Search Results (304)

Scientific theories survive on institutional fitness, not empirical merit alone. Under Soviet Stalinism, Vygotsky and Luria’s cultural-historical psychology was suppressed while Leontiev’s Activity Theory flourished because it aligned with Marxist-Pavlovian materialism. A game-theoretic framework formalizes this dynamic through three coupled mechanisms: a researcher utility function (U_r = αT + βR − γC), a state utility function (U_s(e) = δI(e) − εD(e) − κ(e)), and a replicator dynamic for institutional selection. Under sufficiently high punishment coefficients, the unique Nash equilibrium is aligned with the ideologically safe theory regardless of empirical truth, and the replicator dynamics drive empirically stronger theories to extinction in the institutional population. Classical findings on conformity and obedience from Sherif, Asch, Festinger, Schachter, and Milgram supply the foundations for the model’s parameters. This pattern—termed here as epistemological selection pressure—explains the Vygotsky case. Because the model assumes severe punishment, active enforcement, complete information, and a binary choice, it applies most directly to authoritarian science; contemporary liberal institutions correspond to the low-punishment regime in which the same model predicts that empirical merit can prevail, so the mechanism is expected to recur only in attenuated form within specific high-pressure domains where scientific truth and institutional power remain entangled. Full article

We develop a comparative synthesis of quantum-information geometry beyond complex numbers, with emphasis on what different algebraic frameworks contribute to information-processing structure rather than on their formal novelty alone. The organizing idea is a layer-by-layer test of the standard complex Hilbert-space formalism: each non-complex or deformed framework modifies the scalar field, phase group, projective state space, Born-probability semantics, composition rule, measurement geometry, symmetry algebra or representation category. The central thesis is that such frameworks are physically meaningful when they identify which assumptions make complex quantum mechanics operationally stable: positive probabilities, associative multipartite composition, reversible dynamics, experimentally testable phases, locality constraints, informationally complete measurements, error bases and clear operational semantics. Real quantum theory probes the necessity of complex phases and local tomography; quaternionic quantum mechanics probes non-Abelian phase while retaining associativity and admitting complex embeddings; octonionic proposals probe the boundary where exceptional geometry survives but generic circuit composition is obstructed by non-associativity; Jordan algebras test ordered probabilistic state spaces; Clifford algebras and Bott periodicity provide the spinorial and topological grammar connecting gates, Hopf maps and periodic dimensions; and quantum-group or q-deformed constructions probe coproducts, braiding and representation categories rather than scalar amplitudes. We distinguish three roles that are often conflated: genuine hypercomplex kinematics, Hopf-fibration coordinates for ordinary complex multipartite entanglement, and deformed algebraic or categorical structures. The resulting map separates established equivalence and experimental-constraint results from useful representation tools and speculative programs, while identifying concrete open problems for non-complex quantum information. Full article

Quantum processes with indefinite causal order challenge the classical assumption that operations must occur in a single fixed temporal sequence. The quantum switch provides a concrete setting in which two operation orders, $A\prec B$ and $B\prec A$, are coherently controlled by a quantum system. In the strict process matrix formulation of the lazy guess your neighbour’s input (LGYNI) game, however, quantum theory, including the quantum switch, does not violate the standard causal inequality when probabilities are computed solely from local instruments. In this work, we study an extended control-assisted operational protocol in which the control system of the quantum switch is measured and used to define the task output. We compare increasingly expressive strategy classes, including single-qubit SU(2) operations, product target-ancilla operations, and entangling Cartan-decomposed two-qubit operations with generalized POVMs. Restricted models saturate or remain below the $3/4$ fixed-order benchmark, whereas the optimized Cartan + ancilla + POVM strategy reaches $P_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{c}}^{\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}\mathrm{t}}\approx 0.83596$, demonstrating enhanced task performance within the extended protocol. The optimized strategy remains operationally no-signaling to numerical precision and retains its extended protocol advantage under more than $25\%$ white noise admixture. These results identify the operational resources required for control-assisted quantum switch enhancement and support the view that indefinite temporal order can be used as a quantum informational resource without implying a breakdown of operational causality. Full article

