CERTS Theory: "The Brain as Radar" — A Novel Theory of the Neural Correlates of Consciousness

Abstract

This paper presents the complete formulation of CERTS theory (Conscious Electromagnetic Resonant Transactional Scanning) — a theoretical synthesis offering a concrete physical mechanism for the emergence of subjective experience. The starting point is a foundational principle of electromagnetism: every electrical process necessarily involves an electromagnetic (EM) field. In the nervous system, this field propagates at near the speed of light, while ionic currents travel more slowly by orders of magnitude. Perceptual integration is achieved through phase synchronisation of gamma oscillations — an electromagnetic phenomenon. The CEMI theory (McFadden, 2002) formalises this insight: only energy fields can spatially integrate information. CERTS extends CEMI through three additional mechanisms. First, the thalamocortical 39–40 Hz oscillation drives coherent microtubular (MT) resonance across the neural volume — an intrinsic property of brain MT bundles experimentally established at 39 Hz (Cantero et al., 2018). Second, and newly formalised in this version: real, metabolically-produced biophotons (λ ≈ 500 nm) serve as the necessary physical carrier. Virtual photons cannot be absorbed and cannot drive mechanical oscillation; only on-shell biophotons can. Biophotons propagate along MT hollow cores by total internal reflection waveguiding, drive MT oscillation via radiation pressure, and acquire a 39 Hz phase modulation via FM-like optical path length variation (δL ≈ 10⁻¹⁴–10⁻¹² m; Δφ(t) = (2πn/λ)·δL·sin(2π·39·t)). Third, the thalamocortical rhythm phase-synchronises this modulation across the cortical MT population, producing holographic constructive interference at the brain’s geometric centre — an N-fold intensity enhancement at the thalamus, which occupies this geometric focus anatomically. This virtual emitter — a field interference maximum with no physical material correlate — initiates a TIQM quantum handshake (Cramer, 1986): a real biophoton emits a forward offer wave; an absorber returns a confirmation wave backward in time along the same null geodesic. The transaction completes at ds² = 0, in zero photon proper time. This null-interval completion is the temporal singularity of conscious perception. General anaesthetics abolish consciousness by disrupting MT quantum oscillations at 613 THz (Craddock et al., 2017), collapsing the 39 Hz coherence, dissolving the virtual emitter, and terminating the TIQM transaction. Ten falsifiable experimental predictions are presented, including three new predictions arising from the biophoton mechanism formalisation. Seven experimental protocols are described in detail.