Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: A fundamental thermal paradox has constrained the physical viability of quantum coherent Davydov solitons in protein α-helices for over 50 years. At 323 K (0.0278 eV), ambient thermal noise disrupts the localized amide I self-trapping resonance, rapidly scattering multi-quanta excitations into delocalized thermal states on femtosecond timescales. This long-standing decoherence gap is resolved by a non-equilibrium, bipartite quantum-acoustic stabilization matrix which induces a transverse acoustic viscoelastic phonon gap, extending exciton coherence lifetimes from 6.5 fs to 42.6 fs by acting as a macroscopic low-pass filter. Utilizing non-Markovian open quantum system simulations, we demonstrate that a highly polarizable variable-dipole linactant at the lipid raft interface induces localized electrodynamic Stark defects, breaking lattice translation symmetry to anchor the wave packet. Sustaining this protective boundary against passive diffusive loss mandates a strict kinetic equilibrium that arrests uncoupled proton leaks, directly coupling the continuous, hydrogen-bonded α-helices of eukaryotic F/V-type rotary c-rings to a hyper-rigid viscoelastic membrane locked in a far-from-equilibrium state. Finally, we present a definitive pathway to bypass thermal decoherence by establishing three physical boundary conditions to translate these biological principles into a predictive blueprint for synthetic quantum-acoustic metamaterials.
Source: ChemRxiv
Authors: Doris Loh, Russel J. Reiter
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7220425144