Delayed luminescence for microtubules, quantum gravitation, and the mechanism of anesthesia

Jack Tuszynksi has reported very interesting findings in Science of Consciousness 2022 (see this). The findings are described in a popular article (see this).

A delayed luminescence in microtubules (MTs) irradiated by laser light has been observed. This can be seen as a support for the presence of quantum coherence at least in the scale of MTs. Also it was found that the application of anesthetics (such as noble gas Xenon expected to have very weak chemical effects) shortens the delay time. This suggests the reduction of quantum coherence by anesthetics so that quantum coherence in long scales should be crucial for consciousness. One of the challenges is to understand the reason for the reduction of quantum coherence.

Delayed luminescence has been associated with bio-photons a long time ago and DNA is proposed to serve as the seat of the delayed luminescence. In particular, the group led by Tuszynski has studied (see this) the emission of mitochondrial biophotons and their effect on electrical activity of the membrane via MTs. A TGD based view of biophotons as decay products of dark photons is discussed in (see this and this) .

To my opinion, the findings represented by Tuszynksi provide support for quantum consciousness but not specifically for Orch-OR, which still remains a rather poorly defined approach since the statement that Planck scale quantum gravity effects are crucial for consciousness has no concrete content.

In the TGD based view of cell and neuronal membrane, nerve pulse and EEG magnetic body magnetic body (MB) plays a key role.

1. MB has several layers labelled by effective Planck constant h_eff and the gravitational magnetic body with gigantic value of h_eff=h_gr=GMm/v₀ corresponds to the longest scale of quantum coherence and would perform higher level control by controlling metabolism.

   h_eff=nh₀ is a purely number theoretical notion - n is the dimension of the extension of rationals assignable to the space-time region determined basically by a polynomial of a real variable - and emerges in TGD based vision about cognition involving what I call adelic physics (see this and this).

2. MB has a long range coherence and uses the biological body as a sensory receptor and motor instrument. Gravitational MB has a huge value of ℏ_eff= ℏ_gr= GMm/v₀: ℏ_gr is the gravitational Planck constant introduced originally by Nottale. MB is responsible for quantum control in very long scales. Quantum gravitation would be involved but in a very different sense than in the Orch-OR approach, where Planck scale dynamics is assumed.

   In this view, cell membranes act as Josephson junctions and communicate sensory input to the magnetic body (MB) of the system as dark Josephson radiation. MB in turn controls the cell by dark cyclotron radiation produced as pulses as MB receives frequency modulated Josephson radiation resonantly.

3. The TGD based interpretation of findings of Tuszynski would be that the laser beam serves as a metabolic energy feed increasing the value of h_eff and therefore the scale of quantum coherence. One can say that this metabolic energy feed creates or wakes up an analog of a conscious living organism: now at the level of microtubular MB. As it "dies" in "big" state function reduction (BSFR) involving the reduction of h_eff to a smaller value, not necessarily the normal value h_eff=h, the loaded metabolic energy is liberated.

   This would not apply only to MTs but quite generally. For instance, biophoton emission from cut leaves, would represent a similar decay process. Biophotons would be ordinary photons resulting as decay products of dark photon BE condensates and dark photons emitted with cyclotron Bose-Einstein condensates decay.

I have quite recently developed a rather detailed TGD inspired view of the role of quantum gravitation in metabolism. One can say that quantum gravitation distinguishes between chemistry and biochemistry. Quantum gravitation would play a key role in metabolism, biocatalysis, and in the TGD based view about DNA. This view and some of its latest applications are discussed here.

1. Gravitational MBs of Earth and Sun, which consist of very long loop-like flux tubes characterized by ℏ_gr, explain the findings of Blackman and others, are of special interest and assumed to play a key role in metabolism.
2. Gravitationally dark protons would be associated with very long gravitationally dark hydrogen bonds (HBs) so that hydrogen is effectively negatively ionized.

   Gravitationally dark electrons or their Cooper pairs would in turn accompany gravitationally dark valence bonds (VBs) connecting metal atoms or their Cooper pairs with molecules of opposite valence (hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂). Also the metal atom is effectively ionized. This provides a more accurate view of dark metal ions assumed to play a central role in the TGD inspired quantum biology.

3. The ordinary hydrogen-/valence bond reconnects with a pre-existing very long flattened square type closed gravitational flux tube and becomes a very long gravitational bond and the proton/electron Cooper pair is delocalized to the gravitational flux tube.
4. The delocalization at the very long gravitational flux tube having size scale of Earth implies that the proton/electron or electron Cooper pair does not contribute to the effective charge of an electronegative atom having gravitational HB with the hydrogen of water molecule. Therefore the hydrogen/metal atom looks like a negative/positive ion in short scales. Negatively charged phosphates associated with DNA nucleotides would be only effectively negatively charged. In the case of salts, metallic atoms form a dark salt with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) molecule and one has effectively a positive doubly charged e ion or Cooper pair of singly charged ions.
5. The formation of dark gravitational HB requires metabolic energy feed since it reduces the gravitational potential energy. Solar radiation provides this energy in photosynthesis. The reduction of dark gravitational HB to ordinary HB in turn liberates this energy. Thus the flux tubes of the dark gravitational MB serve as metabolic energy storages. A new form of metabolism associated with dark electron Cooper pairs. As a matter of fact, triplets of dark protons are required to get a value .55 eV of metabolic energy quantum. In the same manner triplets of dark electron Cooper pairs are required to get an electronic metabolic energy quantum of .55 mV. The model poses strong constraints on the values of gravitational potentials and radii of the astrophysical objects involved. Amazingly, Earth and the moon of Jupier known as Europa satisfy these constraints.
6. The delocalization mechanism also allows effective charge densities in short scales and could have dramatic implications for the model of nerve pulse. The nerve pulse need not correspond to a generation of ohmic currents through the membrane but to effective ionization or its reverse process due to the transformation of hydrogen and valence bonds to dark gravitational bonds.

   MTs could play an important role since they involve GTPs as analogs of ATPs and are thus involved with metabolism. The conduction of nerve pulse in the sense of the Hodgkin-Huxley model through myelinated sections of axons is very difficult to understand. The new view would allow the shortening and lengthening of MTs to change the effective charge density of MTs so that membrane potential would change and nerve pulse conduction in the TGD sense would be possible.

How could one understand the effect of anesthetics? I have considered this problem earlier. First one should try to understand how the critical dynamics of MTs relates to nerve pulse conduction inside myelinated regions of the axon.

1. Certainly the membrane potential should become hyperpolarized to prevent nerve pulse conduction so that consciousness would be lost. This requires that the effective charge densities inside and outside neural and axonal membranes are changed. Usually this would require flow of charge through the cell membrane. In the TGD framework it could be enough that the effective charge inside the axonal interior becomes less negative to create an effective nerve pulse.
2. If the anesthetic induces the transformation of gravitationally dark HBs (VBs) to ordinary ones in the interior of the axon, the effective charge of the axon becomes more (less) negative and the axonal potential becomes more (less) negative. MTs have GTPs near their ends and GDPs in the intermediate region. Negative charges of GTPs and GDPs would naturally correspond to gravitational HBs.

   The variation of MT lengths involves a transformation of GTPs to GDPs and vice versa. This would change the effective charge density of the MTs and affect the membrane potential. If gravitational HBs become ordinary, metabolic energy is liberated and vice versa. Hyperpolarization would require a generation of reconnections and a local change of the MT lengths.

   The variation of the lengths of axonal MTs would induce effective negative charge near the growing end of MT. Could the moving depolarization front of the axonal membrane correspond to an increasing GDP region of an axonal MT?

   Note: Also the transformation of metallic valence bonds to their dark variants and vice versa could control the membrane potential. Ca^{++ waves would result in cell interior when valence electron pairs of Ca atoms or their salts become gravitationally dark. This would make the axonal interior more negative.}

How the presence of noble gas having very weak chemical interactions could affect the nerve pulse conduction inside the axon?

1. Could the anesthetic freeze the dynamics of MTs so that nerve pulse conduction would become impossible? The presence of an anesthetic should make the axonal interior more negative and induce hyperpolarization.

   Could the presence of the anesthetic stabilize the MT by minimizing the length of its GDP region? Somehow the growth of MT should be prevented means addition of tubulins and GTPs. This is achieved if the density of tubulin-GTP pairs in axonal water is reduced. The generation of GTP from GDP requires a formation of gravitational HBs from ordinary HBs. The density of ordinary HBs should be reduced.