This article examines how social science has recurrently positioned Islam as a problem-case for European narratives of modernity, simultaneously comparable as ‘a religion’ yet cast as the religion that ‘doesn’t fit’ secularisation, differentiation, and liberal public-reason expectations. Moving beyond the view that social science merely misdescribed Islam, this article argues that Islam has often been made to carry an explanatory burden internal to Europe’s self-narration, a limit-case through which stalled secularisation, anxious liberalism, and contested universals are rendered intelligible and governable. The article returns to canonical texts that helped establish such comparative imagination, including Hegel’s philosophy of history, Weber’s typologies of religious ‘bearers,’ and Gellner’s account of Islam as a comprehensive ‘blueprint’ of social order, to show how durable contrast effects were installed and later reactivated in contemporary debates on secularism, gender, security, and belonging. Drawing on Asad’s critique of the category ‘religion’, the article theorises ‘disruption’ as a recurring genre through which Islam is made exceptional, disruptive to secularisation theory, to accounts of modern differentiation, and to liberal self-understanding. It concludes by appealing to a reflexive sociology of religion that historicises its own categories, compares entanglements rather than civilisations, and treats Muslim intellectual traditions as theory-producing interlocutors rather than merely empirical ‘data’. Full article

Bell’s theorem rules out developing a locally causal theory to describe quantum phenomena. Many take this to imply that any model of quantum entanglement must employ variables (called beables by Bell) which follow nonlocal rules, even though signaling is local. The alternative is to adopt an all-at-once (block universe) approach, with beables which may depend on both past and future inputs, even though signaling is causal. Within this lenient-causality approach (a.k.a. retrocausal), simple cases of entanglement have been successfully described by locally mediated stochastic toy models, i.e., toy models which are local in a sense which generalizes Bell’s local causality. Developing a widely applicable reformulation of quantum mechanics along these lines is a grand challenge. This work presents a general framework for such models and theories, and identifies the corresponding ontic and epistemic states. The epistemic state is closely analogous to the quantum state, yielding an explanation for the collapse of the wavefunction. In the case of the models of the framework, it is clear what the information is about. The expression for the empirically verifiable predictions of the models in terms of the ontic and epistemic states displays remarkable parallels to the Born rule. A toy-model example is discussed. Full article

The quantum motion of a photon in an arbitrary medium was considered within the framework of the gauge symmetry group $SU\left(2\right)\otimes U\left(1\right)$ using the Yang–Mills (Y-M) equations for Abelian fields. A system of second-order partial differential equations (PDEs) for the vector wave function of a photon is derived using the first-order Y-M equations as identities. The full wave function of a photon was defined as the arithmetic mean of the components of the wave function. In a particular case, an equation is obtained for its full wave function, taking into account the structure of space-time in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the photon. The quantum state of a photon in a nanowaveguide was investigated, and it is shown that under certain conditions, it is reduced to the problem of two coupled 1D quantum harmonic oscillators (QHO) with variable frequencies. An explicit expression is obtained for the wave function of a photon, which is characterized by two vibrational quantum numbers. A quantum theory of a photon for a dissipative medium has been developed taking into account the processes of absorption and emission of photons. The mathematical expectation (ME) of the photon wave function is constructed as the product of two 2D integral representations in which the integrand is the solution of a system of two coupled second-order PDEs. The ME of the probability amplitude of the transition of a single-photon state into one of the two-photon entangled Bell states is constructed. Finally, it was proven that, in addition to frequency, spin, momentum and polarization, the photon also has a spatial structure responsible for the cross sections of processes in which this massless fundamental particle participates. Full article

We develop an information-geometric framework for describing quantum state-update processes associated with measurement and statistical distinguishability. The approach is based on the quantum relative entropy and the quantum Fisher information metric, which together induce a natural Riemannian geometry on the manifold of quantum states. Using the second-order expansion of relative entropy, we show how the Fisher metric governs the local structure of distinguishability between nearby states and defines a corresponding thermodynamic length. This geometric structure provides an effective description of finite quantum state transitions in terms of fluctuation geometry and information-space distance. The formalism is applied to thermal two-level systems and harmonic oscillator states, illustrating how the Fisher metric encodes susceptibilities, fluctuations, and geometric transition costs. We also discuss the relation between thermodynamic length, dissipation bounds, and optimal paths in state space. Within this framework, wave function collapse is interpreted not as a microscopic dynamical mechanism, but as an effective state-update process that admits a geometric characterization in the manifold of density operators. The resulting perspective unifies concepts from quantum information theory, thermodynamics, and differential geometry within a common operational framework based on statistical distinguishability. Possible connections with quantum speed limits, entanglement geometry, and holographic relations between relative entropy and gravitational dynamics are briefly discussed. Full article

