Indian Jou rn al of Ex perim ental Biology
Vol. 4 1, May 2003, pp. 514-527
Quantum coherence of biophotons and living systems
R P 8ajpai*
In stitutc of SciI' Orga nising Systcms and Biophys ics. North Eas tern Hill Uni ve rsit y, Shill ong 793022 , India
Cohercncc is a propcrty of thc dcscription of the systcm in thc class ica l framework in which thc subun its of a systcm
act in a coopcrati vc man ncr. Cohcrence bccomcs class ica l if the agent causing coopcrati on is disccrni ble othcrwi se it is
quantum cohcrence. Both stimul atcd and spontancous biophoton signals show propcrtics th at can be attri bu ted to th e
coopcrati vc ac tions of many photon-emitting uni ts. But th c agcnts responsible for the cooperati ve actions of uni ts have not
been discovc red so far. The stimulatcd signal decays with non-ex ponential character. It is systcm and situation specific and
sensi tive to many phys iolog ica l and environme ntal fac tors. Its lIleas urablc holi sti c paramcters arc strength , shape, relative
st rcngt hs of spectral componcnts, and excitat ion curve . The spontaneo us signal is non-decaying with th e probabilities of
dctccting va ri ous num ber of photons to be neither normal nor Poisson. Thc detected probabilities in a signal of
ParllleliarillClO l"II1Il match wi th probabilities cxpected in a sq ueczed state of photons. It is spec ulated th at an ill vivo nu cleic
ac id molecule is an assemb ly of in term illc nt qua ntum patches th at emit biophoton in quantum trans iti ons. The distributi ons
of quantum patches and th eir li fetimes detc rmine th e hol isti c featu rcs of biophoton signals, so th at the coherence of
biophotons is mcrcl y a ma ni fes tati on o f the cohere ncc of li ving systems.
Keywords: Biophoton. Conditional probabil ity , Genctic code, Intermitt cncy , Non-expo nentia l decay character, Photon
em ission, Quantum cohere ncc, Qua ntum patch. Quantum scarch, Spectra l components, Squcezed , tate
Co here nce l is a property in which two or more objects
cuhere or act in uni so n; the obj ects are called cohering units and various manifestati ons of the act of uniso n are ca lled coherent phenomena . A sys tem is
called coherent if it co nta in s all cohering units. A coherent sys tem wi ll have a sim plified desc ription in
terms of only a few parameters. The cohering units of
a system ca n be atoms, molecules, optica l beams or
oth er co mpli cated structures; th ese units need not be
iden tical and may belong to di ffe rent substru ctures of
the syste m. The various co hering units may act differently in produ cing a coherin g acti on . The acts of a
cohering unit can be the atta inmen t of a definite value
of some property e.g. phase of electri c field , emi ss ion
of photon, or a specific response to a stimulus. The
cohe rin g units of a system do not always act simul taneous ly but ac t in a cooperative and coo rdin ated
ma nn er to produce obse rvabl e co nsequences. Each
observed co nsequence is a manifestation of coherence
and is call ed a coherent phenome non. The ex istence
of a co herent phenomenon is, therefo re, dependent
upon the technology of detect ion. So th at, techno logical facto rs like meas urin g errors and detecti ng capabilities of instruments playa significant ro le in estab*For corres pondcnce:
E-mai l: rpbajpai @nchu.ac .in ; [email protected]
Fax: 009 1-364-550028
Tcl
: 009 1-364-550076
li shin g coherence; th ese factors so metimes mask the
coherence of a system while at oth er times give ri se to
its fa lse ex istence in oth er system.
The anoma lous behaviour of measurable attribute
that is di fficu lt to explain withou t invoking a co nj ecture of cooperative an d coordin ated func ti on ing of
units is a signal of the ex istence of coherence. The
existence is co nfirmed by the consistency chec ks on
th e va lidity of the co nj ecture an d by corroborative
ev idence in th e form of other observab le effects emanating from the co nj ec ture. All these factors are included in th e complete specificati on of coherence,
which req uires th e spec ificati on of co hering units and
their indi vidual ac ts, coherence conjecture, mec hani sms for im pl ementing the co nj ecture and fo r generat ing coo rdin ation among co hering uni ts and all possible co nsequences . The co mpl ete specifi cation of
co herence is rarely achi eved fo r it is difficult to unravel al l facets of coherence. One has to co ntent with
the specification of an anomalous behav iour, problems in its explanat ion, and a conjecture of coo rdinated fun ctioning capable of explaining the anomalou s behaviour.
The behav iour of an attribute is called anomalous if
its obse rved behav iour shows sign ifi ca nt dev iati ons
from its norm al or ex pected behaviour. The attribu te
and its normal behaviour depend upo n th e frame work
of desc ripti on, so wi ll be a coherent phenomenon and
BAJPAl: QUANTUM COHERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
the associated coherence. The framework dependence
may create situations in which the behaviour of an
attribute is normal in one framework and anomalous
in another. These situations are quite common in the
context of classical and quantum frameworks used for
the description of material phenomena. The classical
framework is used because of its local character that
permits logically connected and easily visualisable
descriptions. But its predictions are occasionally incorrect. The quantum framework is supposed to provide the correct description of all material phenomena
including the biological ones. Its visualisations are
usually cumbersome, contain a substantial amount of
intuition and appear counterintuitive because of its
holi stic character. The trade off between easy visualisation and correct descripti on is responsible for the
ex istence of both framework s.
The use of classical framework has pitfalls. The
property of coherence beautifully illustrates the problems arising from its use. The property is properly
formulated in the classical framework for its formulation envisages the existence of spatially separated and
locali sed units in a system. The property of coherence
stipulates a relationship among various spatiotemporal events enacted by di fferent units. Full coherence implies perfect relationship while a partial
coherence implies less than perfect relationship. The
correlations among events are measurable in both
classical and quantum contexts. But it is difficult to
relate an event to a unit in the quantum framework,
which makes it difficult to establish the proper coherence relationship. The wayout of the dilemma is to
define the coherence in the quantum context by specific type of correlations among spatio temporal
events and study the observable consequences of
these correlations. These consequences are akin to
coherent phenomena and may define new attributes of
the system. Since coherence is ascertained from the
anomalous behaviour in the classical framework, th e
following types of attributes may give rise to coherence:
1. An attribute is definable in both frameworks and its
behaviour is anomalous in them.
2. An attribute is definable in both frameworks but its
behaviour is normal in quantum framework and
anomalous in classical framework.
3. An attribute is definable only in the quantum
framework so that its existence is anomalous in the
classical framework.
