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Physics International

Bacteria as Quantum Clocks

Atanas Todorov Atanasov

Published Jan 1, 2017• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this study we have investigated the biological application of Wigner’s inequalities for smallest quantum clock. We have shown that the mass, size and doubling time of bacteria satisfied the Wigner’s inequalities for quantum clock. Data on 17 bacteria with mass 1×10-17 -1×10-15 kg, size 0.3-50µm and doubling time 1×103-1×105 seconds confirmed the hypothesis of Pešić that possibly the living bacteria appear to be the smallest quantum clocks in the Nature.

DOI
10.3844/pisp.2017.1.7

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In this study we have investigated the biological application of Wigner’s inequalities for smallest quantum clock. We have shown that the mass, size and doubling time of bacteria satisfied the Wigner’s inequalities for quantum clock. Data on 17 bacteria with mass 1×10-17 -1×10-15 kg, size 0.3-50µm and doubling time 1×103-1×105 seconds confirmed the hypothesis of Pešić that possibly the living bacteria appear to be the smallest quantum clocks in the Nature.
It has been suggested that Wigner's clock inequalities can be applied to biological systems. Pesic was the first to suggest this by applying these inequalities to the reproduction time of a mycoplasma (1993 Eur. J. Phys. 14 90). More recently, Goel applied Wigner's clock inequalities to the system formed by a Taq DNA polymerase reading a phage lambda DNA strand, concluding that the behaviour of polymerases is governed by quantum mechanical processes. By means of a counterexample, using a Pfu DNA polymerase, I show that current experimental evidence does not allow us to conclude that Wigner's inequalities govern the behaviour of polymerases. Furthermore, both works are based on an incorrect interpretation of the concept of position uncertainty.
Abstract Progress in the experimental nano-sciences and laser cooling has led to the manipulation of material objects with sizes and temperatures such that quantum effects start to appear. This range of sizes coincides with that of the smallest bacteria as well as of the largest viruses, and is often considered to be the boundary between living and nonliving entities. Experiments are rapidly progressing towards putting micro-organisms into quantum superposition states in a controlled manner, resulting in nontrivial quantum effects that we normally do not attribute to living systems. In order to set limits for the occurrence of such effects, I model micro-organisms quantum mechanically and investigate how relevant physical properties are modified from their classical bulk values in the presence of classical self-gravity. The results show that a transition between quantum-like and classical behavior exists right at sizes corresponding to the broad boundary between the smallest bacteria and the largest giant viruses.
This article focuses on the approach to biology in terms of quantum mechanics. Quantum biology is a hypothesis that allows experimental verification, and pretends to be a further refinement of the known gene-centric model. The state of the species is represented as the state vector in the Hilbert space, so that the evolution of this vector is described by means of quantum mechanics. Experimental verification of this hypothesis is based on the accuracy of quantum theory and the ability to quickly gather statistics when working with populations of bacteria. The positive result of such experiment would allow to apply to the living computational methods of quantum theory, which has not yet go beyond the particular ''quantum effects''.
This article deals with the limitations which the quantized nature of microscopic systems imposes on the possibility of measuring distances between space-time events. It is proposed to use only clocks for measuring space-time distances and to avoid the use of measuring rods which are essentially macrophysical objects. The accuracy of reading a clock with a given mass is considered and examples for microphysical clocks are given. It is shown that the mass of the clock, and the uncertainty (spread) of this quantity, exceed certain values which depend on the accuracy with which the time interval is to be measured, the magnitude of this time interval (the running time of the clock) and the size of the clock. The minimum mass uncertainty of the clock is given by Heisenberg's relation; the minimum mass itself is higher by the ratio of the running time and the accuracy.If the possibility of constructing states whose wave functions are Gaussian wave packets is admitted, the mass and the mass uncertainty of the clock differs only by logarithmic factors from the uncertainties which follow from general principles of quantum mechanics. The masses are much higher if the possibility of constructing arbitrary wave packets is not admitted.