This contribution proposes a conceptual framework for quantum relations understood as operator-based, scale-dependent semantic structures. It explores the “fractaquantum” hypothesis, emphasizing that nature exhibits quantum properties at all scales, from subatomic particles to social structures. Using Pauli operators, we propose a semantic theory of quantum relations based on the “semiotic square” and on eigenlogic. The "two one-half spin" quantum composition defines the exchange operator at the basis of fundamental quantum relations. The approach is applied to macroscopic phenomena such as “social lasers” and the rhythmic “breathing” of entanglement, suggesting that individuality and social coherence are governed by scale-invariant quantum principles. This project aims to unify several quantum-like approaches under a common relational paradigm and highlights the role of fractal scaling, contextuality, non-commutativity, exchange, indistinguishability and entanglement in the emergence of semantic relations across physical, cognitive, social and artistic domains. Full article

The paper deals with the asymptotic behavior of a widely used correlation characteristic in large quantum systems. The correlation is quantum entanglement, the characteristic is entanglement entropy, and the system is an ideal gas of lattice fermions. If the one-body Hamiltonian of fermions is an ergodic finite difference operator with an exponentially decaying spectral projection, then the large-block form of the entanglement entropy is the so-called area law. However, the only class of one-body Hamiltonians for which this spectral condition was verified consists of discrete Schrödinger operators with random potential. In this paper, we prove the area law for several classes of Schrödinger operators whose potentials are ergodic but not random. We begin with quasiperiodic and limit-periodic operators and then move to a highly non-trivial case of potentials generated by subshifts of finite type. These arose in the theory of dynamical systems when studying chaotic phenomena. The corresponding asymptotic study requires involved spectral analysis, which therefore constitutes the bulk of the paper. Specifically, we prove uniform localisation of the eigenfunctions for the Maryland model and exponential decay of the eigenfunction correlator for various models. We believe these properties are of significant independent interest. Full article

In this paper we study photon entanglement in the framework of Maxwell–Schwartz field theory. The ambient state space is the complex Maxwellian distribution space $W={\mathcal{S}}^{\prime }({\mathbb{M}}_4,{\mathbb{C}}^3)$, whose elements are fields of the form $F=\overrightarrow{E}+ic\overrightarrow{B}$. Polarization is realized as a two-dimensional complex subspace of W, generated by suitable linearly polarized Maxwellian solutions associated with opposite propagation directions. This yields canonical polarization sectors $P_A$ and $P_B$, each naturally isomorphic to ${\mathbb{C}}^2$. Within this setting, the Bell singlet state is represented by a non-factorizable tensorial Maxwellian field in $P_A\otimes P_B\subset W\otimes W$. By means of the induced rotated polarization bases, the standard joint probabilities of the photon polarization experiment are recovered exactly, and the correlation law $E(a,b)=-cos\left(2\right(a-b\left)\right)$ is obtained. Consequently, the usual CHSH value $2\sqrt{2}$ is reproduced in the Maxwell–Schwartz framework. To clarify the meaning of this violation, we first formulate the CHSH inequality in a purely measure-theoretic form, as a theorem about four correlators represented on a single probability space by bounded measurable functions. We then show that the correlators produced by the intrinsic Maxwellian Bell state do not admit such a common representation. The obstruction is structural: the ontic state is a global non-product field configuration, and the four correlations arise from different polarization resolutions of the same tensorial Maxwellian state. A second main result concerns the Born rule. For $L^2$ scalar quantum states in the domain of the Maxwellian correspondence, we prove that the squared Hilbert norm, times the constant ${\epsilon }_0$, coincides with the electromagnetic energy of the associated field. This leads to an energy interpretation of the Born rule: the Born probability density is identified with the normalized electromagnetic energy density up to an interference term depending on the chosen Maxwell–Schwartz isomorphism, which assumes the role of a quantum context. In the context of the Aspect and collaborators’ experiment, we prove that, on the other hand, the polarization probabilities become energy contributions of the corresponding field components. These results show that photon entanglement, Bell inequality violation, and the Born rule admit a coherent interpretation within Maxwell–Schwartz field theory, where the basic ontological objects are electromagnetic-like fields rather than abstract state vectors. Full article

While the quantum emergence of spacetime is becoming a major research topic in physics, the quantum emergence of intelligence has not been widely researched in quantum information science (QIS). Following causal-logical quantum gravity theory, bipolar entropy vs. entropy and negative entropy (or negentropy) are reviewed and distinguished for quantum emergence/submergence of quantum agent (QA) and quantum intelligence (QI) in algebraic terms. This work refers to QA as an entangled bipolar string/superstring in bipolar dynamic equilibrium (BDE) and QI being centered on logically definable causality in regularity, mind-light-matter unity, and brain-universe similarity. ER = EPR is extended to ER ≥≥ EPR for the mathematical scalability of bipolar strings and their collective entanglement. The extension leads to a number of conjectures, testable predictions, and theorems. The term “equilibraton” is proposed as a type of EPR or bipolar generic string to serve as an entropic stitch to collectively hold the universe together as a quantum entanglement in BDE with ubiquitous, regulated local emergence and submergence of QA&QI. Equilibraton leads to the concept of bipolar entropy square—a complete entropic solution to the background issue in quantum gravity. With complete background independence, energy/information conservational bipolar entropy, energy/information invariance, bipolar entropy non-additivity, and equilibrium-based plateau concavity are introduced. The nature of the one-dimensional arrow of time is conjectured. As a unification of order and disorder for equilibrium-based regulation, bipolar entropy bridges QA&QI to agentic AI, where quantum-bio-economics can be viewed as a topological intervention of a natural dynamic equilibrium in a social or natural world. Use cases are reviewed to illustrate the practical and theoretical aspects of bipolar entropy in business management, quantum-bio-economics, quantum cryptography, physics, and biology. Eddington–Einstein’s comments on entropy are revisited. It is expected that bipolar entropy will bring quantum emergence/submergence to agentic AI&QI for entangled machine thinking and imagination as a naturally scalable and testable foundation of real-world quantum gravity, quantum information science (QIS), quantum cognition and quantum biology (QCQB) to enhance Large Language AI Models (LLMs) and machine intelligence. Full article

Electrospinning is a versatile technique for producing polymer nanofibers with high ratios of surface area to volume and tunable porosity. Conventional approach to the optimization of processing parameters such as voltage and flow rate frequently encounters limitations in reproducibility and scalability. This review proposes a comprehensive framework that integrates macromolecular design principles with established electrohydrodynamic theories. We analyze how intrinsic molecular traits, specifically chain entanglement density, molecular weight distribution (MWD), topological architecture, and polymer–solvent thermodynamic interactions, define the boundaries of jet stability and solidification. Key findings highlight that while molecular weight establishes a baseline for spinnability, the MWD dictates the dynamic response under extreme deformation. Notably, high-molecular-weight fractions act as elastic load-bearers that suppress capillary breakup. Furthermore, we discuss here how molecular architecture and solvent-mediated segmental mobility determine whether molecular orientation is kinetically trapped or relaxed during the nanosecond timescales of jet flight. By establishing a hierarchical design logic prioritizing molecular and formulation variables over processing parameters, this framework provides a robust strategy to overcome challenges in scalability and reproducibility, positioning electrospinning as a sensitive probe for macromolecular dynamics under extreme elongation. Full article

In responding to the special issue’s call to examine the shifting space of materiality, this article uses creative writing, hand-drawn comics, and speculative fiction/design as a form of research by practice to critique changes in UK Higher Arts Education in relation to art materials. It shows how embedded neoliberal structures that have been documented to negatively impact HE staff and the arts in general, also now extend to prioritising and excluding some art materials over others. A speculative vision is offered as an alternative in which a nomadic higher arts education is put forward, one that encourages the use of hybrid art materials. The means chosen to make the arguments presented are analogue methods of drawing, cutting, printing, sewing and writing to strengthen the point that digital materials are currently prioritised in UK arts education due to HE’s entanglement with agendas entwinned with Big Tech and most recently the military. The format is also deliberately experimental to move away from common ways of presenting research and theory that have become formulaic as academics are pushed to meet the ideals of the Research Excellence Framework, another neoliberal rubric. Full article

Non-convex stochastic optimization presents fundamental mathematical challenges across machine learning, wireless networks, data center resource allocation, and optical wireless communication systems, where complex loss landscapes with multiple local minima and saddle points impede classical variational inference methods. This paper introduces the Quantum-Inspired Variational Inference (QIVI) framework, which systematically integrates quantum mechanical principles (superposition, entanglement, and measurement operators) into classical variational inference through rigorous mathematical formulations grounded in Hilbert space theory and operator algebras. We develop a unified optimization framework that encodes classical parameters as quantum-inspired states within finite-dimensional complex Hilbert spaces, employing unitary evolution operators and adaptive basis selection governed by gradient covariance eigendecomposition. The core mathematical contribution establishes that QIVI achieves a convergence rate of $\mathit{O}({log}^{2}T/T^{1/2})$ for $\sigma$-strongly non-convex functions, provably improving upon the classical $\mathit{O}\left(T^{-1/4}\right)$ rate, yielding a theoretical speedup factor of $1.85$–$1.96\times$. Comprehensive experiments across synthetic benchmarks, Bayesian neural networks, and real-world applications in network optimization and financial portfolio management demonstrate 23–$47\%$ faster convergence, 15–$35\%$ superior objective values, and 28–$46\%$ improved uncertainty calibration. The principal contributions include: (i) a rigorous Hilbert space-based mathematical framework for quantum-inspired variational inference grounded in operator algebras, (ii) a novel hybrid quantum–classical algorithm (QIVI) with adaptive basis selection via gradient covariance eigendecomposition, (iii) formal convergence proofs establishing provable improvement over classical methods, (iv) comprehensive empirical validation across diverse problem domains relevant to machine learning and network optimization, and (v) demonstration of the framework’s applicability to optimization problems arising in wireless networks, data center resource allocation, and network system design. Statistical validation using the Friedman test (${\chi }^2=847.3$, $p<0.001$) and post hoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Holm–Bonferroni correction confirm that QIVI’s improvements over all baseline methods are statistically significant at the $\alpha =0.05$ level across all benchmark categories. The framework discovers $18.1$ out of 20 true modes in multimodal distributions versus $9.1$ for classical methods, demonstrating the potential of quantum-inspired optimization approaches for challenging stochastic problems arising in machine learning, wireless communication, and network optimization. Full article

The advent of fault-tolerant quantum computers poses an existential threat to the current blockchain technology, which relies on cryptographic primitives like elliptic-curve cryptography and SHA-256 hashing. This manuscript surveys the emerging field of quantum-secure blockchains, categorizing the main research directions into two paradigms. The first, post-quantum blockchain, seeks to replace classical cryptographic elements with quantum-resistant algorithms. The second, more radical approach aims to construct an intrinsically quantum blockchain, where the ledger’s security and state are encoded directly in quantum mechanical principles. We delve into three promising intrinsic schemes: those based on Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states and entanglement in time, those leveraging multi-time states and pseudo-density matrices, and hypergraph-based approaches. As the principal original contribution of this work, we present a comprehensive theoretical framework for a topological quantum blockchain based on non-Abelian anyons, providing the first detailed encoding scheme mapping classical blockchain data to braiding sequences. We further develop the connection to Chern–Simons theory, establishing a field-theoretic foundation where the blockchain’s history is encoded in Wilson loops, and its immutability follows from topological and gauge invariance. Extending this framework, we introduce a holographic AdS/CFT interpretation, revealing that the topological blockchain can be understood as a dual description of a black hole analog in anti-de Sitter space, where the blockchain’s history is encoded in the microstates of a black hole and linking braids between blocks correspond to wormholes. We provide a detailed physical and mathematical analysis of each scheme, comparing their security assumptions, resource requirements, and feasibility in the near and long terms. The topological approach, in particular, offers a compelling new path toward a blockchain with inherent fault tolerance, where the chain’s history is encoded in the topology of anyon worldlines, making it naturally resistant to decoherence and local tampering. Full article