It is usu ally possible to identify the cause of coherence in the attribute showin g first type of anomalous
515
behaviour. The cause can be an arrangement of
screens as in Young's double slit experiment or residual quantum interaction as between Cooper pairs in
superconductivity. The inferred coherence is describable in both frameworks. It is usually referred to as
classical coherence. The coherence does not require a
quantum framework for its description and the quantum framework is not used. The attribute showin g
second type of anomalous behaviour does not always
manifest coherence. If the behaviour of the attribute
becomes normal in the classical framework by the
replacement of classical value of the attribute by its
quantum value, then the attribute is describable in a
semi-classical framework. Living systems have many
attributes of this type. However, if the replacement
does not lead to a consistent description, then the attribute manifests coherence. The classical framework
will describe the coherence of the attribute by conjecturing a definite amount of cooperative functi oning
between units but the origin of the conjecture will
remain elusive and undiscoverable. This situation will
arise in the description of any holi stic quantum attribute. This type of coherence is called quantum coherence though it does appear to emanate from the cooperative functioning of units in the classical framework. Finally, some systems do have attributes th at
are definable only in the quantum framework. These
attributes are incomprehensible, counter-intuitive and
illogical in the classical framework ; any amount of
cooperative functioning of units cannot explain the
behaviour of these attributes in the classical framework. Each of these attributes manifests cohcrence
that is again called quantum coherence. The manifestation of quantum coherence is unambiguous in these
attributes; the classical framework cannot mimic such
quantum coherence. Quantum coherence requires a
description in the quantum framework.
The description in the quantum framew ork is in
terms of quantum states. Some quantum states have
identifiable substructures or units ; a system in these
states will also have a classical or semi-classical description . The cooperative functioning of the units in
these states is measured by a two-point function G2
(r2, t2: rJ, tl)l. Suppose correlation between electri c
fields E at space-time points (rl, t l) and (r2, t2) of two
different units is measured through the two-poi nt
function then G2 (r2, t2: rl , tl)= <E (rl, tl)' E (r2, U>,
where bracket < > indicates that a definite averag ing
procedure has to be followed for the determinatio n of
correlation. The behaviour of G2 (r2, t2: r l, t l) wi ll be
di fferent for cohercnt and incoherent systems. The
5 16
INDI AN J EX P BIOL, M A Y 2003
fo rmul ation is va lid in the classical framework as
well. The averag ing procedure in the class ical framework will be th e sca lar product of th e two vector electri c fie lds. The same ex press ion for the correlati on is
obtained by th e averaging procedure used in the qu antum framewo rk. The definition of the two-point fun cti on is va lid in qu antum states whose substructures or
uni ts are not identifi able. The space-time points (r"
t,) and (r2. t2) need not belong to two di fferent units.
The coherence is establi shed by the behav iour of G 2
(r2, t2: ri o t,). The two-point correlati on fun ction can
be defined using any observable attribute. The example of the correlati on functi on defin ed with electric
fields is taken because it is related to meas urable
quantiti es and has been calculated for many experimental situ at ions. In the context of single photon detecti on th e two-point fun cti on is related to th e flu ctu ati ons in photon counting. The predi cti ons of flu ctu ations are di fferent fo r incoherent and coherent fi elds.
In parti cul ar, the probability of no subsequent photon
emission in a small interval 6. for coherent fi eld is half
of the value obtained for incoherent field as signal
strength goes to zero. Thi s is tru e for electromagneti c
field in any pure qu antum state. Thi s probability is
easil y observable ion and is very effecti ve in discrimin atin g between coherent and incoherent fields at
weak signal strength « ] count in 6.) . The hi gher order co rrelati on functi ons like 4-point, 6- point, etc. are
similarl y defin ed. The behav iour of these functi ons is
also used fo r defining coherence. The hi gher order
correlati on fun cti ons are useful in predi ctin g the outcome of experimental situati ons dependent upon
hi gher ord er conditional probabilities, whi ch are too
small to be meas urable in bi ophoton signals.
Problems in establishing the coherence of biophotons
The efficacy of correlati on fun cti on to di sc rimin ate
between coherent and incoherent radi ations is well
establi shed in ex periments with laser beams. The
simil ar ex periments can in principle determine th e
coherence of biophoton signals, though such experiments are difficult to perfo rm . The experiments with
biophoton signals suffer from a few deficiencies. Antago ni sts use these defi ciencies to questi on the coherence of biophoton. The main obj ecti ons aga inst th e
coherence of biophotons are the fo llow ing:
I. The theoreti cal calcul ati ons predi ct the behaviour
of co rrelati on functions for a single mode radi ati on
fie ld as in laser beams. The bi ophoton meas urements employ broadband detectors sensiti ve in th e
en tire visible range. A bi ophoton signal is not a
single mode radi ation fi eld. There is therefore, a
need to integrate the res ults with the spectral di stributi on of th e signal. The spectral di stributi on is not
kn own and is di fficult to determine. The measurements made with filters indicate that spectral di stributi on spans th e entire visible region .
2. The strength of a biophoton signal is ul traweak and
difficult to detect. The observed coun ts in a spontaneous signal are comparable to the background
noise in most of the meas urements 2. As a result, the
error in a measurement is large. The large error
blunts the discrimin atory power. The observed
counts in a decay ing biophoton signal are mu ch
larger than the bac kground noise but such a signal
is not suitable for a determin ati on of stati sti cal attributes.
3. The anomalous fea tures of a bi ophoton signal are
not qu anti fiable because of a lac k of a suitable
framework for its descripti on. One does not kn ow
the relevant parameters of a biophoton signal. Biophoton emi ss ion is still a qualitati ve phenomenon
and is not suitable for seri ous scientific deliberati ons.
4. The anomalous features of a biop hoton signal
should not be considered as man ifes tati ons of
qu antum coherence because it implies the li ving
system to be a quantum system during its entire
lifetime, which is considered improbabl e because
of its macroscopic dimensions. A macroscopic system cannot remain in a pure quantum state for
long; its interact ions with the env ironment obliterate its qu antum coherence say within a few milli seconds.
S. The variou s known mechanisms of ge nerating coherent photons in non-living systems usuall y produ ce intense pul ses and these mechanis ms may not
generate coherent biophoton signals of ultraweak
intensity.
