The lifetime of the soliton in the improved Davydov model at the biological temperature 300 K for protein molecules

Abstract:

We study the effects of quantum fluctuations and thermal perturbations on the lifetime of the soliton in the improved Davydov model proposed by us with two-quanta and with an added interaction. By using quantum perturbation theory, we compute the soliton lifetime for a wide ranges of parameter values relevant for protein molecules. The lifetime of the new soliton at the biological temperature 300 K is of the order of 10^-10 second or τ/τ₀ ≥ 500 for parameters appropriate to α-helical protein molecules. This shows clearly that the new soliton in the improved model is a viable mechanism for the bio-energy transport in the α-helix region of proteins.