What is EEG made of?

In the previous posting I discussed the model for the effects of ELF em fields on brain and its implications. One implication is a radically new view about genes implying the notions of supergene consisting of strings of genes in large number of different cell nuclei through which magnetic flux sheet traverses: a page of book containing as its lines genetic text is quite precise metaphor. Hypergenes are also unavoidable and consists of this kind of text from several organisms.

Second implication is a model for EEG. Living organisms in biosphere are analogous to proteins on cell membrane consisting of two lipid layers acting as a gigantic dark Josephson junction going through litosphere and ionosphere (counterparts of lipid layers at the level for fourth level of dark matter hierarchy). Josephson junction consists of a magnetic flux sheet going through the nervous system to ionosphere and connects thus brain with two parts of magnetic body of Earth analogous to cell interior and exterior. Josephson oscillation at 3.72 Hz defines basic "drum beat" and in the presence of a voltage perturbation the pattern of generated coherent state of ELF photons provides a representation for the perturbation of EEG which is also a part of EEG. Obviously, our relationship to magnetic body of Earth would be similar to that of cells to organism.

The usual classification of EEG frequencies by EEG bands is more or less a convention and the definitions of various bands vary in frustratingly wide ranges. In a more ambitious approach bands should be replaced with some substructures identified on basis of their physical origin and function. In the proposed framework this is possible and explains successfully basic aspects of EEG in various states of consciousness. This can be regarded as a dramatic victory for the notion of TGD inspired theory of consciousness and the notion of dark matter. This identification of substructures of course applies only to that part of EEG from which noise is subtracted. The contribution of neural activity is one such source of noise, often regarded as the only contribution.

1. Basic contributions to EEG

There are three fundamental contributions to EEG besides the neuronal noise.

1. Schumann resonances characterize Earth's magnetic field and collective aspects of consciousness.

2. Cyclotron frequencies generated in cyclotron transitions of ions. An attractive guess is that cyclotron frequencies correspond to the control signals from magnetic body so that Josephson junctions and magnetic body would form a closed feedback loop. These frequencies can be classified to those associated with bosonic and fermionic ions respectively.

3. The frequencies generated by Josephson currents as coherent photons. Harmonics of cyclotron frequencies shifted upwards and downwards by Josephson frequency f_J=3.72 Hz. If the amplitude of the perturbation at cyclotron frequency is strong the EEG looks locally like it would consists of amplitudes with frequencies f_+/-=f_J¹+/- f_J during most of the cyclotron period so that the visual inspection of time evolution of EEG can be rather misleading. Since these frequencies are involved with communications to the magnetic body of Earth, the natural guess would be that they correlate with the neural processing.

2. Classification of cyclotron frequencies

Consider now the classification of cyclotron frequencies.

1. Cyclotron frequencies can be classified those associated with atomic and molecular ions. For biologically important atomic ions most frequencies are above 7.5 Hz. For molecular ions frequencies are lower and for DNA sequences the frequencies are in delta band. Thermal stability condition suggest a lower bound of ≈ 1 Hz for significant frequencies of this kind.

2. Atomic ions can be classified into bosonic and fermionic ions. Practically all biologically important bosonic ions have Z=2 and in alpha band: f(⁶Li⁺)=50 Hz and f(Mg²⁺)=25 Hz are the only frequencies above alpha band. Situation is essentially the same for biologically interesting ions too. ⁷L⁺ is exception and corresponds to 42.9 Hz having Josephson satellites at 39.2 Hz and 46.6 Hz. Thus the frequency range 7.5-15 Hz is very strongly represented and expected to be fundamental.

3. The integer n characterizing the harmonic of the cyclotron frequency in question is an additional classificational criterion and could correlate with the character of neural processing.

3. Wake-up EEG

The question is whether this classification is consistent with the conventional decomposition into various bands and whether it allows to gain some real insights EEG. Consider first wake-up EEG.

1. The first implication is that each cyclotron frequency f_c is accompanied by by two satellites f_c+/- f_J. For alpha band these satellites correspond to theta band and beta band identifiable as responses to control signals from magnetic body in alpha band. One can ask whether these bands as a whole correspond to the satellites of alpha band. This identification implies that both bands are present and makes sense for wake-up EEG but not as such for the EEG during first and second period of deep sleep during which theta band is present but higher bands are absent.

2. Sensorimotor rhythm in range (12-16) Hz is associated with physical stillness and body presence. The interpretation is as a low amplitude satellite of alpha rhythm with low amplitude control signals from the magnetic body so that rhythmicity is not lost and frequencies are clearly f_c+f_J.

3. Beta band is above 12 Hz and associated with active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration and is chaotic and highly asynchronous. The natural interpretation is as large amplitude satellite of alpha band involving the activation of communications to the magnetic body and large control signals with f_J¹>> f_c. Hence the spectra would for a considerable part of period 1/f_c effectively consist of frequencies f_+/-= f_J+/- f_J¹, where f_J¹ varies in frequency range characterized by the amplitude of perturbation. There is no definite resonance frequency since f_J¹ can vary continuously. Globally the situation is different since the spectrum can in principle be decomposed to frequencies f_J+/- nf_c. These two descriptions correspond to time domain and genuine frequency domain.