The objecti ons are raised to deny any role of biophoton in the sustenance of life. The biophotons
pro bably emanate fro m random and un known di sturbance of no consequence. In order to remove these
obj ections one needs to make measurements with detectors sensiti ve in a narro w ra nge of wave length, to
detect new holisti c fea tures of bi ophoton signals, and
to develop models of photon emission in a pure quantum state from li ving systems. These ave nu es are vigorously ex plored. The state of the art si ngle photon
detecti on has now a capabili ty to simultaneo usly detect a photon and meas ure its wavelength. The cost is
prohibitive at prese nt but will soon come dow n and it
BAJPA1: QUANTUM COHERENCE OF B10PHOTONS
will be possible to ascertain the quantum coherence of
biophotons in a single frequency mode. Even with the
available photo multiplier detectors, some ingenious
experiments are being performed to bring out anomalous features of biophoton signals. These features effectively rule out the origin of biophoton from random disturbances. A brief description of the results of
these measurements and the difficulties encountered
in their explanations in the conventional frameworks
are given in the next section. These results point out
situation specific and non-classical nature of biophoton signals.
The anomalous features of biophoton signals
We need a framework to specify many anomalous
features of a biophoton signal. We shall use the
framework of actual observation for this purpose. A
biophoton signal is specified in this framework by the
number of photons net) detected at a measuring bin at
time t. The duration of a bin is ~t and the signal is
determined by counting the number of photons in
successive bins. The photons are emitted by an in vivo
sample placed inside a dark chamber. The sample is
usually stimulated by visible or ultra violet radiation
before a set of measurements. The dependence of the
signal on th e parameters of stimulation , emitted radiation, system and environment is observed. The parameter of stimulation are the intensity I of stimulating radiation , time of stimulation 1", and spectral distribution PSI among the set of wavelength Ast with polarisation Est . Similarly the parameters of emitted radiation are the spectral distribution P of detected
modes in the set A of wavelength with polarisation E.
These dependencies are explicitly shown by writing
net, J, 1, PSh ASh Est; P, A, E,~t; ·· ); the dots indicate the
dependencies upon many unknown physiological and
environmental factors. The dependencies upon
physiological factors imply a connection of biophoton
signal to physiological processes . This connection is
reinforced by the dependencies upon environmental
factors that arise from the physiological respo nse of
the system to environmental stimuli. Since physiological processes and response to stimuli are holi stic
in nature, the parameters of a biophoton signal representing these dependencies will be holi stic in nature.
The dependence of net) on J and 1" is complex; it cannot be described as absorption and re-e mi ssion of
light. The signal shows saturation effect implying
very weak and ignorable dependencics on I and 1" in
the saturation region. The meas urements in the satura-
517
tion region are reproducible. The dependence of the
signal on Pst has not been measured but the dependence on Ast is determined by stimulating the sample
with monochromatic radiation obtained from a monochromator. The dependence has some interesting features that will be discussed. Monochromatic radiation
can be polarised but the stimulation by polari sed light
has not been attempted so far. The measurements with
unpolari sed light integrate out the dependence on Est.
Light stimulation invari ably induces an intense fluorescence signal that decays quickly and becomes negligible in a few milliseconds. The fluorescence sig nal
masks a biophoton signal and could damage a sensitive detector. Most measuring systems, therefore,
have a built in delay of 5ms to avoid exposure to intense flu orescence signal. The bin interval ~t is adjustable to any value larger than lO!!s, the lower limit
of detection set by the electronics (TTL logic) and
properties of the scintillation crystal. The band pass
and interference filters are used for determining the
spectral distribution of biophoton signals. The interference filters with peak transmission at various
wavelengths covering the entire visible region have
been used. The interference filters considerably reduce the intensity of a biophoton signal, which make
quantitative measurements erroneous. One can make
only qualitative inferences from these meas urements.
The measurements rule out discrete spectrum and
suggest a broad spectral di stribution in biophoton signal s. Again, the polarisation state of the emitted biophoton signal has not been measured. The statistical
properties have also been measured in so me signals.
The properties measured so far are photo count statistics, probability of detecting various numbers of photon in a bin, conditional probability of no subseq uent
photon detection in a fixed time interval , and the dependence of this conditional probability on signal
strength. All these properties point towards the quantum nature of the signal. A few important anomalou s
features are discussed below in the backdrop of above
experimental situation.
Ubiquitous, incessant, and uItraweak emission in the
visible range
Almost all living systems from bacteria to hum an
tissues continuously emit photons mainly in the vis ible region 3 . The intensity of the signal emitted by a
living system is more than 10 orders of magnitude
weaker than the expected intensity of a signal in allowed electronic transitions. The death of a living system decreases the intensity of its biophoton signal by
INDIAN J EX P BIOl, MA Y 2003
518
consolidated manner4 in Fig. l. The figure is indi cative
and is not drawn to any scale. The fig ure has three
regions that divide the signal into three parts:
2 to 3 orders of magnitude. The intensity of the biophoton sig nal increases during metabolic processes
like respiration , cell di vis ion, photosy nthesis, death ,
etc. The four properties imply different types of behav iour of the source of biophotons i.e. the entities
emitting them. The ubiquitous emission implies the
presence of entities in all living systems, the incessant
emi ssion implies th e entiti es to remain emitting durin ba the entire lifetime, the ultraweak strength implies
exceptionally low abundance of entities and the vi sible ran ge implies energy transfer of ~ 3eV in biophoton emission. The first two properties point towards the possibility of a universal linkage between
biophoton emission and " life". The linkage kindles
the hope of finding a physical basis of life. The last
two properties indicate the difficulties in di sco verin g
the linkage. The low abundance of biophoton emitting
entities can occur if the entity is of rare type or is a
mac roscopic stru cture of a large number of units functi oni ng in a cooperative manner. The energy requirement of photon emission in the visib le range is nearly
two orders of magnitude higher than the energy avai lab le in the usual ATP-ADP reaction or its variants; it
favo urs th e alternative of cooperative functioning of
units.
I. Pre-stimulation region-A living system without
any light stimulation emits its biophoton signal th at
is observable for hours. The flux of photons is almost constant and is on ly marginally higher than
the background in the majority of living systems. It
is the pre stimulation part of the signal though it
could be the remnant long tail of the sig nal emitted
because of so me earlier light stimul at ion. The prestimulation part of the signal is usual ly referred to
as spontaneous biophoton signal. The signal is
structure less and its measurable parameters are intensi ty, fluctuation s, and photo count stati stics. Its
non-decaying nature has been a di sturbing feature;
any number of decays cannot mimic a non- decaying signal. The non- decaying nat re can emanate
only from some hol istic mechani sm. Any se ri ous
effort has not been made to di scove r th e underlyin g
holistic mechanism because of the small signal to
noise ratio in these measurements.
2. Stimulation reg ion -The part of th e biophoton .
signal emitted during li ght stimul ati on and Sms after stimulation is difficult to determine in co mmonly used photo multiplier detectors. The intense
stimulating visible light does not all ow the detection of wea ker bi ophoton signal durin g stim ul ation.
