Complex-Valued Electromagnetic Fields in Matter: Their Relevance to Electromagnetic Field Theories of Conscious Experience

It has previously been shown that complex-valued electromagnetic fields can substantially increase the symmetry of Maxwell’s Equations (MEs). They are consistent with known experimental findings in classical electrodynamics and result in some interesting predictions. For example, complex MEs predict the existence of magnetic monopoles that would have escaped detection in past experimental searches for them. This paper extends the basic complex-valued MEs for use inside matter. The increased symmetry of the extended MEs is demonstrated by an electromagnetic duality transformation analogous to that of the standard MEs and a fundamentally new type of duality transform. A derived wave equation unexpectedly shows that the imaginary-valued portion of waves inside of matter propagates without attenuation or reduced speed. Demonstrating the existence of the imaginary-valued field components predicted by this theory could have substantial implications for understanding physical and biological phenomena. To illustrate this, ways in which imaginary-valued field components would contribute to existing electromagnetic field theories of consciousness are described. The ability of complex-valued fields to account for disparate phenomena (failure of past experimental searches to find magnetic monopoles; several poorly understood features of subjective time and memory) increases the probability of their existence.