Collective behavior of oscillating electric dipoles

" ... the present study was motivated by the need of finding an experimental strategy ... to detect the possible presence of electrodynamic attractive forces between biomolecules. Such a possibility emerges in the following framework. By pumping energy in the biomolecules of an aqueous solution, that is by keeping these molecules warmer than the solvent (out-of-thermal equilibrium), when the input energy rate exceeds a threshold value, then all, or almost all, the excess energy (that is, energy input minus energy losses due to dissipation) is channeled into the vibrational mode of the lowest frequency. In other words, the shape of the entire molecule is periodically deformed resulting in a “breathing” movement. In doing so the biomolecules behave as microscopic antennas that absorb the electromagnetic radiation tuned at their “breathing” (mesoscopic) oscillation frequency. But antennas at the same time absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation, thus, according to a theoretical prediction, these antennas (biomolecules) can attractively interact at a large distance through their oscillating near-fields, and through the emitted electromagnetic radiation, provided that these oscillations are resonant and thus, take place at the same frequency. The still open question is whether these electrodynamic interactions can be strong enough to be experimentally detectable, which would mean, in the positive case, to have some prospective biological relevance." {Credits 1}

{Credits 1} 🎪 Olmi, S., Gori, M., Donato, I. et al. Collective behavior of oscillating electric dipoles. Sci Rep 8, 15748 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41598-018-33990-y. © The Author(s) 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.