The shape of a biophoton signal
All biophoton signal s have similar shapes. The
general features of biophoton signal s are depicted in a
A'
5ms delay
1000
Region 3
,"
~
100
Pre Stimulation
:::J
o
o
,
Region 1
Reg ion 2
During
Stimulation
Post Stimu lation
\
Spontaneous
Signal
Region 3
Stimulated Biophotol Signal
~ (Non-exponential decay)
Sponateous
Signal
'-------
10
.............................. 1'"..... ..................................... ~.~.c.~.g~~~~~ ............................................ !.l'.............. .
(5m to 10m)
(5s to 10s)
(20ms to 200s)
Time ( Diffe rent Scales for different
Fig.
I-
Hours
~egions)
Consol idated behav iour of biophoton signal s: Thc figure summari ses thc observed behav iour or biophoton signr. ls o!· all li \'ing
sY~lem s. It dcpicts difrerelll regions of a typ ica l signal. Th c prc sti mulat ion region is an extension of post st imulation rcg lon 01 ~o l ~l e ea l:li er stimulation. Thc post sti mul at ion region hJS decJy ing and non- decaYlllg part s. Thc expcc ted numbcr of counts/s IS pl ottcd .IS .1 function of timc. Thc scalc of time is di rre rent for differcnt part s of the curvc. The cxpected durations cove nng dl ffercllt regi ons are Inci :c:llcd
:11 the body of the figurc.
..
BAJPAI: QUANTUM COHERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
The sample and sample chamber emit a strong
fluorescence signals immediately after stimulation,
which mask the biophoton signal for a few milliseconds. The contribution of fluorescence decays
very rapidly and becomes negligible in a few milliseconds. No measurement is made in this period
(5ms in our set up). The undetected part of a biophoton signal is treated at par with the part emitted
during stimulation. This portion can be detected by
employing some special measuring techniques e.g.
visual corona disch arge technique or Kirlian photography. It is claimed that this small part of the
signal contains enough holistic information of the
living system and has been used for diagnostic purposes.
sonable coefficients. The identification of emitting
units is almost impossible in biophoton si gnal s. Perhaps, it is an indication of the non-exponential decay
character of biophoton signals, which makes the
analysis in terms of exponential decay inappropriate.
It is a disturbing feature of an almost error free signal.
The absence of exponential decay character implies
correlation among photon emitting units. The description of a signal emitted by correlated units has to be
holistic. Popp proposed a holistic description that can
5
reproduce the broad features of biophoton signal s . It
is a phenomenological description based on the Hamiltonian of a frequency stable damped harmonic oscillator with time dependent damping. The Hamiltonian
of a mono mode field of frequency CD is given by
3. Post-stimulation region-The part of the biophoton signal emitted after light stimulation is
widely studied because of its higher flux . The
higher flux part shows a decaying structure in
which the flux decreases by 2-3 orders of magnitudes. The duration in which flux decreases to 5%
of its value varies from a few milliseconds to a few
minutes. The duration of a few milliseconds occurs
in human tissues and the duration of a few minutes
in photosynthetic systems. The photon flux after
the decay approaches its pre stimulation value and
the system keeps on emitting almost a constant flux
of photon s for a long time. The decaying portion of
the signal is called stimulated biophoton signal and
is specified by a decay curve net). The higher flux
of emitted photons makes the determination of decay curve relatively error free while the decaying
nature makes the determination of statistical attributes difficult. The inferences from the stimulated
biophoton signals are obtained from the analysis of
decay curves. The first step in the analysis is to
consider a decay curve net) as a sum of many exponential decays i.e.
.. . (I)
with ai and Ai as constant coefficients to be determined by fitting the curve. The number of terms in the
summation depends upon the number of modes involved in the emission . The coefficient ai gives the
strength and the coefficient Ai gives the half-life of the
decay mode i. The coefficients are specific to the photon-emitting unit and each mode has a definite wavelength . The analysis determines the number of decay
modes and their coefficients. Such analyses of biophoton signals usually yield many modes with unrea-
519
H= (
p2
)'
I+Aot -
1(
2
+ - I + Aot
)2
2
CD
q
2
(2)
where p and q are canonically conjugate momentum
and position coordinate of the photon field and 1.0 is
the damping constant. The Hamiltonian specifies the
dynamics of the photon field in both classical and
quantum frame works. The damped amplitude of this
field is hyperbolic in the classical framework . The
time dependence of energy gives the shape of the signal in the classical framework. Since energy is
proportional to the square of amplitude the shape is
given by
n(t)=
.. . (3)
n(O)
(I+Aoty
where nCO) is a constant related to the strength of the
signal. A signal of this shape is referred as hyperbolic.
The simple form provides a qualitative description of .
biophoton signals but fails in providing quantitative
descriptions. The correct quantitative description requires a modified form of the shape. Popp found that
the following form provides satisfactory descriptions:
n{t)=C o + (
C,)
1+lcot
... (4)
m
where Co, CI, 1.0, and m are four system specific coefficients. The background and the non-decaying part of a
signal determine the coefficient Co while the decay ing
part of the signal determines the coefficients C" m and
1.0. C, is called strength parameter, m is called shape
parameter, and 1.0 is called damping parameter. Popp
noticed that the strength and shape parameters of a biophoton signal are decipherable signatures of the emitting system and can be used for its identification . The
INDIAN J EXP BIOl. MA Y 2003
520
parameter m varies from system to system but usually
lies between I and 2. The dynamics of the field described by the above Hamiltonian is different in the
quantum framework, where it describes the evolution
of a sq ueezed state of photon°. It is straightforward to
calcu late the expectation value of photon number operator <n> in the squeezed state. The expectation
value <n> has two time dependencies, fast and slow.
The fast time dependence comes from the mode frequency and the slow time dependence from the damping. The fast time dependence is unobservable and
should be averaged out. The slow time dependence
gives the following shape to the signal:
... (5)
Eq. (5) also has four parameters Bo, B I, B2 , and A.o to
determine th e shape of a signal. The model allows
only real positive values for these parameters. The
background and non-decaying part of the signal determine Bo. the intrinsic damping determines A.o, and
the decaying part of the signal determines Bland B2.
The parameters representing the strength and shape of
the decaying part are not specified uniquely in the
model. It is a general problem faced by any nonexpo nentially decaying signal. One has to specify a
procedure for determining the strength and shape of a
non-exponentially decaying signal. We suggest 7 the
following procedure for the strength parameter Nand
the shape parameter S of a signal described by Eq.(5).
I n+~ t
N=
fn(t~t
... (6)
to
and
... (7)
The procedure for the strength parameter N is
appl icabl e for a signal of any shape. It is directly
measurable as the number of counts registered in a bin
of size Llt located at time to. It is not unique and
different values of to and Llt give different measures.
