Open Quantum Systems Theory of Ultraviolet Ultraweak Photon Emissions: Revisiting Gurwitsch's Onion Experiment as a Prototype for Quantum Biology*

Metabolic processes in living cells emit a spectrum of very low intensity radiation in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectrum, known as ultraweak photon emissions (UPE). Although many experimental studies have shown that UV spectrum UPE from proliferating cells can enhance the rate of cell division in other nearby cells, the effect of UV UPE-enhanced cell division is poorly understood. This work provides the first rigorous physical basis to explain phenomenological observations that biological UPE can enhance the rate of mitogenesis in living cells. Enhanced mitosis is rationalized as a resonance effect based on open quantum systems theory, resolving a century-old controversy with important consequences for health science, medicine, and principles of living matter.