A Quantum State Scenario for Biological Self-Replication

Abstract

With the prevalent conception of self-replication (SR, a hallmark of living systems) as a non-equilibrium process subject to thermodynamic laws, a complementary approach derives the low energy quantum states arising from a Hamiltonian that appears to be specific for bio-systems by its containing some strongly binding terms. The bindings attract properties of the template (T) and the reactants to form a replicate (R). The criterion for SR that emerges from the theory is that second order (bi-linear) interaction terms between degrees of motion of T-R and the thermal bath dominate negatively over a linear self-energy term, and thereby provide a binding between the attributes of T and R. The formalism (reminiscent of the Kramers-Anderson mechanism for superexchange) is from first principles, but hinges on a drastic simplification by modelling the T, R and bath variables on interacting qubits and by congesting the attraction into a single (control) parameter. The development relies on further simplifying features, such as Random Phase Approximations and an Effective Hamiltonian formalism. The entropic balance to replication is considered and found to reside in the far surroundings.