Long‐range coherence and energy storage in biological systems

Abstract Biological systems are expected to have a branch of longitudinal electric modes in a frequency region between 10 11 and 10 12 sec −1 . They are based on the dipolar properties of cell membranes; of certain bonds recurring in giant molecules (such as H bonds) and possibly on pockets of non‐localized electrons. In Section 2 it is shown quit generally that if energy is supplied above a certain mean rate to such a branch, then a steady state will be reached in which a single mode of this branch is very strongly excited. The supplied energy is thus not completely thermalized but stored in a highly ordered fashion. This order expresses itself in long‐range phase correlations; the phenomenon has considerable similarity with the low‐temperature condensation of a Bose gas. General consequences and proposals of experiments are discussed in section 3.