Abstract
Living structures appear as time-dependent ordered structures. These structures are also generally unsymmetric. On the other hand basic interactions, such as electromagnetic interactions, which could reasonably be responsible for living structures are highly symmetric. Quantum field theory predicts that ordered structures are likely to appear when the symmetry of the basic Lagrangian is broken by choosing an unsymmetric vacuum. We suggest that long-range correlations could appear in living matter as a consequence of the breakdown of rotational invariance in the set of electric dipoles, which are the basic components of that matter. Moreover we discuss the behavior of electromagnetic field in the region of correlated dipoles and show that it gets confined inside narrow filaments, which could be at origin of cell architecture.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
P.W. Anderson and D.L. Stein: Broken symmetry, emergent properties, dissipative structures, life: are they related? in the book: P.M. Anderson “Basic Notions of Condensed Matter Physics” Benjamin, Menlo Park, 1984, p. 263–285.
M. Eigen and P. Schuster: The Hypercycle: A principle of Natural Self-Organization — Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1979.
H. Haken: Synergetics: An Introduction Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1979.
P. Glansdorff and I. Prigogine: Thermodynamic Theory of Structure, Stability and Fluctuations Wiley, New York, 1971.
H. Matsumoto, M. Tachiki and H. Umezawa: Thermo-field dynamics and condensed states North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1982.
H. Umezawa: Nuovo Cimento, 40, 450–475 (1965).
L. Leplae, R.N. Sen and H. Umezawa: Nuovo Cimento 49B, 1–31 (1967).
H. Umezawa: in “Renormalization and Invariance in Quantum Field Theory” (E.R. Caianiello, ed.) p. 275–328, Plenum Press, New York (1974).
J. Goldstone: Nuovo Cimento 19, 154–164 (1961).
J. Goldstone, A. Salem and S. Weinberg: Phys. Rev. 127, 965–970 (1962).
H. Matsumoto, H. Umezawa, G. Vitiello and J.K. Wyley: Phys. Rev. 9D, 2806–2813 (1974).
M.N. Shah, H. Umezawa and G. Vitiello: Phys. Rev. 10B, 4724–4736 (1974).
C. De Concini and G. Vitiello: Nucl. Phys. 116B, 141–156 (1976).
H. Fröhlich: Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Usa, 72, 4211–4215 (1975).
E. Del Giudice, S. Doglia, M. Milani and G. Vitiello: Phys. Lett. 95A, 508–510 (1983)
Nucl. Phys. B 251 (FS 13) 375–400 (1985).
S. Celaschi and S. Mascarenhas: Biophysical Journal 20, 273–278 (1977).
J.B. Hasted, H.M. Millany and D. Rosen: J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 77, 2289–2297 (1981).
H. Fröhlich: Rivista del Nuovo Cimento 7, 399–418 (1977).
Fr. Kaiser, in “Interactions between Electromagnetic Fields and Cells” eds. A. Chiabrera, C. Nicolini and H. Schwan, (Plenum, New York, 1985) p. 131.
G. Nicolis and I. Prigogine: Self-Organization in Non-Equilibrium Systems (Wiley, New York, 1977).
E. Del Giudice, S. Doglia, M. Milani and G. Vitiello — Milano Preprint (1986).
P.W. Anderson: Phys. Rev. 110, 827 (1958)
130, 439 (1963).
P.Higgs: Phys. Rev. 145, 1156 (1966).
T.W.B. Kibble: Phys. Rev. 155, 1554 (1967).
E. Del Giudice, S. Doglia and M. Milani: Physica Scripta, 26, 232–238 (1982);
Phys. Lett. 90A, 104–106 (1982)
in “Coherent excitations of biological systems” (H. Fröhlich and F. Kremer eds.) pp. 124–127, Springer, Berlin (1983).
in “Nonlinear electrodynamics in biological systems” (W.R. Adey and A.F. Lawrence eds.) pp. 477–488, Plenum Press, New York (1984).
S. Rowlands: in “Coherent Excitations of Biological systems” (H. Fröhlich and F. Kremer eds.) pp. 145–161, Springer, Berlin (1983).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Del Giudice, E., Doglia, S., Milani, M., Vitiello, G. (1986). Spontaneously Broken Symmetries and Dissipative Structures. In: Kilmister, C.W. (eds) Disequilibrium and Self-Organisation. Mathematics and Its Applications, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4718-4_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4718-4_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8598-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4718-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive