Does the Eye Interrogate Space-Time?
December 14th, 2006 | No Comments »I have been writing in the last few Comments about the relevancy of the time domain in the process of light detection on the retina. I have pointed out that the accepted idea that the retina has evolved to the quantum limit (i.e., that each individual wavelength detecting center or ‘pixel’ can detect or ‘count’ single photons) and that this can only be explained by invoking very fast (at least to the femtosecond or 10-15 sec) detection time intervals.This seems to be consistent with the reported (referenced) time characteristic of the isomerization of the retinal molecule (the ’signal producing’ event within retinal receptors). I have added the thought (from an ‘electronic device’ viewpoint) that a very fast time detection process reduces noise (thermal or otherwise) with such noise being a time-integrated function. We thus can follow the vision process down to at least femtosecond times
But what about spatial considerations?
Richard Feynman in his beautiful little exposition on quantum electrodynamics (QED - The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, Princeton Science Library) notes (Figure 36) that one property of a focusing lens is to “greatly increase the probability of light getting from a source to a single point”. In essence the thicker central portion of such a lens slows down the light so that light coming through the thinner periphery can ‘catch up’. The result is that light is brought into time coincidence at the focal (or Fourier) point of the lens. This is exactly the point where I explain the retina is located ..and one can think of this point as the central fovea!
The quantum realm enters in my above statement about ‘time coincidence’. As F. notes, the quantum term ‘probability’ enters modifying the idea of any absolute time coincidence.
But..we can see that the eye and the ‘first stage’ of the vision process operate both in the spatial and temporal domains of quantum reality! This seems an extraordinary insight relative to the historic notion that the eye acts as some sort of time-integrating, light intensity gathering ‘camera’. Also, this seems to be consistent with the quantum limit detection ability of the retina.
And…one can go further. One should realize that the fundamental explanation for light interaction with the retina that I provide envisions a ’semi-classical’ scenario with light being absorbed as the wave of classical physics and the absorbing mass (the electron within receptors) spatially reduced to quantum confinement or QCE dimensions. Wavelength differentiation comes about by varying spatial (read ‘classical) dimensionality between QCE centers. See my fundamental ‘Rosetta Stone’ diagram. In this diagram the three defined three spatial dimensions are viewed classically, i.e., as wave interactions. Using the above logic, however, there must be a time difference in the absorption of the three wavelengths. Has this ever been measured?
GCH
12/16/06
