has been evaluated for SPS and RHIC energies. Constraints from the experimentally observed single photon spectra has been used to evaluate the correlation functions at SPS energies. Predictions for both the single photon spectra and the two photon correlation functions have also been given at RHIC energies. The values of HBT radii extracted from the two-photon correlation functions show that $`R_{side}/R_{out}1`$ irrespective of the formation of QGP or hadronic gas with reduced mass initially for SPS and $`R_{side}/R_{out}<1`$ for RHIC energy.

Acknowledgments: (One of us (B.M.) is grateful to the Board of Research on Nuclear Science and Department of Atomic Energy, Government. of India for financial support in the form of Dr. K.S. Krishnan fellowship.