Collective excitations at non-equilibrium phase transition in metabolically active red blood cells

Abstract

Collective excitations of superconductors and superfluids have been extensively studied in condensed matter physics, while recent experimental advances have made it possible to study the non-equilibrium dynamics of human blood. Here, we show that some dynamic quantitative metrics calculated for the ion fluxes of two isolated peripheral blood droplets that were spatially separated by the presence of a semiconductor exhibited the characteristic features of a quasi-particle (or collective excitation) at a critical point. In the experiment, the spontaneous peak, which indicates order, appeared at a physiological (hereafter: critical) temperature of 36 °C in the human blood. The ordering effect, which was still present in the weak magnetic field of 350 mT, disappeared above the critical magnetic field of approximately 500 mT, suggesting a dynamic Meissner effect in the system (henceforth “dynamic” means derived from the “time series” – a series of real numbers). Moreover, a superconducting gap ratio of approx. 2.91 was found below the upper limit (4) of the BCS theory for weak coupling. Both these effects indicate the existence of a “superconducting” (ion) environment that is conducive to the emergence of quasiparticles. While the dynamic structure of the time series is substantially isotropic at temperatures beyond the phase transition, the system undergoes symmetry breakdown and non-equilibrium phase transition at a critical state. The designated series of dynamic variables can be used in medicine, inter alia, in screening tests as new indicators describing the patient's health.