2. Could the presence of the anesthetic reduce the density of ordinary HBs in the axonal water? HBs are associated with water clusters. Could the presence of anesthetic in the lipid layer reduce the rate for the generation of water clusters and therefore HBs in the axonal water?

   In the TGD inspired theory consciousness, the MBs of water clusters can be seen as correlates for mental images of water as a conscious entity (see this and this). The level of consciousness for water would be reduced. Water would be anesthetized and this would freeze the MTs in turn freezing the axonal membrane.

3. Meyer and Overton observed that the potency of anaesthetic agents correlates with their lipid solubility. Anesthetics also seem to affect specific ion channels and receptors. One can argue that if the anesthetic is solvable to lipids, it can enter also inside the axon and somehow reduce the density of HBs assignable to the water molecule clusters accompanied by gravitational MBs. The effective charge of the axonal interior would become more negative and induce a hyperpolarization if the exterior is not affected.
4. How could anesthetics anesthetize water? A hint comes from the Pollack effect (see this. The exclusion zones discovered by Pollack are negatively charged regions at the interfaces of hydrophilic surfaces. The TGD based interpretation could be that part of protons become dark protons at gravitational HBs. It is known that anesthetics diminish the amount of EZ water (see this).
5. How could anesthetics prevent the formation of EZs and thus of gravitational HBs? A metabolic energy feed is needed in Pollack effect and is by photons as also the delayed luminescence for MTs demonstrates. How could the feed of photons needed to produce EZs be prevented by anesthetics? Energy is feeded in resonance. Could the presence of anesthetic change the energy needed to transform HB to dark gravitational MB so that the resonance condition would not be satisfied.

For backgroud see the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Jupiter's Moon Europa as a candidate for a seat of life

Jupiter's moon Europa is one of the most promising candidates for a seat of life since it contains water in the form of ice. Is quantum gravitational metabolism based on the solar and Jovian gravitational fields consistent with Earth-like metabolism?

For the Jupiter's gravitational field, the gravitational potential energy at the surface of Europa is V_gr=GM_Jm/R_Eu and defines the maximal value Δ E_max of the metabolic energy quantum for a flux loop defining dark gravitational HB oriented radially outwards along A line connecting Europa and Jupiter. The mean distance d_Eu from Jupiter is d_Eu= 105.3× R_E to be compared with the radius R_J=10.97 R_E of Jupiter. The mass of Jupiter is M_J= 317.8M_E. This gives Δ E_max,Eu/Δ E_max,E=V_gr,J/V_gr,E= (M_J/M_E) × (R_E/d_Eu)≈ 3.0.

For a single gravitationally dark proton, the maximal metabolic energy gain would be .99 eV, which is twice the metabolic energy quantum. Standard metabolic energy quantum .5 eV corresponds to a radially oriented loop with height h=d_Eu. If a proton triplet defines the metabolic energy quantum, one would have h=(1/5)R_Eu.

Solar radiation should provide the metabolic energy. The average distance d_J of Jupiter from Sun varies between 5.0AU and 5.4AU so that the gravitational metabolic energy quantum has upper bound Δ E_gr,Sun,J \leq Δ E_gr,Sun,E/5≈ .5 eV, which corresponds to metabolic energy quantum. Photosphere produces IR radiation with energies in the range .4-.6 eV. Therefore Europa seems to satisfy the conditions from quantum gravitational metabolism.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Gravitational fields of Earth and Sun and metabolism

The notion of magnetic body (MB) is central in the TGD inspired quantum biology. There are MBs assignable to electromagnetic and gravitational interactions and even color and electroweak interactions. A considerable progress in the understanding of the role of gravitational MB in metabolism has occurred and I hope that the following summary is reasonably near to the "final" one.

Gravitational magnetic body as a controlling agent and the prediction of two metabolic energy quanta

In the TGD framework magnetic body (MB) would serve as the controlling agent receiving sensory information as a frequency modulated dark Josephson radiation and controlling the cell by using dark cyclotron radiation coming as pulses corresponding to resonant receival of Josephson radiation.

The large value of h_eff=h_gr=GMm/v₀ (see this) implies that the dark cyclotron radiation in the EEG range would correspond to visible and UV energies.

The intuitive notion is that MB consists of U-shaped monopole flux tubes extending from the system considered and serving as kinds of tentacles. These flux tubes for two systems can reconnectand form a pair of flux tubes connecting the system if the cyclotron frequencies of the tubes are the same so that cyclotron resonance becomes possible.

In (see this), the question of what the notion of gravitational MB does mean, was considered.

1. The dark flux tube would be gravitational with h_eff=h_gr. Gravitational flux tubes have lengths, which can be of the order of Earth size scale and the radii of gravitational Bohr orbits define a natural scale form them.
2. The elongated gravitational flux tubes could correspond to either hydrogen bonds (HBs) or valence bonds (VBs). The loop-like bond could connect nearby atoms just like the ordinary bond. The delocalization of the charge to the flux tube leads to an effectively ionized donor atom.
3. All values of h_eff are possible. For electromagnetic flux tubes the values of h_eff/h are not very large. This picture leads to a view about hydrogen and VBs as bonds having h_eff/h>1 (see this). Also gravitational variants of hydrogen and VBs are possible. In this case, the proton or electron would be vertically delocalized in the Earth scale so that the donor atom would be effectively ionized. For instance, a phosphate ion could be an effective ion having a gravitational hydrogen bond with the hydrogen of a water molecule.
4. A gravitational valence bond, connecting a metal atom with an atom with an opposite valence, would lead to effective ionization of the metal atom. For instance, biologically important bosonic ions such as Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Fe⁺⁺ and Zn⁺⁺ associated with their oxides could correspond to effective ions like this.

   The signature would be a pairing with a neutral oxygen atom by a gravitational valence bond. I have introduced the notion of dark ion to explain the findings of Blackman and others and dark ion could correspond to this kind of pair. Note that the original variant of the model assumed that the entire ion is dark, the later version assumed that the valence electron of free atom is dark, and the model considered here assumes that darkness is a property of bond.

5. The effective ionization requires energy Δ E to compensate the increment of the gravitational potential energy given by Δ E_gr=(≤ V_gr(R)> -V_gr(R_E)). Here E_gr(R) is gravitational potential energy proton or electron, and R_E denotes the radius of Earth, and R is the distance of the point of flux tube from the center of Earth.

   Classical energy conservation suggests that the value of vertical kinetic energy at the surface of Earth is equal to the increment of the gravitational potential energy at the top of the loop. From energy conservation one can estimate the metabolic energy quantum as a liberated kinetic energy in the normal direction equal to the increase of gravitational potential energy. Hence the naive guess could be correct.

6. The maximal value for Δ E_max for electron Cooper pair (dark Cooper pair is at infinite distance) corresponds to V_gr(R_E)= .36 meV to be compared with the energy scale .3 meV defined by the temperature of 3 K microwave background and to the value .4 meV of the miniature potential. This suggests that, in the case of the electron, the reduction of kinetic energy contributes more than 10 per cent to the Δ E.

   For a single dark proton one has V_gr(R_E)≈ .34 eV, which is below the nominal value of the metabolic energy currency about .5 eV.

7. The condition that the end of the vertical gravitational loop travels along a stationary orbit parallel to the plane of rotation of Earth such that the normal velocity of the dark particle vanishes at the top, implies for the tangential velocity v_T the condition v²_T=ω²R²= GM/R allowing to determine the radius of the orbit as

   R/R_E=(r_s,Ec²/2ω²)^1/3× 1/R_E ≈ 3.1 .

   The change of the gravitational potential energy in the transition to an ordinary proton would be Δ E= Δ E_gr=.68× V_gr(R_E), which would give Δ E=.18 eV. In the dark genetic codons hydrogen bonds appear as triplets. 3 dark protons would give metabolic energy quantum .55 eV. Interestingly, a translocation of 3 protons fuels synthesis of ATP!

8. For an electron Cooper pair the upper bound for the metabolic energy quantum would be Δ E_max= .33 meV, which is below the miniature potential .4 meV. For the stationary flux tubes one obtains Δ E= .17 meV. Later the evidence for the 'spikes' in fungi (see this) discovered by Adamatsky will be discussed: their amplitude is reported to be in the range .03-2.1 meV which contains Δ E.

   For an electron Cooper pair triplet one would have Δ E= .51 meV consistent with the miniature potential .4 meV. Should one take this seriously? Could also dark electron Cooper pairs organize into triplets like dark protons would do and in this manner define dark genetic code? TGD predicts that genetic code is universal: could also dark electron Cooper pairs define a dark variant of the genetic code?

