Abstract

Spontaneous emission by an atomic oscillator is defined in terms of energy transformation and flow. The description is expanded to include dissipative systems by introducing energy equipartition as a property of the flow. The Feigenbaum constant is derived quantum mechanically. A law of flow equivalent to the laws of thermodynamics is formulated for bounded systems and is then applied to living organisms. The common genetic structure of cells is seen as fulfilling the structural requirement of equipartition while the tendency of the organism towards an equilibrium state, or homeostasis, describes the equipartitioned flow. Since energy flow increases by superposition evolution may be interpreted as an extended series of spontaneous energy transformations from external to internal modes. Finally evolutionary theory is used heuristically to define a universal law of energy flow and to introduce time as a quantum mechanical variable. Two experimental tests are proposed.