Vibrational Energy Transfer in Helices

Rates of vibrational energy transfer in the five largest α helices of myoglobin are calculated. Energy transfer in helices occurs by anharmonic coupling of spatially overlapping localized normal modes in resonance, which is also the mechanism for energy transfer among localized modes of a glass. As a result, rates of energy transfer from higher-frequency modes of the helices typically vary little with temperature. Variation of the energy transfer rate with mode frequency is captured by a model of an anharmonic one-dimensional glass.