Edinburgh Napier University

  We review recent theoretical developments, which suggest that a set of shared principles underpin macroscopic quantum phenomena observed in high temperature superconducting materials, room temperature coherence in photosynthetic processes and the emergence of long-range order in biological structures. These systems are driven by dissipative systems, which lead to fractal assembly and a fractal network of charges (with associated quantum potentials) at the molecular scale. At critical levels of charge density and fractal dimension, individual quantum potentials merge to form a ‘charged-induced’ macroscopic quantum potential, which act as a structuring force dictating long-range order. Whilst the system is only partially coherent (i.e. only the bosonic fields are coherent), within these processes many of the phenomena associated with standard quantum theory are recovered, with macroscopic quantum potentials and associated forces having their equivalence in standard quantum mechanics. We establish a testable hypothesis that the development of structures analogous to those found in biological systems, which exhibit macroscopic quantum properties, should lead to increased critical temperatures in high temperature superconducting materials. If the theory is confirmed, it opens up a new, systematic, ab initio approach to the structural development of these types of materials.