The strength parameter is found to be sensitive to
many physiological and environmental factors and its
sensitivity depends upon the choice of to and Llt. The
choice of smaller va lues of to and Llt gives a more
sensitive measure. Usually the number of counts
regis tered in the first bin is considered to be th e best
measure of strength . The shape parameter S is not
directly measurable; it is determined by fitting an
observed signal to the non-linear form given in Eq.
(5). The fitting procedure is quite often cumbersome
in a non-linear system. Consequently, the shape
parameter of only a few signals has been determined .
The shape parameter represents the effect of all points
of the decay curve whi Ie the strength parameter
represents the effect of its only one point. It makes the
shape parameter more sensitive to physiological and
environmental factors than the strength parameter.
The determination of shape parameter is a uniqu e
feature of this model ; the determination provides a
scale to grade the shape of any biophoton signal.
Shape is qualia like holi stic prope rty, whose
measurement is itself a significant achievement. The
two measurable hoi istic parameters (N, S) capture the
essential aspects of the coherence of biophoton
signals. The connection of these parameters with
metabolic activities will imply the coherence of li ving
systems. Many experiments have been performed to
discover the connection.
Sensitivity of a biophoton signal 10 physiological
and environmental factors - Both parameters of the
pair (N, S) are sensitive to many factors affec ting a
living system and can sense very minu te changes in
its state. The sens itivity of the strength parameter is
more widely used in identifying and characterising the
behaviour of living systems because it is easier to
measure. A few representative examples demonstrating the connection between metabolic activities and
biophoton signal are given below:
(a) Lichen is a stable symbiotic association of an alga
and a fungus . The metabolic activities of a sample
of lichen are strongly dependen t on its water content. The water content can be controlled externally in a reversible manner. The metabolic activities are dormant in a dry sample, which emits
a very low strength biophoton signal. Addition of
a drop of water to a dry sample makes enhances
its metabolic activi ties and the strength of its biophoton signal. The enhancement of 2-3 orders of
magnitude in the strength parameter occurs in a
few minutes. The water added to the sample
slowl y evaporates and the wet sample becomes
dry in 15 to 20 hours under normal laboratory
conditions. The evaporation decreases the
strength of biophoton signal to its earlier value.
The changes in the strength durin g dry-wet cycle
have been repeatedly observed over a period of a
few weeks 8. IO .
(b) Biocides kill li chens and are used for their eradication. Since the death does not produce any im-
BAJPA I : QUANT UM CO HERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
medi ate visible change in a sampl e of lichens,
death is ascertained by the absence of growth over
a peri od of few months. Death of a lichen sample
can also be ascertained by the measurement of the
strength of its biophoton signal. It has been observed that the strength drops within a few minutes of the applicati on of a biocide. The change in
the strength of bi ophoton signal has been used for
determi ning th e co ncentrati on a biocide required
fo r th e eradi cati on of vari ous lichen species. The
strength of bi ophoton signal drops in all li ving
systems and it can be used for estimatin g the
death or decay of li ving systems II.
(c) The strength of biophoton signal does not va ry
linea rl y with number density of ce lls in cell suspensions. The strength changes in an oscill atory
manner wi th number density in Daphnia magna.
The oscill atory character can ari se fro m wave like
interfe rence phenomenon. The behav iour of signal strength with number density is different fo r
tumour and normal cell s. The diffe rent behav iour
indicates th at cooperati ve effects pl aya signi ficant role in biophoton emi ssion l2 .
(d) Chl orelia is a single cell alga. The metabolic acti vities of a suspension of chl orella are temporaril y reduced if put in the dark for a prolonged peri od of 10 to 15 hr. An ex posure to light of around
10 seconds restores th e acti vities to normal va lues. The strength of biophoton signal also ex hibits
si mil ar behavi our. A sample of chl orell a if put in
dark for a prolonged peri od, emits a bi ophoton
signal after light stimul ati on of a few percent
strength . The sample starts emitting th e full
strength signal after 10 sec ex posure to light. The
strength of biophoton signal of decay ing leaves
also ex hibits similar delay in responding to light
stimulati on. We measured the strengths of bi ophoton signals of 12 leaves kept in the dark fo r 15
days. The strength of the signal of every leaf continu ously decreased and became negligible after
15 days. Every lea f emitted its bi ophoton signal
immedi ately after a 5s light stimul ati on onl y up to
eighth day . The repeat meas urements gave the
same strength signal. The situati on chan ged in
some leaves subsequentl y. These leaves emitted a
very weak signal after the first 5s light stimul ation ; the signal strength increased in the nex t repeat measurement and stayed it at the enhanced
value in subsequent repetitions. It indicates that
the initi al response to light stimulation is delayed
in decaying leaves kept in dark. We have ob-
52 1
served a delay in response up to 20s.The delay in
response is yet another ev idence of a linkage between biophoton signal and metaboli c acti vities.
(e) The strength of bi ophoton signal is not sensitive
enough to detect the vari ati on in the germin ati on
ca pac ity of seeds. The shape parameter is much
more sensiti ve to the vari ati ons in germi nation
capac ity. We have found a strong correlati on between shape parameter and germin ati on capab ility
in batches of tomato ·seeds. ]n anoth er set of
measurements, we have aga in fo und a cOITelati on
betwee n the shape parameter and time of storage
in milk samples. Thi s correlati on is probably a
co nsequence of bacteri al growth .
Dependence of broad spectral components of the
biophoton signal on wavelength of stimulation The strength of a stimulated bi ophoton signal of a
system depends on th e wave length of stimul ati on. The
dependence is weak and appears to be a characteri sti c
of th e system. Thi s is also tru e fo r the strength of
spectral components obtained by inserting broadba nd
red, blue and green filters. We have measured thi s
dependence in a number of di fferent systems using
the procedure described elsewhere l3. The general features of the dependence are illustrated in two systems
namely, a rose leaf and a cultured sample of acetabulari a. The strength parameter was taken to be the
number of counts registered in th e first bin afte r
stimulati on. The durati on of a bin was lOOms in rose
leaf and 50ms in acetabulari a. The strengths of th e
signal and of its three broadband spectral co mponents
are depicted for different stimul atin g wavelength s in
Fig.2. The strength varies with the wave length of
stimulati on in a similar manner in these spectral co mponents. The similarity in the vari ati on in the strength
of blue component is hi ghli ghted in the fi gure by plotting its strength in a different scale. The curve representin g th e strength of blue component hovers around
the curve representin g th e strength of the ori ginal unfiltered signal. The strength of blue component is
nea rly 1% of the strength of the signal at diffe rent
wavelengths of stimulation. The strengths of red and
green component have similar behav iour and their
strengths are 66 and 6% of the signal strength . The
green component ex hibits a spurious peak at around
430nm th at is attributable to the stimulati on of cuvette. The percentage strengths of three spectral components were same in different leaves of the same
bush. Perhaps, the spectral components are coupled
and hence are emitted in the same proporti on at any
wavelength of stimulation in the range (400-700) nm.
