Cell vibron polariton in the myelin sheath of nerve (1906.03795v1)

Abstract: Polaritons are arousing tremendous interests in physics and material sciences for their unique and amazing properties, especially including the condensation, lasing without inversion and even room-temperature superfluidity. Herein, we propose a cell vibron polariton (cell-VP): a collectively coherent mode of a photon and all phospholipid molecules in a myelin sheath which is a nervous cell majorly consisting of the phospholipid molecules. Cell-VP can be resonantly self-confined in the myelin sheath under physiological conditions. The observations benefit from the specifically compact, ordered and polar thin-film structure of the sheath, and the relatively strong coupling of the mid-infrared photon with the vibrons of phospholipid tails in the myelin. The underlying physics is revealed to be the collectively coherent superposition of the photon and vibrons, the polariton induced significant enhancement of myelin permittivity, and the resonance of the polariton with the sheath cell. The captured cell-VPs in myelin sheaths may provide a promising way for super-efficient consumption of extra-weak bioenergy and even directly serve for quantum information in the nervous system. These findings further the understanding of neuroscience on the cellular level from the view of quantum mechanics.