Information Transfer at Biological Death: A Quantum-Thermodynamic Framework
Abstract
This paper addresses a neglected physical question at the boundary of biological death: if consciousness is physically instantiated as information processing, and if physical information is not annihilated under quantum theory, what happens to consciousness-related information when the brain shuts down? The paper develops a quantum-thermodynamic framework in which biological death is modeled not as immediate informational disappearance, but as a transient boundary event. The central proposal is that cellular death releases stored chemical, ionic, and membrane energy, temporarily increasing the conditions for coherence and opening a short transfer window. This window is interpreted as a possible physical basis for near-death experience occurrence and vividness. The framework is motivated by three empirical anchors. First, prospective NDE studies report that roughly 10–20% of cardiac-arrest survivors describe NDEs, with van Lommel et al. reporting an 18% incidence rate in a 344-patient cohort. Second, dying-brain EEG studies report paradoxical gamma surges near death, including Xu et al.’s human data and earlier Borjigin rat data, challenging the idea that the brain simply fades into noise. Third, NDE reports show recurring structural features across cultures, suggesting either a shared neurobiological process or a deeper common transfer architecture. The paper introduces four model equations describing death-related energy release, transfer-window duration, information…
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