   Posner molecules [(PO₄)^-3)]₆Ca⁺²₉, to be discussed in the sequel, consists of 3 [(PO₄)^-3)]₂Ca⁺²₃ acting as a basic unit. This unit could contain 3 electronic Cooper pairs with electronic metabolic energy quantum Δ E= .51 meV. In principle, Cooper pairs can have spin 1 or spin state giving 4 states altogether. Could these states define letters of a dark genetic codon so that the basic unit would define a genetic codon and Posner molecule could correspond to a triplet of genetic codons?

   The TGD view about formation of bound states as Galois singlets (see this) allows us to consider this possibility. For an extension of extensions of ... the Galois group would decompose to a hierarchy of Galois groups actings as normal subgroups. Codons as triplets would be Z₃ singlets in both the ordinary and the electronic genetic code. Genes would correspond to larger Galois groups decomposing to normal subgroups. Codon doublets of DNA double strands would be Z₂ singlets and triplets of triplets of Posner molecules would be Z₃ singlets.

9. A proper treatment of the situation would require Schrödinger equation for the dark particle at the flux loop. The situation is analogous to a quantum model of the fountain effect of super-fluidity discussed in (see this) in a situation when the gravitational potential can be linearized (WKB approximation).

   One can consider Schödinger equation for h_gr idealizing the loop with a 1-D box with gravitational potential GMm/r. The Schrödinger equation reduces in dimensionless variable u= (m/ℏ_gr)z=2β₀ (z/r_s), r_s= 2GM to

   (-∂_u²/2 -β₀/u)Ψ= (E/m)Ψ== ε Ψ .

   A possible condition is that the vertical derivative ∂_zΨ vanishes at the top of the loop. The metabolic energy quantum equals (GM/R_E- ε(v))m and is quantized. The height of the loop could be quantized using the condition that the loop end is stationary with respect to Earth.

If this speculative picture makes sense, quantum gravitation would play a key role in metabolism and genetic code.

1. The transformation of electrons and protons between ordinary and gravitationally dark states would be a key process of metabolism and biocatalysis. This conforms with the fact that proton and electron exchanges play a key role in biology. For instance, phosphorylation means that the receiving molecule gains phosphate, which can form gravitationally a dark hydrogen bond so that the system becomes metabolically active. This would correspond to the activation in bio-catalysis.
2. In the same way, in a redox reaction, the electron donor is oxidized and the electron receiver is reduced. Reduced molecule gains the ability to have a gravitationally dark electron, and therefore becomes metabolically active in the electronic sense. Redox reaction would be the electronic counterpart for phosphorylation.

The role of solar gravitational field in metabolism

Also the gravitational field of the Sun could be important in metabolism.

1. At the distance of 1 AU of the Earth, the counterpart of single proton metabolic energy quantum .18 eV would be 2.6 eV, which is in the visible range. For a proton triplet, the energy would be 7.8 eV and in the UV range. This quantum would be realized as a long flux tube directed away from the Sun in the plane of the Earth's orbit and orthogonal to the orbit.
2. Could the visible solar radiation kick protons to solar gravitational flux tubes and the radiation of photosphere having energy range [.4,.6] eV to the gravitational flux tubes of Earth in photosynthesis? Could the solar part of dark gravitational energy for protons be transformed to ordinary metabolic quanta in metabolism? Note that the feed of the solar radiation energy to flux tubes suggests a modification of the proposed simple model involving only gravitation.
3. This picture would be true for all Sun-like stars and for planets at the distance of Earth and supports the view that Earth-like planets for Sun-like stars are favourable for life.

Metabolic energy depends on gravitational environment

According to the proposed simple model, bio-chemistry would strongly depend on the local gravitational environment.

1. For an object with mass M and radius R, the estimated maximal gravitational metabolic energy quantum E_max is scaled up by factor is scaled up by a factor z= (M/M_E)× (R_E/R). The values of z for Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Moon are (.2,.14,.86,.04). For Venus, which is called the sister planet of Earth, z is not too far from unity.

   For the stationary orbits around an object with radius R₁, mass M₁, and rotation frequency ω₁ the ratio Δ E₁/Δ E_E of metabolic energy quantum to that for Earth satisfies the scaling formula

   Δ E₁/Δ E_E = R_E/R₁ × (1-x₁x₂x₃) ,
   x₁= (M₁/M_E)^1/3 ,
   x₂=(ω_E/ω₁)^2/3 ,
   x₃=R_E/R₁ .

2. In the case of the Moon, E_max would be by a factor z= R_E/R_Moon= .017 smaller than at the surface of Earth. The stationarity condition would require a flux tube orbit radius smaller than the Moon radius. In the case of Venus, the sidereal rotation period is -243.0 days (retrograde): also now the orbit of stationary radius would be smaller than the radius of Venus. This suggests that only the metabolism utilizing the solar gravitational field photosynthesis is possible and would be essentially the same as at the surface of Earth.

3. In the case of Mars one has ω₁/ω_E≈ 1 , M₁/M_E=.1, R₁/R_E= .533 . This gives Δ E= .24 Δ E_E, which for the proton Cooper pair would give .13 eV. Could the solar gravitational field save the space traveller in case of Moon and Mars? The largest distance from Earth is about 1.7 AU and at this distance the maximal value of the solar metabolic energy quantum is scaled down by a factor .59.

Just for fun, one can also look at the situation in Sun.

1. At the surface of the Sun, one has z≈ 3.0× 10² and the metabolic energy quantum .55 eV for dark proton triplet scales to Δ E_Sun≈ .16 keV: this is below the threshold for the nuclear fusion and below the temperature of ≈ .23 keV of the solar corona. An interesting question is whether the X-ray radiation arriving to Earth could have some, perhaps even biological, function. TGD indeed predicts that nuclei have excitations in the keV range (see this).
2. For a dark electron Cooper at solar surface, the upper bound is .08 eV. The temperature of the photosphere corresponds to photon energy of .4-.6 eV, which corresponds to the metabolic energy quantum associated with the Earth's gravitational flux tubes. Could the IR thermal radiation from the photosphere serve as a metabolic energy source?

How does this model relate to the TGD inspired model for Cambrian Explosion (see this and this)?

1. The TGD explanation for the sudden emergence of new phyla in Cambrian Explosion is that the radius of Earth doubled in CE in rather short time. If the end of flux tube moves along stationary orbit, the scaling formula gives for the metabolic energy quantum before the transition for the dark proton triplet the value Δ E_gr=.38 × Δ E_gr,max, which gives Δ E_gr=.3 eV. This is considerably smaller than .55 eV.
2. According to Stephen Gould (see the book "Wonderful life" about Burgess Shale Fauna, a large number of the phyla suddenly disappeared. Could this mean that they were not able to adapt to the transition increasing the value of the metabolic energy quantum? On the other hand, a rapid evolution started. Could this relate to the increased sizes of the protonic and electronic metabolic energy quanta? Solar metabolic energy quanta would not have changed.

Do Moon travellers survive in TGD Universe?

3 dark protons give the nominal value of metabolic quantum. If the naive estimates are taken seriously, terrestrial life might not be possible on Mars and Moon. Humans have however successfully visited the Moon and it is not clear whether the solar gravitational field comes to rescue.

Rather than giving up the idea, it is better to ask what goes wrong with the simplest model. The quasiclassical estimate assumes that the dark charge at the top and bottom of the gravitational flux tube has the same kinetic energy. If the kinetic energy at the top is higher, the value of the metabolic energy quantum increases. This inspires the question whether the reduction of the kinetic energy in the metabolic energy quantum can be neglected.

1. The simplest model for the particle at gravitational valence bond is as a particle in a box with kinetic energies given by E_n= n²ℏ_eff²/mL², L the length of the loop. If L scales like h_eff, the kinetic energy does not depend on h_eff. Therefore the scale of kinetic contribution can be estimated in a molecular length scale.
2. Could the system adapt to a reduction of the maximal gravitational potential at the surface of the Moon, Mars, or Venus by increasing the average value of n in the superposition of the standing waves having maximum at the top of the valence loop? The system would adapt by increasing the localization of the dark charge at the top of the loop. The reduction of the bond length would mean reduction of the superposition to n=0 wave so that the kinetic energy would be indeed liberated.

Dark gravitational bonds and high energy phosphate bond

How could the somewhat mysterious high energy phosphate bond (HEPB) associated with di-phospates (DP) and tri-phosphates (TP) relate to the gravitationally dark hydrogen bonds (HBs)?

