Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12(10), 6810-6833; doi:10.3390/ijms12106810
Review

Far from Equilibrium Percolation, Stochastic and Shape Resonances in the Physics of Life

Nicola Poccia 1 email, Alessio Ansuini 2 email and Antonio Bianconi 1,* email
1 Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, P. le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy 2 International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Via Bonomea 265, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 27 July 2011; in revised form: 5 October 2011 / Accepted: 7 October 2011 / Published: 14 October 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Origin of Life 2011)
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Abstract: Key physical concepts, relevant for the cross-fertilization between condensed matter physics and the physics of life seen as a collective phenomenon in a system out-of-equilibrium, are discussed. The onset of life can be driven by: (a) the critical fluctuations at the protonic percolation threshold in membrane transport; (b) the stochastic resonance in biological systems, a mechanism that can exploit external and self-generated noise in order to gain efficiency in signal processing; and (c) the shape resonance (or Fano resonance or Feshbach resonance) in the association and dissociation processes of bio-molecules (a quantum mechanism that could play a key role to establish a macroscopic quantum coherence in the cell).
Keywords: emergence of life; percolation; complexity; non-equilibrium thermodynamics; criticality; shape resonance; Fano resonance; Feshbach resonance; stochastic resonance; quantum entanglement

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MDPI and ACS Style

Poccia, N.; Ansuini, A.; Bianconi, A. Far from Equilibrium Percolation, Stochastic and Shape Resonances in the Physics of Life. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12, 6810-6833.

AMA Style

Poccia N, Ansuini A, Bianconi A. Far from Equilibrium Percolation, Stochastic and Shape Resonances in the Physics of Life. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2011; 12(10):6810-6833.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Poccia, Nicola; Ansuini, Alessio; Bianconi, Antonio. 2011. "Far from Equilibrium Percolation, Stochastic and Shape Resonances in the Physics of Life." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 12, no. 10: 6810-6833.

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