Heatomics

Abstract

Living cells are energy- and information-processing systems that sustain a nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) by continuously consuming energy and dissipating heat, as required by the second law of thermodynamics. The rate of heat dissipation, or the entropy production rate $σ$, is the universal primal life signal and a unique descriptor of the cellular state. Living matter dissipates $P_{\mathrm{life}} \sim 1$ Watt/kilogram (W/kg), a remarkably conserved value across scales, from molecular reactions to entire organisms. Surprisingly, this high power density is $10^{4}$ times larger than that of the Sun and comparable to the universe's average, $P_U = c^2 H_0 \sim 1$ W/kg, where $c$ is the speed of light and $H_0$ the Hubble constant, a striking coincidence that aligns with Dirac's large number hypothesis. We hypothesize that this large $P_{\mathrm{life}}$ sets the scale for generating negentropy, the negative contribution to the overall positive $σ$ that sustains biological organization, distinguishing animate from inanimate matter. Here, I introduce heatomics, the science of studying $σ$ at the cellular and molecular scales, and the Variance Sum Rule, an experimental--theoretical framework that extracts $σ$ from fluctuations of a dynamical probe combined with the equation of state for a NESS. The emerging field of heatomics aims to elucidate the fundamental principles governing heat power generation, optimization of energy resources, and negentropy in living systems.