1. HEPB (see this) is identified as the bond ...--O--... connecting two P atoms in ATP or ADP (see this). Hydrolysis involves also one H₂O molecule. The -O-P bond splits inducing the splitting of ATP to ADP and P₁. One cannot assign HEPBs to the monophosphates (MPs) associated with DNA so that the splitting of the O-P bond must play an essential role..
2. It is best to start by listing the facts about ATP→ ADP +P_i+2H⁺ reaction for which the Wikipedia article (see this) gives both graphical representation and the overall formula for the reaction.

   In the initial state 4 O-atoms of ATP have a visible negative charge. The simplest assumption is that all ions O^- actually correspond to gravitationally hydrogen bonded O...H pairs with a delocalized proton charge so one should use the notation O^"-". O^- would be replaced with O...H-O-H such that the HB carries a gravitationally dark proton delocalized in even astrophysical scale. The negative charge would be only effective and associated with OH^"-" rather than being a real negative charge of O^-. The same assumption is natural also for ADP and AMP. This would define the meaning of organic phosphates. In the final state both P_i and ADP have visible charge -3 to give a total visible charge -6.

   2H⁺ in the final state guarantees the conservation of the visible charge in the reaction.

3. The P(O^"-")₂ of the third phosphate transforms to an inorganic phosphate P_i. A natural interpretation is that the gravitationally dark protons become ordinary ones. This explains 2H⁺ in the final state. This reaction would liberate part of the metabolic energy.
4. One H₂O molecule is used in the reaction. The natural assumption is that one hydrogen of H₂O has a dark gravitational HB with the oxygen appearing in O-P of (O^"-"₂P=O)-O-P... so that it one has O^"-" visible charge -1. The bond ...P-O-...H becomes the effective oxygen ion of ...P-O^"-" of P_i so that P_i would not be completely inorganic. The remaining OH of the water molecule becomes one O^"-" of P of ADP. Also this reaction can liberate metabolic energy.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Metabolism involves also the gravitational field of Sun

In the TGD inspired quantum biology framework, both the magnetic and gravitational fields of Earth are essential.

Quantum gravitation in the TGD sense is an essential element of metabolism and involves gigantic gravitational Planck constant making quantum coherence possible at the magnetic body. The metabolic energy quantum has upper bound given roughly by the gravitational potential energy at the surface of Earth and is thus proportional the mass of dark proton associated with gravitational hydrogen bond or the mass of dark electron Cooper pairs associated with the valence bond of mental with H₂O₂. Since dark protons and electrons are delocalized in a very long scale, hydrogen is effectively negatively charged as the metal positively charged.

What about the role of the solar gravitational field?

1. What determines the scale of metabolic energy quantum in quantum gravitational metabolism, is the ratio r_s/R of Schwartschild radius r_s =GM to the size R of the planet, or perhaps even the size of a large water blob. If the blob corresponds to a flux tube spaghetti, its mass M could be roughly proportional to R: M= kR. Therefore the ratio r_s/R= k would be roughly constant and the same as for Earth. Astrophysics could favor life if this is the case.
2. The values of k/k_Earth are (.14,.86,1,0.04,.20,28.4,10.1,3.6) for (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturnus, Uranus). At the surface of the Sun, k/k_Earth protonic metabolic energy quantum is below .61× 10³ so that the solar metabolic energy at the surface of Sun quantum would be about .31 keV: this is below the threshold for the nuclear fusion and near the temperature of about .23 keV of solar corona. For dark electron Cooper the upper bound is .61 eV and corresponds to the temperature at photosphere.
3. The temperature of the photosphere corresponds to photon energy of .4-.6 eV, which corresponds to the metabolic energy quantum associated with the Earth's gravitational flux tubes. This is hardly an accident: the IR thermal radiation from photosphere could serve as a metabolic energy source.
4. At the distance of the Earth , the upper bound for the solar metabolic energy quantum would be about 3.5 eV, 7 times higher than the metabolic quantum of .5 eV and corresponds to UV energy just above the visible spectrum. This suggests that in photosynthesis solar radiation kicks protons to solar gravitational flux tubes and corona radiation to Earthly gravitational flux tubes. In metabolism the solar part of dark gravitational energy for protons would be transformed to ordinary metabolic quanta. This picture would be true for all Sun-like stars and for planets at the distance of Earth and supports the view that Earth-like planets for Sun-like stars are favourable for life.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Quantum gravitation as an explanation for the different chemistries of living and inanimate matter

If gravitationally dark hydrogen and valence bonds are relevant to biology, their effects should distinguish between matter in vivo, gel phase and matter in vitro. The difference should be especially clear at physiological temperatures. Is there any empirical evidence for the deviations from what is inspected on the basis of the standard biochemical intuition?

The interactions between DNA metal ions present living matter could serve as a test for the proposal. In the TGD framework, both metal ions and DNA could be gravitationally dark (in vivo or gel phase) or ordinary (in vitro phase).

1. For the DNA and metal ions as they are usually understood, the phosphate ions (PO₄)^- of DNA should have interactions with metal ions and the concentrations should affect the properties of DNA. This should be true both in vivo and in vitro.
2. In the TGD framework, DNA strand in vivo and in gel phase would be accompanied by a dark DNA strand. The phosphate ions (PO₄)^- would be replaced with pseudo-ions (PO₄)^"-", in the sense that the ion O^- would be replaced with agravitationally hydrogen bonded structure O...H-O-H such that the HB carries a gravitationally dark proton delocalized in a very long scale. The effective negative charge would be associated with OH^"-" pseudo ion rather than being a real negative charge assignable to O.

   Outside the physiological temperature range and in vitro, the oxygen ion would be real and the situation would be as in the standard chemistry apart from the possible effects of darkness of metal ions. The simplest assumption is that both metal ions and DNA are dark at the same temperature range only.

3. (Gravitationally) dark metal ions of type X⁺⁺ would also have a dark valence electron at flux tube. One can speak of dark salt since flux tube bonds would connect X with H₂O₂. Same applies to Cooper pairs of dark ions X⁺.

   The phosphate of DDNA-DNA pair has Coulomb interaction with neither ordinary nor dark ions but the metal ion would interact with OH^"-". This suggests that the presence of metal ions does, and ions in general, has no strong effect on the DNA properties in vivo. Besides realizing genetic code, dark DNA would shield the system from the perturbations caused by various ions.

4. Experimentally this seems to be the case. Most interactions between DNA and ions are modelled and studied experimentally in dilute water solutions. According to the following article, under these conditions the DNA interaction with charged ligands, the helix-coil transition temperature, and other DNA properties are strongly dependent on the low-molecular-weight salt concentration, see the same article and references therein. However, for condensed DNA states (fibers, gels) or in vivo, similar characteristics are often independent of or only slightly dependent on the ionic composition of the solvent.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Could quantum gravitation play a key role in the DNA metabolism and DNA replication and transcription?

TGD inspired quantum biology leads to the proposal that quantum gravitational variants of hydrogen bonds (HBs) and valence bonds assignable to metal atoms play a fundamental role in metabolism and biocatalysis.

DNA base pairs are connected by 2 (A-T) or 3 (G-C) hydrogen bonds (HBs): what could this mean from the point of view of DNA energy metabolism and from the point of view of the splitting of DNA double strand in DNA replication and transcription?

1. If these strands can appear as dark gravitational strands, the maximum of 2 (3) metabolic quanta could be liberated in A-T (G-C) pairs via a transformation to ordinary HBs. Could this serve as a yet-unidentified source of metabolic energy in the replication and transcription?
2. Could the dark/organic mono-phosphates of the double DNA strand serve as a source of metabolic energy for DNA transferred to the HBs connecting base pairs?
3. Suppose that the DDNA parallel to DNA corresponds to a sequence of gravitational HBs B_gr as loops associated with the organic phosphates. Codon would correspond to a bound state of dark protons associated with three dark gravitational HBs.

   Consider an ordinary HB A_ord associated with a base pair and B_gr associated with the corresponding dark/organic phosphate. Can one transform A_ord to A_gr to achieve the transfer of metabolic energy?

   Two reconnections for a HB pair (A_ord,B_gr) can transform the pair to (A_gr,B_ord). The gravitational dark proton and metabolic energy would be transferred to basepair from the organic phosphate, which itself would become an organic phosphate ion P₁^-.

   Note: Also the phospholipids of the cell membrane are accompanied by a monophosphate group. Also microtubules are accompanied by GMPs. Could they serve as metabolic energy sources in the cell membrane using the above described mechanism?

