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. [1], 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.