522
INDIA N J EX P BIOL, M A Y 2003
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Fig. 2 - Strength of spectral compo nents at various wave length s of sti mulati on: T he st rengths of bioph oLOn signal em iLled by a rose leaf
and of its three broad spectra l compone nt are ploLled for vari ous wavelengths of stimul ati on. The number of photon detected in the first
bin of l OOms after st im ulati on measures th e streng th . T he sy mbols are 0 fo r w ithout filter, 0 for red fi lter, ... fo r blue filt er <1nu • fo r
green filter. T he right Y-ax is gives the sca le ror data points w ith blue filter.
The proporti onal strength of di ffe rent co mponen ts is a
characteri sti c property of a living syste m. it is a holi stic para meter of the system.
The above set of meas urements was also made
in two sa mpl es of Acetabularia ocetabulllln of
different sizes . The sa mpl es were placed in separate
cuvettes co nt aining sa me vo lume of medium durin g
meas urements. The sa mples emilied biop hoton
signals of different strength s. The stre ngth s of th e
spectral co mponents of biophoton sig nal in both
sam ples confirm the co nclusions made with the rose
leaf. The relat ive strengths of red, blue, and green
compo nents were 88, 3.4 and 4 .9% respecti ve ly. The
relar ive strengths of spectra l compo nents are di ffe rent
in Acerab ul ari a and a rose leaf, whi ch rul es out th e
sa me proporti onal stre ngth s of spec tral co mponents at
vari ous stimul ating wave lengths ari sing fro m so me
artefac t. The diffe rent strengths of th e signal in two
sa mpl es allow us to study th e behav iour of th e
diffe rence. The strength parameters of th e signals
alo ng with the di ffe rence are plotted fo r di fferent
wave lengths of stimul ati on in Fig.3. The curves
givi ng the strength of stronger signal and of th e
diffe rence have simil ar shapes, whi ch impli es th at th e
relati ve strengths of th e signal at di ffe rent stimul atin g
wave length s is a characteri sti c of the system and th e
med ium makes a sma ll co ntributi on to the signal. The
co ntribu tion of medium is elim inated in th e
diffe rence, whi ch prov ides a better representati on of
anoth er holi sti c property of Acetabula ria acetabulul11 .
Ph oto COUllt statistics in a spontaneous bio photoll signal - The average number of co unts in any
interva l is un changing for hours in spon taneous biophoton signals. These signals lac k any gross stru cture
but are suitable for determin ing the stati sti cs of photo
counts. Many measurements2 have been made to determin e the photo co unt stati sti cs with bin size va rying from 50 ms to 3 m. The mean and va ri ance of the
photo count are nea rl y equ al fo r di ffe rent bin sizes
and numbers of bin s in a set of meas ure ments. The
ea rl ier meas urements compared th e observed probab ili ties with Norm al and Poisso n di stributi ons. The
obse rved probabi liti es were mu ch di ffe rent from th e
orm al di stri buti on but were nearer bu t not identi cal
to Po isso n di stri buti on. We have also determined the
probabilities of detection of diffe rent number of. photons in a sa mple of Pannelia tin cto rul11 us ing bin sizes
fro m 50ms to 700 msl3. The observed probabili ties fit
well with the di stributi on ex pected in a squ eezed state
of photon. The observed and fitted di stributi on for bin
size of 50 ms is give n in Fig.4. The excelle nt agreement sugges ts th at the three parameters needed for
speci fy ing a sq ueezed state are additional pa rameters
of th e system. These are new holi sti c parameters obtainab le from a non-decayin g bi ophoton signa l.
Dependence oj PJIl, Ll) on signal strength - The
co nditional probab ility PuC<n>, 6:,.) of no subseq uent
photon detecti on in an interva l 6:,. and its dependence on
the instantaneous signal strength <n> are measurab le in
BAJPA I : QUANTUM COHERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
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523
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Stimulating Wavelength in nm
Fig. 3 - Streng th o f biop holo n signal s at va ri ous wave leng th s of stimu l at ion: T he strength s o f b iopho ton signal s em itted by two sa mpl es
o f Acelabu l aria.acelabl.lllllll of different sizes and the difference o f two strengths are p lotted for variou s wave length s of stimulat ion. The
number o f pho ton detected in the first bin of 50m s aft er stimulation measures the streng th. T he sy mbol s are . for sa mpl e I , 0 for sa mpl e
2, and ~ for the di fferenee .
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Fig. 4 - Probabi lities o f detect i ng di fferent number o f pho tons in a bin: Th e obser ved probabi l ity o f detect i ng different num ber of ph otons in a bin o f size 50ms in the spon taneous b io ph o to n Signal em itted by a sa mpl e of the l ichen Parlllelia.l illClO rtllIl obtai ned from
30,000 measurement s. The ca lcul ated probabi l iti es are for a squeezed state Ir= 139,6=.249, $= 1.125 ) and signal strength = 1.59
counts/50ms. The obse r ved probabiliti es are pl o tted i n a bar graph and th e ca lcu lated probabi l ities as point j o ined by lines.
decayi ng biophoton signa ls em itted by photosy ntheti c
systems. The average number of photon detected in
the inte rva l f, gives the ins tantaneous sig nal strength
<n>. It depends upo n the interva l and the signal intensit y I at any instant. The probability for no subsequ ent
photon detection has been calculated theoreticall y for
so me typical mono mode photon signals I 4. 15 • It is
given by
.. . (8a)
for th e light fi eld in therma l equilibri um, by
.. . (8b)
for the light field in a coherent statela) characterised
by a complex di splacement parameter a, and by
INDI A N J EX P BI OL, M A Y 2003
524
The observation photon bursts in spontaneous biophoton signals - Th e o bserved flu ctu ations in lo ng
. . . (8c)
fo r the li ght fi e ld in a squeezed state
l8
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charac-
teri sed by compl ex di spl ace ment para mete r a and
squeez ing parameter ~. Th e co mpl ex para mete rs are
in
te rms of real
para mete rs as
ex pressed
a = lal.ex p(i<!)) and ~ = r. ex p(i8). The sig nal stre ng th
in the squ eezed state is g ive n by
.. . (9)
The exp ress io ns o f pro babili ty fo r co here nt and
squeezed li g ht diffe r by a multipli cative fac tor th at
approaches the va lu e I as sig na l stre ng th goes to zero.
