Searching for Quantum Effects in the Brain: A Bell-Type Test for Nonclassical Latent Representations in Autoencoders

Whether neural information processing is entirely classical or involves quantum-mechanical elements remains an open question. Here we propose a model-agnostic, information-theoretic test of nonclassicality that bypasses microscopic assumptions and instead probes the structure of neural representations themselves. Using autoencoders as a transparent model system, we introduce a Bell-type consistency test in latent space, and ask whether decoding statistics obtained under multiple readout contexts can be jointly explained by a single positive latent-variable distribution. By shifting the search for quantum-like signatures in neural systems from microscopic dynamics to experimentally testable constraints on information processing, this work opens a new route for probing the fundamental physics of neural computation.

Analysis of chaotic dynamical systems with autoencoders

We focus on chaotic dynamical systems and analyze their time series with the use of autoencoders, i.e., configurations of neural networks that map identical output to input. This analysis results in the determination of the latent space dimension of each system and thus determines the minimal number of nodes necessary to capture the essential information contained in the chaotic time series. The constructed chaotic autoencoders generate similar maximal Lyapunov exponents as the original chaotic systems and thus encompass their essential dynamical information.

Dynamical symmetry breaking through AI: The dimer self-trapping transition

The nonlinear dimer obtained through the nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation has been a workhorse for the discovery the role nonlinearity plays in strongly interacting systems. While the analysis of the stationary states demonstrates the onset of a symmetry broken state for some degree of nonlinearity, the full dynamics maps the system into an effective $\phi^4$ model. In this latter context, the self-trapping transition is an initial condition dependent transfer of a classical particle over a barrier set by the nonlinear term. This transition has been investigated analytically and mathematically it is expressed through the hyperbolic limit of Jacobian elliptic functions. The aim of the present work is to recapture this transition through the use of methods of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Specifically, we used a physics motivated machine learning model that is shown to be able to capture the original dynamic self-trapping transition and its dependence on initial conditions. Exploitation of this result in the case of the non-degenerate nonlinear dimer gives additional information on the more general dynamics and helps delineate linear from nonlinear localization. This work shows how AI methods may be embedded in physics and provide useful tools for discovery.

Discovering nonlinear resonances through physics-informed machine learning

For an ensemble of nonlinear systems that model for instance molecules or photonic systems we propose a method that finds efficiently the configuration that has prescribed transfer properties. Specifically, we use physics-informed machine-learning (PIML) techniques to find the optimal parameters for the efficient transfer of an electron (or photon) to a targeted state in a non-linear dimer. We create a machine learning model containing two variables, $\chi_D$ and $\chi_A$, representing the non-linear terms in the donor and acceptor target system states. We then define a loss function as $1.0 - P_j$, where $P_j$ is the probability, the electron being in the targeted state, $j$. By minimizing the loss function, we maximize the transition probability to the targeted state. The method recovers known results in the Targeted Energy Transfer (TET) model and it is then applied to a more complex system with an additional intermediate state. In this trimer configuration the PIML approach discovers optimal resonant paths from the donor to acceptor units. The proposed PIML method is general and may be used in the chemical design of molecular complexes or engineering design of quantum or photonic systems.

Physics-informed machine learning for the COVID-19 pandemic: Adherence to social distancing and short-term predictions for eight countries

The spread of COVID-19 during the initial phase of the first half of 2020 was curtailed to a larger or lesser extent through measures of social distancing imposed by most countries. In this work, we link directly, through machine learning techniques, infection data at a country level to a single number that signifies social distancing effectiveness. We assume that the standard SIR model gives a reasonable description of the dynamics of spreading, and thus the social distancing aspect can be modeled through time-dependent infection rates that are imposed externally. We use an exponential ansatz to analyze the SIR model, find an exact solution for the time-independent infection rate, and derive a simple first-order differential equation for the time-dependent infection rate as a function of the infected population. Using infected number data from the "first wave" of the infection from eight countries, and through physics-informed machine learning, we extract the degree of linear dependence in social distancing that led to the specific infections. We find that in the two extremes are Greece, with the highest decay slope on one side, and the US on the other with a practically flat "decay". The hierarchy of slopes is compatible with the effectiveness of the pandemic containment in each country. Finally, we train our network with data after the end of the analyzed period, and we make week-long predictions for the current phase of the infection that appear to be very close to the actual infection values.