The splitting of HBs between base pairs (see this) plays a fundamental role in DNA opening necessary for DNA replication and transcription. These HBs must split during replication and transcription and many other processes such as selective recognition of DNA by proteins, regulation of RNA cleavage by site-specific mutations, and intermolecular interaction of proteins with their target DNA or RNA. Could the notion of gravitational HB provide insights about the process?

1. As the figures of (see this) illustrate, the base pairs of the double DNA/RNA strand have 2 or 3 HBs. HBs of type N-H...O and H-N...O and N-H...N (called imino HB) are possible. Imino HB appears for both A-T with 2 HBs and G-C with 3 HBs.

   Since the hydrogen of X-H...Y is nearer to Y than X, the splitting is expected to give X+ H-Y, X, Y in {N,O}. This is indeed the case when X and Y are different. However, the imino HB N-H...N actually splits to N-H + N rather than the expected N + H-N. An exchange of a hydrogen atom is said to occur.

2. The temporary formation of a gravitationally dark HB could explain how this is possible. The gravitationally dark proton is at a large distance from the N atoms so that they are in a symmetric position and both outcomes for the splitting are equally probable so that the exchange rate increases.
3. This requires a temporary transformation of N-H...N HB to a gravitationally dark HB. Could double reconnection transform the pair (A_ord,B_gr formed by N-H...N HB and dark HB of phosphate bond to (A_gr,B_ord), which then splits?

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Quantum gravitational metabolism in contrast to the standard view about metabolism

In the TGD framework, the gravitational magnetic body would play a key role in metabolism. In the sequel this notion and also a concrete model for the somewhat mysterious high energy phosphate bond (HEPB), playing a fundamental role in the standard picture, is considered. The facts that DNA base pairs are connected by 2 or 3 hydrogen bonds (HBs) and nucleosides are accompanied by monophosphate ions suggest a possible application to DNA metabolism.

Gravitational magnetic body and metabolism

In the TGD framework magnetic body (MB) would serve as the controlling agent receiving sensory information as a frequency modulated dark Josephson radiation and controlling the cell by using dark cyclotron radiation coming as pulses corresponding to resonant receival of Josephson radiation.

The large value of h_eff=h_gr=GMm/v₀ implies that the dark cyclotron radiation in the EEG range would correspond to visible and UV energies.

The intuitive notion is that MB consists of U-shaped monopole flux tubes extending from the system considered and serving as kinds of tentacles. These flux tubes for two systems can reconnectand form a pair of flux tubes connecting the system if the cyclotron frequencies of the tubes are the same so that cyclotron resonance becomes possible.

The question of what the notion of gravitational MB does mean, was considered in here.

1. The dark flux tube would be gravitational with h_eff=h_gr. Gravitational flux tubes have lengths, which can be of the order of Earth size scale and the radii of gravitational Bohr orbits define a natural scale form them.
2. The elongated gravitational flux tubes could correspond to either hydrogen- or valence bonds. The loop-like bond could connect nearby atoms just like the ordinary bond. The delocalization of the charge to the flux tube leads to an effectively ionized donor atom.
3. All values of h_eff are possible. For electromagnetic flux tubes the values of h_eff/h are not very large. This picture leads to a view about hydrogen and valence bonds as bonds having h_eff/h>1 (see this). Also gravitational variants of hydrogen and valence bonds are possible. In this case, the proton or electron would be vertically delocalized in the Earth scale so that the donor atom would be effectively ionized. For instance, a phosphate ion could be an effective ion having a gravitational hydrogen bond with the hydrogen of a water molecule.
4. A gravitational valence bond, connecting a metal atom with an atom with an opposite valence, would lead to effective ionization of the metal atom. For instance, biologically important bosonic ions such as Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Fe⁺⁺ and Zn⁺⁺ associated with their oxides could correspond to effective ions like this.

   The signature would be a pairing with a neutral oxygen atom by a gravitational valence bond. I have introduced the notion of dark ion to explain the findings of Blackman and others and dark ion could correspond to this kind of pair. Note that the original variant of the model assumed that the entire ion is dark, the later version assumed that the valence electron of free atom is dark, and the model considered here assumes that darkness is a property of bond.

5. The effective ionization requires energy Δ E to compensate the increment of the gravitational potential energy given by Δ E=(< V_gr(R)>-V_gr(R_E)). Here E_gr(R) is gravitational potential energy proton or electron, and R_E denotes the radius of Earth, and R is the distance of the point of flux tube from the center of Earth.

   This estimate neglects the kinetic energy of the dark particle at the flux loop. This assumption is not consistent with the localization near the top of the loop so that the estimate can serve only as a rough order of magnitude estimate.

6. The maximal value for Δ E for electron Cooper pair (dark Cooper pair is at infinite distance) corresponds to V_gr(R_E)= .36 meV to be compared with the energy scale .3 meV defined by the temperature of 3 K microwave background and to the value .4 meV of the miniature potential. This suggests that, in the case of the electron, the reduction of kinetic energy contributes more than 10 per cent to the Δ E.

   For a single dark proton one has V_gr(R_E)≈ .34 eV, which is below the nominal value of the metabolic energy currency about .5 eV. If a single dark proton is involved, the reduction kinetic energy should contribute at least 32 per cent to Δ E.

   For a dark proton Cooper pair, one has the maximal value of Δ E= .68 eV somewhat above the metabolic energy quantum. These findings support the idea that both proton and electron Cooper pairs give rise to metabolic energy quanta. The challenge is to understand the mechanism for the formation of proton Cooper pairs.

7. The transformation of electrons and protons between ordinary and gravitationally dark states would be a key process of metabolism and biocatalysis. This conforms with the fact that proton and electron exchanges play a key role in biology. For instance, phosphorylation means that the receiving molecule gains phosphate, which can form gravitationally a dark hydrogen bond so that the system becomes metabolically active. This would correspond to the activation in bio-catalysis.

   DNA base pairs are connected by 2 (A-T) or 3 (G-C) hydrogen bonds. If these strands can appear as dark gravitational strands, the maximum of 2 (3) metabolic quanta could be liberated in A-T (G-C) pairs via a transformation to ordinary hydrogen bonds. Could this serve as a yet-unidentified source of metabolic energy in the replication and transcription?

8. In the same way, in a redox reaction, the electron donor is oxidized and the electron receiver is reduced. Reduced molecule gains the ability to have a gravitationally dark electron, and therefore becomes metabolically active in the electronic sense. Redox reaction would be the electronic counterpart for phosphorylation.

Dark gravitational bonds, high energy phosphate bond, and DNA

How could the somewhat mysterious high energy phosphate bond (HEPB) associated with di-phospates (DP) and tri-phosphates (TP) relate to the gravitationally dark hydrogen bonds (HBs)?

1. HEPB (see this) is identified as the bond ...--O--... connecting to P atoms in ATP or ADP (see this). Hydrolysis involves also one H₂O molecule. The -O-P bond splits inducing the splitting of ATP to ADP and inorganic phosphate P_i. One cannot assign HEPBs to the monophosphates (MPs) associated with DNA so that the splitting of the O-P bond must play an essential role..
2. It is best to start by listing the facts about ATP\rightarrow ADP +P_i+2H⁺ reaction for which the Wikipedia article (see (see this) gives both graphical representation and the overall formula for the reaction.

   In the initial state 4 O-atoms of ATP have a visible negative charge. The simplest assumption is that all ions O^- actually correspond to gravitationally hydrogen bonded O...H pairs with a delocalized proton charge so one should use the notation O^"-". The same assumption is natural also for ADP and AMP. This would define the meaning of organic phosphates. In the final state both P_i and ADP have visible charge -3 to give a total visible charge -6.

   2H⁺ in the final state guarantees the conservation of the visible charge in the reaction.

3. The P(O^"-")₂ of the third phosphate transforms to an inorganic phosphate P_i. A natural interpretation is that the gravitationally dark protons become ordinary ones. This explains 2H⁺ in the final state. This reaction would liberate part of the metabolic energy.
4. One H₂O molecule is used in the reaction. The natural assumption is that one hydrogen of H₂O has a dark gravitational HB with the oxygen appearing in O-P of (O^"-"₂P=O)-O-P... so that it one has O^"-" visible charge -1. The bond ...P-O-...H becomes the effective oxygen ion of ...P-O^"-" of P_i so that P_i would not be completely inorganic. The remaining OH of the water molecule becomes one O^"-" of P of ADP. Also this reaction can liberate metabolic energy.

DNA base pairs are connected by 2 (A-T) or 3 (G-C) HBs: what could this mean from the point of view of DNA energy metabolism?