The meas ured va lues o f th e proba bili ty Po at small
va lues o f sig na l stre ng th (up to - I countlil) cann o t
d iffe renti ate betwee n co he re nt and squeezed states,
but are very effec ti ve in di sting ui shing betwee n the rma l and co here nt fie lds . The va lue of Po was measured fo r il in the range (10 ~s - 10 ms) in li vin g and
no n-li vin g syste ms correspo ndin g to sig na l stre ng th
< n> in the range (0. 05-10) counts/il. The meas ured
va lu es flu ctu ate around the ex press io n g ive n in (8 b) in
li vin g syste ms a nd around (8a) in no n-li vin g sys te ms.
T he agreement is much better fo r sma ll e r va lues o f
sig nal stre ngth I 6. 17. Th e meas ureme nts prov ide a c lear
ev idence of th e qu antum nature of bi o ph o ton .
time series data o f spo ntaneous bi o pho to n sig na ls
e mitted by li vin g syste ms are no t due to white no ise
alo ne. Fo uri e r seri es ana lys is of data ind icates the ex iste nce o f peri odi c iti es, which vary with time . Th e
data o f a large time seri es (say 90 ,000 po ints of Is)
were di vided into many pi eces of s ufficientl y long
durati o n (usua ll y 3600 ) and then Fouri er seri es ana lysis was perfo rmed in eac h pi ece separate ly. The Fo uri e r ana lys is gave a few large pe ri od peri odog ra ms of
sig ni fica nt stre ng th ; th e pe ri ods and streng th s of peri odograms vary from pi ece to pi ece. The va ri ati o ns in
th e peri ods o f sig ni ficant pe ri odog ra ms in pi eces of
the s ig na l e mitted by ce ll s in a med ium we re mo re
th an in th e sig na l e mitted by th e medium al o ne. A nothe r in tri g uin g feature of bi o ph oto n sig nal s is the
detec ti o n o f large number o f ph oto ns in so me bins. It
appea rs as if pho to ns sudde nl y burst o ut fro m a livin g
syste m . Th e numbe r o f photo ns detectin g in a burstin g
bin is many times larger th an the numbe r o f ph oto ns
detected in its ne ig hbo urin g bins. T he e miss io n o f a
ph o to n burst appears to be probabili sti c. One needs a
criteri o n to ide ntify a photo n burst. Let us take th e
criteri o n o f ide ntifying a bursting bin to be th e numbe r o f photo ns detected is g reate r th a n N lllin . The criteri o n can ide ntify the locati o ns of burstin g b in s in the
e ntire sig na l. W e have dete rmin ed the locati o ns of
ph o to n bursts fo r many va lues o f N llli n . The ph oto n
0100
0.001
10
100
Fig. 5 - Probability of subsequent photon burst emission in spontaneous bi ophoton signal s: The proba bility p is plolled as a fun ctio n of
Nllli n fo r empty control , Vero cell s at 4°C and 37°C. The bin size was Is and the probability at both temperatures in the contro l sample was
nearl y the same.
BAJPAl: QUANTUM CO HERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
bursts do not occ ur at reg ular interval for any va lue of
Nmill . The di stribution of interval between successive
photon bursts appears geo metri cal, which implies the
ex istence of a conditional probabi lity p of subsequent
photon burst em ission in the next bin . Thi s probability
is measurable and is a hoiisti c property of th e signal.
The probability of subsequ ent photon burst emi ss ion
in the nt" bin is given by p(1_p)"-I . We have determin ed the value of p for different choices of Nmill .
These values are plotted in Fig. 5 for spontaneo us
biophoton signals emitted by the sa me sa mpl e of
cell s l 9 at 37°C and at 4°C. The figure also contain s
similar determin ati ons of p for the signal emitted by
the control sa mpl e without any cell s. These measurements were simultaneo usly made at two different
channels, so th at th e fi gure co ntain s two sets of determinations. Both sets of meas urements indicate that
the va lue of p in th e sampl e of cell s is high er than the
control sample for different choices of Nmill and furth er its va lue in the sa me sa mpl e of cells at 37°C is
higher th an its value at 4°C.
,
The emerging scenario
The objecti ves of experimental in vesti gati ons have
hith erto been to es tabli sh various anomalous features
of biophoton signal s, to identify the holi sti c parameters of th ese signals, and to demonstrate th e linkages
of holi sti c parameters to metabolic activities. There is
ampl e experimental ev idence to suggest th at th ese
objectives have bee n ac hi eved. Biophoton signals
sho w qu antum co here!1ce, possess holistic parameters
and need to be desc ribed by pure qu antum state s.
Since th e state of photon s is a refl ection of th e state of
th e emitting entities. the properti es of th e biophoton
signals impl y the operatio n of a holistic mec hani sm
amo ng biomol ec ules of living systems. One now has
to wonder why and how th e holi sti c parameters of
biophoton signals emanate from the asse mbl y of biomolecul es. Thi s i5 a challenging probl em and its soluti on will probably clear th e mystery behind th e creati on and sustena nce of life. The in co mprehensibl e
properti es of biophoton signals provide onl y a few
pi eces of in forma ti on; we need to bind th ese pi eces
into picture wi th th e help of assumptions that may
appear des perate at prese nt.
The recent developments in in forma ti on sc iences
offer some additional clues for the soluti on of ollr
prob lem. These clues are based on the properties of
quan tum selection th at is morc efficient tha n classica l
selecti on. A quantum object ca n selec t th e desired
obj ec t from four quan tum obj ec ts in one step and
525
from twenty quantum objects in three steps in qu antum selecti on2o . The same object if employing class ical selection will be able to select the desired objec t in
one step from two obj ects and in three steps from
eight objec ts. The fidelity of quantum selection is
much more in one step than in three steps. The qu antum selection being the optimal selection strategy and
its use will confer evolutionary advantages to any system. These properti es of quantum selections has th e
potentiality to ex plain th e basic facts of ge netic code2 1
namely , th e ex istence of 4 base pairs in nu cleotides of
natural nu cleic ac ids, the ex istence of 20 amin o ac ids
in natural proteins, and the coding of th ese amin o acids by a codon made up of three nu cleotides. If it is
tru e then it implies that the nucleotides execute th eir
rol e in the fundam ental biological processes of repli cati on, transcripti on and protei n synthesi s through
quantum selections. The esse ntial requirement of a
quantum selection is th at the objects invol ved in the
selection mu st be in qu antum states. So th at the nu cleotides (of both DNA and RNA ) have to be in a
pure quantum state in selections needed for fund amental biological processes. The quantum state cou ld
be either a decoupl ed state of nucl eotides in \vhich
eac h nu cleotide maintains its identity and acts independently or a composite state in which at least so me
nu cleotides act in a cooperat ive mann er. The decoupled states are respon sible for th e success of molecula r
biochemi stry in explaining the prope rti es based on
local in terac ti ons. The composite states are probably
res ponsibl e fo r ho li sti c properti es of li ving systems
including th e emi ssion of biophotons. The holi stic
properti es of li ving sys tems have rema ined un expl ained perh aps, because the co mpos ite states have
not bee n considered so far.
Let us th erefo re, assume that nucleotides do attain
a co mposite quantum state for a small duration and
ex plore its consequences. A composite state can be
thought to be a quantum patch or clu ster of
nucleotiJes th at will be macroscopic in ex tension and
hence inherentl y un stable beca use of th e de-co herin g
interaction s with its environment. A qu antum patch, if
fo rm ed, wi ll lose its quantum co herence in a small
interval and revert back to th e deco upl ed cla!'sical
state. The patc h will have to make se lec ti ons and to
store th e resu lts of selections in a memory within th e
small interval. The sce nario of qu antum selection
requires a mec hani . m for co nvert ing a nu cleotide of
the decoupled state into a state th at grows by formin g
a quantum patch. The de-co heri ng int eracti ons will
oppose pa tch formati on: it wi ll res tri ct the size of a
526
INDIAN J EXP SIOl, MA Y 2003
quantum patch. Because of the interpl ay of patch
form ing tendency and de-cohering interacti ons, an in
vi vo molecule of nucleic ac id will probably contain
many transient quantum patc hes of different sizes.
These patches will be continuously formed and
destroyed. The folding of a nu cleic ac id mo lec ul e may
allow the formation of a quantum patch with
nucleotides not contiguous in its backbone; the
nucleotides th at co me close enough du e to folding
may form a quantum patch . Further, the nucl eotid es
contai ned in a patch at one time may belong to
diffe rent patches at other time. The formation and
des tru ction of nucleotide patch es co nfer dynamism to
every ill vivo nucleic acid molecule. The dynamism
wi ll lead to a situati on specific di stributions of patch
size and patch life. The parameters of the distributions
will be the holisti c parameters of a living sys tem .
Some of th ese parameters will be situation specific
wh iIe others wi II be sys tem speci fico
The res ults of selections have to be stored in a
memory for subseq uent use and the memory needs to
be protected from the destructions caused by decohering interac ti ons. It is postul ated that results are
stored in a distributi ve man ner in non-cod ing regions
of nucleic ac ids, which allows th e retri evable of
stored informa tion even after a partial destructi on of
memory. Finally, the perpetual functioning requires a
mechanism to reset the memory just before it is almost full. The implementati on of the scenario of
quantum selec tions will , th erefore, req uire a cycle of
follow ing transitions: nu cleotide in an inacti ve
state ---> nucl eotide in an acti ve state ---> {formation of a
patch} ---> {quantulll select ion} ---> {storage of th e result of se lection in a memory} ---> destructi on of patch
and transition of nucl eotides to th e inactive state--->
{resetting of memory}. The states within curly bracket are composite states of nucl eotides. Each transition of th e cycle will have characteri stic amount and
mode of energy transfer. The sce nari o is specified by
the prescription for the various energy transfers. It is
our conten ti on that the normal biochemical machinery
meets the energy needs in th e cycle and the energy is
released in the form of biophotons. The motivations
and consequ ences of th e contention in various transiti ons of the cycle will now be elaborated.
A nucleotide can ex ist in an inactive or active state
in the above scenario. The inactive state is th e deco upl ed classica l sta te. The nucl eotide in th e in acti ve
state prese rves the identi ty in its interac ti ons and
shows all biochemical properties. A nucl eotide makes
a transition from inactive to active state after extrac t-
ing energy from the usual biochemical machinery of
ATP- ADP cycle or its variant. There is no other
known uni versal source of energy in li ving system s.
The nucl eotide in the ac tive state has two additional
properties: it has affinity to associate wi th other nucleotides in ac ti ve states to form a patch or cluster and
it can participate in quantum searches. The patch is a
macroscopic quantum object made up of a large number of active nucl eotides and has a large amount of
available energy. This energy is rel eased in a quantum
transiti on when a patch makes a quantum selection or
reverts to the decoupl ed classical state. Energy is also
released when th e memory is erased an d reset. The
energy released in these transitions will be up converted energy . The concept of qu antum patc h is an
essential ingredient of the sce nari o; it provides a
mec hani sm for up converting biochemical energy in
to biophotons. The size of a patch determined the
level of energy up conversion. The broadba nd spect ral
distributi on of biophotons implies varying size of
quantum patches, while the emission mainly in the
visible range implies the variation of size to be confined in a small range. The emission of biophotons in
th e visible range in almost all li vi ng systems further
implies of simil ar sizes of qu antum patches in all li ving sys tems. Similar sizes are also ex pected from the
universality of nucl eotid e interact ion and similar envi ronment in all living systems. The occurrence of simi lar sizes still all ows different di stributions of sizes in
different systems and in different circumstances in a
syste m. The different distributions refl ec t the specificity of li ving sys tems. Any transition of a quantum
patch will appear holi stic in the conventional framework, so will be the biophoton signals emitted in
these transiti ons. The shape of a biophoton signal will
be determined by th e initial distribution of size and
the dyn am ics of patch formation and destruction,
which will make a biophoton sig na! sys tem and situation specific. The sys tem and si tu at ion specific nature
of biophoton sig nals has been a bewildering feature;
this sce nario makes it comprehensible. The usual
th ermodynamic arguments can explain the increase in
biophoton flux in biological processes like respiration ,
photosynthesis, mitosis, etc. as manifestati ons of more
selections and the sudden spurt in biophoton flux at
the time of death as a manifestati on of a sudden loss
of information J9 .
The sce nario visuali ses an ill l'ivQ folded nucl eic
acid mol ec ul e as an assembly of intermittent quantum
patches made up of varying number of nu cleotides
continuously em itting biophotons in quantul11 transi-
BAJPA I: QUANTUM CO HERENCE OF BIOPHOTONS
tions. The size distribution of patches will determine
the spectral di stribution of biophotons and will make
the spectral distribution system specific. The size di stribution is thus responsible for th e cou pling of various modes in biophoton emission . It is reasonab le to
ex pect the nature of photons em itted fro m various
patches of a si ngle molecule to be qu antum ; the quantum nature is may not be lost in emissions from different molecules in a cell ; but the quantum nature of
photon persists in em issions from a large number of
cells of an in vivo sample. It can happen on ly if biophoton emission is con nected with the processes responsible for life in li vi ng systems. Perhaps, the coherence of biophotons is merely a manifestation of the
coherence of li ving systems.
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