   For sufficiently high harmonics of f_c the chaoticity disappears and frequencies f_J+/- nf_c become more manifest. The Josephson amplitudes of higher harmonics decrease as 1/nf_c.

   Beta band is predicted to have a mirror image in theta band during cognitive activity. The frequencies in theta band are assigned with cognitive activities and memory recall. Note that also alpha band due to cyclotron frequencies should be present as well as the basic "drum beat" defined by f_J for f_J¹>> fc.

4. Odd higher harmonics of cyclotron frequency are expected to be the most important ones and would have interpretation as control signals from magnetic body. Satellites would correspond to responses to the magnetic body.

   For alpha band the third harmonics of most bosonic ions are in the range 28.2-34.2 Hz and roughly in gamma band above 30 Hz assignable with the control of cognitive activities by magnetic body of Earth's magnetic field.

5. 40 Hz thalamocortical resonance band is very important EEG band. ⁷Li⁺ ion corresponds to 42.9 Hz frequency for which the lower satellite is at 39.2 Hz. The third harmonic for Na⁺ is 39 Hz, which also corresponds to Schumann resonance. Its upper satellite belongs to 40 Hz resonance band. The upper satellite of the third harmonic of Mn²⁺ is 37.9 Hz.

4. Mirror satellites exist!

The existence of the mirror satellites might be regarded as a killer prediction. Amazingly, narrow EEG bands which are mirror images of each other with respect to alpha band have been reported by Nunez. Besides alpha band at 11 Hz, Nunez mentions also narrow sub-bands at 3, 5 and 7 Hz at delta and theta range, as well as the bands at 13, 15 and 17 Hz in beta band.

All these frequencies are expressible in the form f_c+/-f_J, f_J=5 Hz, which is one half of the frequency 10 Hz of the memetic code and by 14 per cent higher than 3.7 Hz predicted assuming λ=2¹¹. The value of λ deduced from these frequencies would be λ=1902 and about 7 per cent smaller than λ=2¹¹. This estimate cannot be taken too seriously since it is quite possible that the thickness of Josephson junction is not scaled up completely exactly.

The cyclotron frequencies associated with the bands are 8, 10, and 12 Hz. The cyclotron frequencies of bosonic ions ⁸⁰Se^{2-}, ⁶³Cu²⁺, and ⁵⁵Mn²⁺ for a magnetic field strength B=.526 Gauss are 8.00, 10.11, and 12.00 Hz. The cyclotron frequencies of bosonic ions ⁶⁴Zn²⁺, ⁵⁹Co²⁺, ⁵⁶Fe²⁺ would be 9.90 Hz, 10.52 Hz, and 11.36 Hz and have satellites at frequencies 4.90 Hz, 5.52 Hz, 6.36 Hz and 12.90, 15.52, and 16.36 Hz. All these frequencies belong to the bands reported by Nunez since their widths are 1-2 Hz. Thus the frequencies of all bosonic ions in alpha band and in their satellites belong to the bands reported by Nunez for values of λ and B very near to their nominal values used in calculations!

What is also very remarkable that the 10 Hz magic frequency of the memetic code corresponding to the secondary p-adic length scale L(2,127) associated with Mersenne prime M₁₂₇ characterizing electron appears. It should be also noticed that f_J=5 Hz frequency corresponds to cognitive theta appearing during tasks requiring mathematical skills.

5. Alpha band dominance during relaxed state

In a relaxed state beta band disappears and the spectral power in alpha band increases. This seems to be in conflict with the idea that beta band is a mere satellite. There are two mutually non-inclusive manners to understand this.

1. The first possibility is that cyclotron frequencies in alpha band are not actually present and only Schumann frequency 7.8 Hz and 10 Hz resonance frequency associated with the excitations of electric field in ionospheric cavity behaving like 2-dimensional waves on sphere.

2. Second possibility is that lito-ionospheric Josephson junction is somehow closed so that only the cyclotron contribution of various ions is present. This might be caused by DNA level mechanism which simply prevents the flow of the Josephson currents flowing along magnetic flux sheets through DNA strands. This mechanism would be completely analogous to the closing of ionic channel associated with cell membrane protein.

6. EEG during sleep

The EEG during sleep provides a testing ground for the proposed anatomy of EEG. Sleep consists of 90 + 90 minute periods of NREM and REM sleep. This period is also the period of brain hemisphere dominances during wake up and day dreaming occurs with the same period as REM sleep. During REM sleep the EEG is essentially similar to that during wake-up. These observations inspire the hunch that brain hemisphere dominance dictates whether REM or NREM is in question. This turns out to be a correct guess.

a) EEG during stage 1

During stage 1 theta of deep sleep waves in frequency range 4-8 Hz dominate and amplitudes increase when frequency is reduced. The control signals from magnetic body are expected to be weak so that f_J¹f_J approximation should hold true implying that frequencies f_J+/- f_c should dominate and EEG would look rhythmic rather than chaotic as indeed observed. The amplitudes behave as 1/f_c and thus increase with decreasing f_c. The fact that amplitudes increase with decreasing EEG frequency suggests that the frequencies they correspond to different cyclotron frequencies.

These facts does not conform with the general picture as such. If theta and beta bands are mere satellites of alpha band, both of them should be present during stage 1 sleep but this is not the case. The idea that cyclotron frequencies of heavier ions in B=.5 Gauss (strength of Earth's magnetic field) could replace those appearing during wake-up does not work. Theta band simply does not contain the cyclotron frequencies of biologically important ions for B=.5 Gauss.

The only reasonable way out of difficulty seems to be that the value of the magnetic field associated with active flux sheets is reduced by a factor of 1/2. This would mean that the most important range 7.5-15 Hz of cyclotron frequencies would be scaled down to 3.75-7.5 Hz which indeed corresponds to the theta band. If one excludes Ca²⁺, the range for bosonic ion reduces from 7.5-11.4 to 3.75-5.7 Hz. The satellites correspond to the range .05-8.7 Hz and 7.45-9.4 Hz plus Ca²⁺ satellites at 3.8 Hz and 11.2 Hz. With Ca²⁺ forming a possible exception, the resulting frequency ranges are consistent with empirical facts. Of course, it is quite possible that magnetic body does not generate cyclotron transitions at Ca²⁺ cyclotron frequency.

The resolution of the puzzle might relate to the character of ions at the flux sheets in left and right hemisphere.

1. The quantization of magnetic flux reads as

   Ze×INT BdS= n× hbar

   and for Cooper pairs and bosonic ions with Z=2 (Z refers to absolute value of charge) it gives magnetic field strength which is one half from that for fermionic singly charged ions. Both fermionic ions with Z= 1 and bosonic ions and Cooper pairs with Z=2 are allowed in this case by the single valuedness of wave functions. For Z=2 the quantization condition allows single valued wave functions for Z=2 ions or Cooper pairs only.

2. Assume the quantization condition corresponds to Z=1 for the right hemisphere and Z=1 for the right hemisphere. The presence of fermionic ions implies additional cyclotron frequencies on left hemisphere and the presence of fermionic ions conforms with the old proposal that fermionic Fock states provide a realization of quantal version of Boolean algebra. This conforms with the view that left brain is more reductionistic and performs linear logic operations whereas right brain is more holistic.

3. As a consequence the cyclotron frequency scale in right hemisphere is reduced by a factor of 1/2 and during right hemisphere dominated NREM sleep alpha band would be scaled down to theta band.

4. The prediction is that, apart from the Schumann frequencies and neural noise, left hemisphere EEG spectrum consists of right hemisphere EEG specrum scaled up by a factor of 2 plus the contribution of fermionic ions and the Josephson satellites of these frequencies.

   The assumption that the two quantization conditions correspond to just left and right hemispheres rather some other pair is of course un-necessarily strong and one can imagine also other correspondences.

b) EEG during stage 2

Sleep spindles appearing in the state 2 of deep sleep are sudden increases in EEG amplitude and frequency from theta band to 12-16 Hz. The spindles .5-.1.5 seconds and appear with a period of about minute. In some sources frequency range 7-16 Hz is given as sleeping spindle range. The so called K-complexes are sudden increases in EEG amplitude but no change in frequency associated with spindles.

One interpretation is that sleep spindles correspond to the occasional wake-ups of the left hemisphere. Sleep spindles would thus correspond to the satellites of alpha band identifiable as responses of the corresponding Josephson junctions to occasional strong control signals at cyclotron frequencies in alpha band. K complexes could be interpreted as signals from magnetic body to left hemisphere but inducing no response. It might be that these sudden responses reflect the fact that the left brain is not fully asleep yet.

c) EEG during stages 3 and 4

Most of EEG power during deep sleep stages 3 and 4 is in the in the range .75-4.5 Hz. This implies that control signals at cyclotron transition frequencies of ions from the magnetic body cannot be appreciably present and the control signals at cyclotron frequencies of molecular ions, such as DNA with cyclotron frequencies below 1 Hz, should be responsible for the EEG. The small amplitude of control signal implies 1/f_c behavior and large amplitude as compared to the corresponding amplitudes at higher bands at weak amplitude limit.

Taking into account the fact that magnetic field strength is scaled down by factor of 1/2 this means that mass numbers of the ions in question must satisfied A/Z > 150 for f_c< 1 Hz. For DNA sequences with charge of 2 units per single base-pair one would have A> 300. The atomic weights for base pairs plus phosphate group and deoxyribose sugar are 327, 321, 291, 344 corresponding to A, T, C, G.

7. Transcendental states of consciousness and EEG

Transcendental states of consciousness are characterized by the presence of alpha and theta bands (note that theta band is present also during childhood, youth and even early adolescence but usually disappears at older age). It is found that that theta and alpha bands are preserved also during deep sleep. A possible interpretation is that the presence of alpha band signifies that left brain remains awake in a state of relaxed alertness involving weak signals from magnetic body.

For more details see the section "What is EEG made of?" in the just updated chapter Bio-Systems as Super-Conductors: Part II of "TGD Inspired Theory of Consciousness....".