Coherence in Biological Systems
Abstract
When does a collection of autonomous cells become a multicellular individual? We propose that coherence provides a physical description of this transition. Coherence is treated as a global property arising when distinguishable constituents admit a physically meaningful collective state-space description. Using the center of mass and an interaction-based construction, we show that such collective states can be defined for classical bodies before dynamics is introduced, with normal modes emerging as a particular dynamical realization. We apply this framework to multicellular organization, where cells retain their identities while their independent individuality is replaced by participation in the organized whole. In \emph{Dictyostelium discoideum}, cAMP-mediated coupling produces population-level collective modes, while starvation provides an experimentally controlled energetic constraint on the transition to multicellularity. The framework yields direct tests through interaction-derived collective eigenstates and the energetic cost of maintaining autonomous versus collective organization. Coherence may thus provide a general physical description of multicellular individuality without requiring microscopic quantum coherence or intrinsic wave character.
Related
- Macroscopic quantum coherence and entanglement in mechanical systems
- Floquet analysis of coherence in periodically driven diamond NV ensemble systems
- An Observable-Algebra Approach to Quantum Coherence in Anyonic Systems
- Coherence-Mediated Boundary Control of the Liouvillian Gap in Nonreciprocal Open Quantum Systems
- Acceleration of energy dissipation by biological systems
BibTeX
@misc{roth2026coherence,
title = {{Coherence in Biological Systems}},
author = {Yehuda Roth},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.26042},
eprint = {2609.26042},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26042},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Coherence in Biological Systems
AU - Yehuda Roth
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.26042
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26042
AB - When does a collection of autonomous cells become a multicellular individual? We propose that coherence provides a physical description of this transition. Coherence is treated as a global property arising when distinguishable constituents admit a physically meaningful collective state-space description. Using the center of mass and an interaction-based construction, we show that such collective states can be defined for classical bodies before dynamics is introduced, with normal modes emerging as a particular dynamical realization. We apply this framework to multicellular organization, where cells retain their identities while their independent individuality is replaced by participation in the organized whole. In \emph{Dictyostelium discoideum}, cAMP-mediated coupling produces population-level collective modes, while starvation provides an experimentally controlled energetic constraint on the transition to multicellularity. The framework yields direct tests through interaction-derived collective eigenstates and the energetic cost of maintaining autonomous versus collective organization. Coherence may thus provide a general physical description of multicellular individuality without requiring microscopic quantum coherence or intrinsic wave character.
ER -