Quantum-mechanical coherence in cell microtubules: a realistic possibility?

Abstract

We discuss the possibility of quantum-mechanical coherence in Cell MicroTubules (MT), based on recent developments in quantum physics. We focus on potential mechanisms for `energy-loss-free' transport along the microtubules, which could be considered as realizations of Fröhlich's ideas on the role of solitons for superconductivity and/or biological matter. In particular, by representing the MT arrangements as cavities, we review a novel scenario, suggested in collaboration with D.V. Nanopoulos, concerning the formation of macroscopic (or mesoscopic) quantum-coherent states, as a result of the (quantum-electromagnetic) interactions of the MT dimers with the surrounding molecules of the ordered water in the interior of the MT cylinders. We suggest specific experiments to test the above-conjectured quantum nature of the microtubular arrangements inside the cell. These experiments are similar in nature to those in atomic physics, used in the detection of the Rabi-Vacuum coupling between coherent cavity modes and atoms. Our conjecture is that a similar Rabi-Vacuum-splitting phenomenon occurs in the absorption (or emission) spectra of the MT dimers, which would constitute a manifestation of the dimer coupling with the coherent modes in the ordered-water environment (dipole quanta), which emerge due to the phenomenon of `super-radiance'.