1. If these strands can appear as dark gravitational strands, the maximum of 2 (3) metabolic quanta could be liberated in A-T (G-C) pairs via a transformation to ordinary HBs. Could this serve as a yet-unidentified source of metabolic energy in the replication and transcription?
2. Could the dark/organic mono-phosphates of the double DNA strand serve as a source of metabolic energy for DNA transferred to the HBs connecting base pairs?
3. Suppose that the DDNA parallel to DNA corresponds to a sequence of gravitational HBs B_gr as loops associated with the organic phosphates. Codon would correspond to a bound state of dark protons associated with three dark gravitational HBs.

   Consider an ordinary HB A_ord associated with a base pair and B_gr associated with the corresponding dark/organic phosphate. Can one transform A_ord to A_gr to achieve the transfer of metabolic energy?

   Two reconnections for a HB pair (A_ord,B_gr) can transform the pair to (A_gr,B_ord). The gravitational dark proton and metabolic energy would be transferred to basepair from the organic phosphate, which itself would become an organic phosphate ion P₁^-.

   Note: Also the phospholipids of the cell membrane are accompanied by a monophosphate group. Also microtubules are accompanied by GMPs. Could they serve as metabolic energy sources in the cell membrane using the above described mechanism?

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Objection against the quantum gravitational metabolism

TGD based view about quantum gravity, which involves in an essential manner gravitational flux tubes and the notion of gravitational Planck constant h_gr, leads to a very nice picture about metabolism predicting correct order of magnitude for the metabolic energy quantum .5 eV assignable to the proton of the hydrogen bond transformed to a long gravitational loop in Earth scale. This increases the energy of the proton and the increment serves as metabolic energy liberated when the loop reduces to an ordinary hydrogen bond in the transition h_gr→ h.

A new metabolic energy quantum assignable to a dark electron Cooper pair is predicted and is assignable to a dark gravitational valence bond of metal ion X⁺⁺ or two metal ions of type X⁺ forming a dark Cooper pair with hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂, which is reactive oxygen species (ROS). As in the case of the dark proton of the hydrogen bond, only an effective ion is in question since the Cooper pair is at the gravitational flux tube.

Note that the transformation of the proton of hydrogen bond and electrons of valence bonds provides a mechanism, which makes it possible to control for instance membrane potential which is expected to be central in the control of nerve pulse generation. DNA base pairs are connected by hydrogen bonds and the control mechanism might be at use also here.

An estimate for its maximal value is obtained by scaling the ordinary metabolic quantum by the ration m_e/m_p and equal to .36 meV. The miniature membrane potential has value about .4 meV which is 10 per cent larger.

In the first approximation, the estimate for the maximum of the metabolic energy quantum is as the gravitational binding energy at the surface of Earth. The estimate neglects the kinetic energy of the dark particle at the flux tube, which can be reduced as the flux tube reduces to ordinary valence bond or hydrogen bond.

According to the simple model, bio-chemistry would strongly depend on the local gravitational environment. Could this be used to kill the idea?

1. For an object with mass M and radius R, the estimated maximal gravitational metabolic energy quantum E_max is scaled up by factor is scaled up by a factor z= (M/M_E)× (R_E/R). The values of z for Mars, Venus, and Moon are (.02,.86,.05). For Venus, which is called the sister planet of Earth, z is not too far from unity. Note that in the case of the Moon, the Earth's gravitational potential and therefore E_max associated with it would be by a factor z= R_E/R_Moon= .017 smaller than at the surface of Earth.

   Solar gravitational potential cannot come to rescue. At distance of AU (Earth's distance from Sun) the scaling factor of E_max would be z= (M_S/M_E) (R_E/AU) =.014. The values E_max are typically few per cent of the desired value.

   The model in its simplest version would predict that terrestrial life is not possible on Mars and Moon. Humans have however successfully visited the Moon.

2. Rather than giving up the idea, it is better to ask what goes wrong with the simplest model. It is assumed that dark charge at the gravitational bond does not possess any kinetic energy, which would increase the value of the metabolic energy quantum. This is of course an oversimplification and already the predicted slightly too low maximal value of the gravitational electronic metabolic energy quantum suggests that kinetic energy cannot be neglected.

   The simplest model for the particle at gravitational valence bond is as a particle in a box with kinetic energies given by E_n= n²ℏ_eff²/mL², L the length of the loop. If L scales like h_eff, the kinetic energy does not depend on h_eff. Therefore the scale of kinetic contribution can be estimated in a molecular length scale.

   Could the system adapt to a reduction of the maximal gravitational potential at the surface of Moon, Mars, or Venus by increasing the average value of n in the superposition of the standing waves having maximum at the top of the valence loop? The system would adapt by increasing the localization of the dark charge at the top of the loop. The reduction of the bond length would mean reduction of the superposition to n=0 wave so that the kinetic energy would be indeed liberated.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

To sum up, the model survived the first killer test and led to a more precise formulation of the hypothesis. For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Is Standard Model tumbling down?: W boson mass is .1 per cent higher than predicted!

Particle physicists have found a new anomaly (see this). The  measured mass of the W boson is by .1 per cent higher than predicted by high precision calculation! For a layman .1 per cent does not sound like an earthquake but, in the accuracies achieved, it is. Weak interactions are indeed weak, this kind of accuracy is possible. Physics has become incredibly precise!  

This makes every builder of TOE humble! Of course, a new theory cannot achieve the precision of the predictions of the standard model. What is needed  is understanding at a qualitative level and despite its marvellous accuracy, standard model cannot provide this understanding.

This anomaly  suggests new massive particles. Also the earlier earthquakes,  the CP breaking anomaly of B mesons and   g-2 anomaly  for muon,  suggest new massive  particles.

Using the language of  quantum field theory (QFT),  new particles should appear in self-energy loops of the W boson. Also the QFT limit of TGD uses this language although it is replaced with something much more elegant at the fundamental level (see this and this).

Can one understand these anomalies in the TGD framework.

1. In the TGD framework, the family replication phenomenon for fermions (one has three  quark and lepton generations) is  explained topologically and the  CKM mixing of fermions as induced by their  topological mixing.   This goes outside the standard model which just assumes CKM mixing without any attempt to understand it.

    The new physics prediction is that also the gauge bosons and graviton have the analog of family replication (see this and this).  

2. Fermions would have 3 generations, which correspond to 3  topologies for a  2-D  wormhole throat characterized by the number of handles: sphere, torus as sphere with one handle, and  sphere with two handles.  

    For a higher number of handles, one would have analogs of many-particle states with handles regarded as particles moving around the sphere like free particles: mass spectrum would be continuous - one could talk about ur particles.

   For the 3 lightest genera there is  Z₂ conformal symmetry irrespective of conformal moduli. This symmetry  allows a bound state of 2-handles. One can assign a dynamically generated symmetry group SU(3)_g to these 3 fermion states (electron, muon, tau + plus neutrinos and 3 quark generations). Fermions of these  3 generations  form a triplet.

3. Bosons would correspond to pairs of wormhole throats characterized by handle number and group theoretically  to  a tensor product  3× 3  of fermion  triplets (see this and this).  This would give a singlet and octet. Singlet would correspond to ordinary gauge bosons and gravitons. For singlet, ordinary gauge bosons,  the couplings to fermions would be the same for all genera.  

   Octet would contain 2 states with vanishing SU(3)_g quantum numbers plus 3+3=6  SU(3)_g charged states. Let us refer to  these 2  states as "2 exotics". The 2 exotics  have vanishing SU(3)_g quantum numbers and  are  analogs of  neutral pion π0 and η in good old hadron physics involving strong isospin and strangeness.  

   An intuitive guess is that the 3+3  SU(3)_g "charged" states are heavy (analogous to kaon K and charged pions π^{+/- in the old-fashioned   quark model). Thus 2+6  new states with the same standard model quantum numbers as the existing ones, are predicted, and the 2 exotics are expected to be light.} 

The  exotics appear in  various loop corrections at the QFT limit of TGD.

1. Exotics could explain the anomalous CP violation for neutral B mesons. The couplings to fermions  specified by SU(3)_g charge matrices, which are  orthogonal for the 3 generations and therefore cannot be the same for all generations. One  would have a violation of universality and this is at the core of CP violation anomaly.  
2. The (2) exotics could also explain the anomaly of g-2 anomaly (yes: anomaly of anomaly!) of muon.

 Could the  exotics also explain  the W mass anomaly?  Could a mixing  between ordinary gauge bosons and  (2)  exotics give a positive  contribution to the  self-energy loops of W and increase the mass slightly?  If  the mass changes in this manner, it must increase. This is encouraging.

