Frohlich68a

Long‐range coherence and energy storage in biological systems. H. Fröhlich in Int. J. of Quant. Chem. 2:641 (1968).  What the paper says!?

This is an extended version of Ref. , with a «speculative» discussion of how Bose-Einstein condensation effect might be relevant, if not powering, biological mechanisms such as cell-division, cancer and photosynthesis. Doing so, dealing with basic systems which are intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, he pioneers the problem of finite-lifetime BEC:

living systems [...] are relatively stable yet in some respects far from thermal equilib-

rium.

Fröhlich is well aware of the connection to BEC, but does not envision it for non-biological systems:

The simplest model available for this transition is the Einstein condensation of a Bose gas in which-with de- creasing temperature-more and more particles “condense” into a single quantum

state.

The basic idea is however exactly that of particles which only have a finite lifetime to condense and need to be excited to do so:

This excess energy is found to be channelled into a single mode-exactly as in Bose condensation-provided the energy supply exceeds a

critical value.

The connections to important biological process is fascinating:

If established the phenomenon proposed here should have a profound influence on biological properties like cell division which may involve relatively extensive

regions.