1. Fermionic generations mix topologically. For instance, a sphere becomes a quantum superposition of several topologies  containing  mostly sphere  and  a little bit of torus and also  a sphere with two handles.  CKM mixing  is essentially the  difference of the topological mixings for U and D type quarks.

   Could also  gauge bosons with the same SU(3)_g quantum numbers belonging to singlet and octet  mix?  A pair of spherical wormhole throats  would get a small contribution from a pair of torus and g=2  wormholes.

2. Could one find some support for the mixing   idea existing hadron physics? Vector boson dominance of the good old hadron physics assumed that photons can mix with rho mesons. ρ mesons correspond to quark pairs completely analogous to the analog of the  first SU(3)_g singlet (analog of pion).

    This  mixing would be caused by the decay of photons to a quark pair in turn forming a ρ meson.

   Exactly the same could happen for SU(3)_g.   An ordinary gauge boson would decay to a virtual quark pair,   which would combine with a small amplitude also  to an exotic gauge boson, which is actually a superposition of fermion pairs in TGD. This would be  induced by  the topological mixing.

3. What about self energy corrections from the  intermediate gauge boson pairs appearing in self-energy loops? They are certainly very small but in the TGD framework, they do not appear at the fundamental level in the lowest order.

   The reason is  that in the   TGD  Universe also gauge bosons are  quark and lepton pairs: there are no fundamental bosons in the TGD Universe since bosons emerge from fermions as fermion-antifermion pairs (two pairs for gravitons).

   Also leptons,  could emerge from quarks but that is another story (see  this). The  fundamental particle physics  reduces to that for quarks (see  thisthis).

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

The language of fungi

After having written an article related to the pre-neutral system (pre-cns) I learned of a fascinating discovery of Andrew Adamatsky (see this), who has studied sponges and found that they show electrical activity sequences of analogs of action potentials ('spikes').

The abstract of the article gives an overview about the findings.

Fungi exhibit oscillations of extracellular electrical potential recorded via differential electrodes inserted into a substrate colonised by mycelium or directly into sporocarps. We analysed electrical activity of ghost fungi (Omphalotus ni- diformis), Enoki fungi (Flammulina velutipes), split gill fungi (Schizophyllum commune) and caterpillar fungi (Cordyceps militari). The spiking characteristics are species specific: a spike duration varies from one to 21 hours and an amplitude from 0.03 mV to 2.1 mV.

We found that spikes are often clustered into trains. Assuming that spikes of electrical activity are used by fungi to communicate and process information in mycelium networks, we group spikes into words and provide a linguistic and information complexity analysis of the fun- gal spiking activity. We demonstrate that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages. We also construct algorithmic and Liz-Zempel complexity hierarchies of fungal sentences and show that species S. commune generate most complex sentences.

The amplitude of spikes varies in the range .03- 2.1 meV. This range is consistent with the interpretation as analogs of miniature potentials corresponding to the reduction of the gravitational energy and having maximal value .4 meV. The natural question is whether this kind of communication is specific to fungi or occurs also in preunoral and neuronal systems in general.

The language hypothesis conforms with the TGD based view that the dark variants of genetic code realized using as codons dark photon triplets analogous to 3-chords defining what I call bioharmony serving as a correlate for emotional state and fundamental level (see this and this). Dark 3N-photons as representation of for instance genes, define analogs of music pieces. For the TGD based view of the emergence of human language see (see this). Genetic code would have number theoretic and geometric origin and would be universal. It would have several realizations and be realized also in other than biological systems.

Dark 3N-photons are analogous to Bose-Einstein condensate of 3N-photons and correspond to so-called Galois singlets, whose formation would rely on a universal number theoretical mechanism for the formation of bound states.

The sequence of dark codons selects the receiver, which must possess the same sequence of dark nucleon triplets to achieve resonance. If the frequency scale is modulated, the reception generates a sequence of 3N-pulses analogous to nerve pulse sequence and in this way transforms information coded to frequency modulation to a pulse sequence.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.

Implications of the model of pre-nervous system to the basic biochemistry and model nerve pulse

In the following I try sharpen the basic notions and the ideas about what happens in nerve pulse conduction. Also the relationship between biochemistry and TGD view about quantum biology will be discussed and lead to highly non-trivial insights about the role of the basic biomolecules.

1. Clarification of some basic concepts

In the following I try to further clarify the basic notions used in order to identify the weaknesses of the scenario.

1.1 About the notion of dark ion

The original view was that dark ion as a whole resides at the flux tube. Later this statement became more precices: dark ion is touches the , say gravitational, dark flux tube with h_eff>h. This applies also to both gravitational, electromagnetic, weak, and color flux tubes and ordinary bonds correspond to electromagnetic flux tubes with h_eff=h_em (see this).

The entire dark ion touching the flux tube would have wave function in the magnetic field of flux tube having the touching point as argument. Cyclotron states are natural.

The more precise view considered already earlier is that one has effective ion: the dark elecron or Cooper pair resides at gravitational flux tube is not bound to the atom as effective ion. The predictions for dark cyclotron states are same as for the older picture and the predictions related to the dark electron or proton are new.

1.2 About the notion of electric flux quantum

What does one mean the flux tube parallel to axon?

1. I have talked assigned to axon a magnetic flux tube parallel to it and accompanied by magnetic flux tubes transversal to it. This would correspond to a 3-D network of flux tubes.

   The problem has been how to describe the membrane structure with electric field and electric flux orthogonal to the flux tube. This situation requires genuine electric flux quanta analogous to magnetic flux quanta and the time dependent deformations of the magnetic flux tube cannot give them. However, magnetic flux tubes allow very simple time dependent deformations allowing longitudinal electric flux along the tube.

2. Could electric flux quanta associated with a pair of lipid layers correspond to a pair of membrane-like objects having 1+2-D rather than 4-D M⁴ projection connected by time-dependent deformations of transversal magnetic flux tubes carrying a longitudinal electric field?
3. Unfortunateluy, I did not have any candidate for an explicit solution of field equations describing 2-D membrane-like object such as cell body or axon. For some time ago I finally understood 2-D membrane-like objects in terms of 3+1-D minimal surfaces in H=M⁴× CP₂.

   M⁴ projection is 3-D and E³ projection 2-D membrane. The basic problem is posed by the fact that 2-D closed minimal surfaces are not possible. For soap bubbles a pressure difference over the soap bubble is required and one loses minimal surface property. The solution of the problem was that the 1-D CP₂ projection of the surface is dynamical and allows 4-D minimal surface. The simplest option is that it represents rotating geodesic circle.

4. Therefore one can ask whether lipid bilayer could have pair of electric bodies (EBs) serving for them as a kind of template and connected by transversal elecric flux tubes carrying a longitudinal rather than transversal electric field.

2. Gravitationally dark effective ions

Besides organic molecules but also metal ions are fundamental for metabolism and bio-catalysis. This led to the TGD inspired proposal that they give rise to dark ions and the recent work gives further support for the view is that gravitationally dark electrons given them their special role

1. Various bosonic effective metal ions and their Cooper pairs can get paired by gravitational flux tube with atoms of opposite total valence. The distance between paired system can become due the relative motion of the atoms considered. Also reconnections of gravitational flux tubes could cause this.

   Correlations are predicted between the members of pairs. The presence of gravitational hydrogen- and valence bonds implying the presence of effectiove ions could distinguish biochemistry from chemistry. Also electrolysis, and therefore organic chemistry in general, involves the ionization of atoms very difficult to understand without the notion of dark gravitational valence- and hydrogen bonds. Also the physics of water is full of thermodynamical anomalies suggesting the presence of these bonds.

2. According to standard chemistry, one has equilibrium X(OH)₂ ↔ X⁺⁺ +2OH^- for X = Ca, Mg, Fe in water environment. Gravitational effective ionization effectively breaks charge conservation and one would obtain quantum correlated pairs formed from X⁺⁺ connected by flux tubes H₂O₂. Gravitationally dark electrons would not be visible. This would mean apparent charge non-conservation, which could be tested as deviation of the concentrations from the prediction n(X⁺⁺) =2n(OH^-).

   This could happen also for water itself. H₃ O)⁺ and OH^- ions are present. OH is not stable but the pairing 2(H₃ O)⁺ + 2H₂O₂ by gravitational hydrogen bonds is possible. Also H₂O + OH^- pairs with one dark gravitational proton are possible. The concentrations of (H₃ O)⁺ and OH^- would be different.

2.1 Signatures of dark effective ions

The ions Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Fe⁺⁺ and Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺ would be actually effective ions with gravitationally dark valence bonds. Dark effective ions have special signatures, which allow to test the TGD view.

1. These effective ions effectively break charge conservation. Is the transformation of X(OH)₂ \rightarrow X⁺⁺ + H₂ O₂ rather than X(OH)₂ \rightarrow X⁺⁺ + 2OH^- in question as would be if electrons become gravitationally dark. Note that hydrogen peroxide H₂ O₂ is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) (see this) playing a very important role in biology. ROS are produced in biological processes, in particular metabolic process such as respiration and photosynthesis. TGD view would mean that ROS are not a nuisance but an essential element of electron based metabolism.

   For X⁺ , X= Li,Na,K, the electrons of the Cooper pair are paired with two OHs. Two XOHs forms Cooper pair of X⁺:s correlated hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂. This would represent new physics and effective charge non-conservation.

2. Quantum gravitational correlations between H₂O₂ and Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Fe⁺⁺ and between H₂O₂ and between Cooper pars of Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺ are predicted and this prediction might be testable.

2.2 Some facts about Calcium ions

Basic facts about Ca ions allow to get idea about the implications of new metabolic quantum and the quantum gravitational realization of metabolic energy quanta.

1. Calcium ions (Ca⁺⁺) contribute to the physiology and biochemistry of organisms' cells. They play an important role in signal transduction pathways, where they act as a second messenger, in neurotransmitter release from neurons, in contraction of all muscle cell types, and in fertilization.
2. Calcium phosphate see this appearing in bones combines effecitive ions possibly having gravitationally dark protons and electrons (Calcium phosphate is also considered in (see this). Posner molecule [(PO₄)^-3)]₆Ca⁺²₉ made of 6 phosphate ions and 9 calcium ions would be the key player and has been proposed to play central role in consciousness theory (see this and this). I have considered Posner molecules from the TGD point of view in (see this).
3. Ca⁺⁺ currents initiate action potentials. Voltage gated Ca⁺⁺ channels emerge first in the maturing of neuron and also in evolution of nervous system (already monocellular eukariotes generate action potentials). Na⁺ channels emerge later. The action potentials pulses have a longer dead time for Ca⁺⁺ than for Na⁺.

   For instance, Ca⁺⁺ initiates a contraction of muscle and helps to maintain the potential difference over cell membrane, which conforms with the proposed role in electronic metabolism.

4. Ca⁺⁺ appears as a second messanger molecule. The TGD view about second messanger molecules is discussed in (see this). Cell interior, in particular mitochondria and endoplasmic membranes contain storages of Ca⁺⁺. Mitochondria would thus involve both forms of metabolism.

2.3 Ca⁺⁺ waves

Ca⁺⁺ waves could be effective ions due to gravitationally dark Cooper pairs.

1. Ca⁺⁺ waves very important in biology and appear in cell interior and between cells. A calcium wave is defined as a localized increase in cytosolic Ca⁺⁺ that is followed by a succession of similar events in a wave-like fashion. Ca⁺⁺ waves can be restricted to one cell (intracellular) or transmitted to neighboring cells (intercellular) (see this).
2. Calcium waves are also associated with glial cells. Ca⁺⁺ waves are of special importance in astrocytes and other glial cells (see this). This should relate to electronic metabolism of the primary cilia associated with both neurons and glial cells.

   Calcium waves and miniature potentials would naturally relate to dark electron metabolism. Both glial cells and neurons have primary cilia acting as sensory receptors and since cilia cannot use ATP metabolism, electronic metabolism is natural.

3. About the model for the nerve pulse

Could one construct a simplified TGD based model for the nerve pulse (see this) using this kind of picture utilizing holography meaning that one can take the EBs as basic objects to which one can assign densities of various ions atoms and normal components of electric field as charge densities? Can one decompose these densities to various contribution assignable to ions or effective ions?

The basic physical picture would be as follows. The transformation of the pairs of metal atom with atoms with total valence equal to that of metal would generate gravitational dark metal atoms, which are effective ions which correlate with the paired atoms. The valence charge of the metal atom effectively disappears and implies an effective charge non-conservation. In nerve pulse these effective ions would disappear and would look like charge non-conservation. Also effective ionic currents appear.

1. Josephson currents are assumed to flow along dark flux tubes connecting the two systems and electric field would be along them. Gravitationally dark protons and electrons reside at gravitational flux tubes as very long loops connecting cell interior and exterior. Dark ions are associated with these flux tubes (touch them).
2. What kind of dark Josephson currents could flow along them? If the two atoms are localized at the ends pf the dark gravitational valence- of hydrogen bond at the opposite sites of the membrane, the dark electron and proton Josephson currents can run along gravitational flux tube. For this option dark ion currents cannot flow between interior and exterior.

   Gravitational flux tubes assignable to valence and hydrogen would connect systems such as X⁺⁺, X =Ca, Mg, Fe and hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂, which is a reactive oxygen species (ROS). The currents would flow between systems containing these dark ions and molecules.

3. Hodgkin-Huxley model (see this) assumes ohmic currents. Are they real currents or only an effective description? Ohmic currents signal about the reduction to a shorter length scales than say quantum gravitational scale, the value of h_eff for the flux tube descreases and liberates metabolic energy: in this case elecgtonic metabolic quantum.

   Action potential means that gravitational valence- and hydrogen bonds become ordinary. Corresponding Josephson currents disappear. The corresponding dark em charge becomes visible and the charge densities inside and outside neuronal membrane change and Josephson currents disappear. The change of charge densities in the BSFR inducing action potential implies effective currents and Ohmic currents could be an effective description for this process. This interpretation of Ohmic currents would hold quite generally.

4. More than 100 miniature potentials induced by Ach vesicles are needed to initiate nerve pulse in synaptic contact. The miniature potential corresponds to a liberation gravitational electronic metabolic quantum as a transfromation of gravitationally dark electron to ordinary one. This critical reduction of membrane potential would induce the reduction of menbrane potential below the critical value and induce action potential.

   Also protonic metabolic quanta are involved and would relate to the ordinary metabolism based on ATP machinery.

Membrane potential changes sign during nerve pulse. What could be the interpretation in ZEO?

1. If the generation of action potential corresponds to two subsequent BSFRs as a kind of quantum tunneling even, the arrow of time temporarily changes at MB and changes the effective arrow of time at the level of the ordinary biomatter. Gel-sol phase transition in the neuron interior near neuronal membrane signals about about the reduction of quantum coherence scale.
2. The TGD based description for the change of the sign of the membrane potential is in terms of the model of nerve pulse describing the ground state as a soliton/oscillon sequence and mathematically equivalent to a sequence of gravitational penduli rotating/oscillating in synchrony. Can one choose between these options.

   Critical membrane potential would correspond to a situation in which the rotation changes to oscillation or vice versa. The fact that the membrane potential changes sign and has original magnitude, supports the soliton model. The rotation frequency would transformation to vibration frequency, decrease further, change sign and eventually transform to a negative rotation frequency. The arrow of time would have changed. The reverse of this process would correspond to the second BSFR leading to hyperpolarization.

See the article Quantum gravitation and quantum biology in TGD Universe or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD. 


How animals without brain can behave as if they had brain?

The TGD based view about cell and neuronal membrane, nerve pulse and EEG assumes pre-neural level which is quantal. In this view, cell membranes act as Josephson junctions and communicate sensory input to the magnetic body (MB) of the system as dark Josephson radiation. MB in turn controls the cell by dark cyclotron radiation produced as pulses as MB receives frequency modulated Josephson radiation resonantly.

The assumption is that gravitational MB corresponds to gravitational Planck constant and that dark particles are at gravitational Bohr orbits assignable to MB. This correctly predicts metabolic energy quantum as the energy liberated as a dark proton drops from the orbit to an orbit with radius equal to Earth radius. For electron Cooper pairs this predicts electronic metabolic energy quantum which corresponds to the so-called miniature potential. Electronic metabolism would solve the problem due the lack of ATP machinery inside cilium or near it.

Cilium can be interpreted as a predecessor of the axonal membrane and the pre-nerve pulses are predicted to be equal to miniature potentials and the reported 'spikes' as analogs of nerve pulses are assigned with de-adhesion of cilium from its neighbor or the surfaces at which the animal moves. The 'spikes' correspond to at least 100 miniature potentials just as real spikes do.

Cilium is modeled as a 2-D quantum gravitational pendulum with gravitational Planck constant controlled by MB using electronic metabolic energy quanta and the resulting model for the motion is in many respects similar to the model of nerve pulse.

See the article How animals without brain can behave as if they had brain?.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.