The radical-pair mechanism as a paradigm for the emerging science of quantum biology

Kominis, I. K.

doi:10.1142/s0217984915300136

Cited by 31 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 153 publications

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“…The nontrivial quantum dynamics previously alluded to mainly appear in the case of unequal recombination rates, k S = k T . Here we consider the simple exponential model, where k S = k T ≡ k and we further neglect the presence of S-T decoherence [26], which is unavoidable even in the case k S = k T .…”

Section: A This Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantum-limited biochemical magnetometers designed using the Fisher information and quantum reaction control

Vitalis

Kominis

2017

Phys. Rev. A

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Radical-ion pairs and their reactions have triggered the study of quantum effects in biological systems. This is because they exhibit a number of effects best understood within quantum information science, and at the same time are central in understanding the avian magnetic compass and the spin transport dynamics in photosynthetic reaction centers. Here we address radical-pair reactions from the perspective of quantum metrology. Since the coherent spin motion of radical-pairs is effected by an external magnetic field, these spin-dependent reactions essentially realize a biochemical magnetometer. Using the quantum Fisher information, we find the fundamental quantum limits to the magnetic sensitivity of radical-pair magnetometers. We then explore how well the usual measurement scheme considered in radical-pair reactions, the measurement of reaction yields, approaches the fundamental limits. In doing so, we find the optimal hyperfine interaction Hamiltonian that leads to the best magnetic sensitivity as obtained from reaction yields. This is still an order of magnitude smaller than the absolute quantum limit. Finally, we demonstrate that with a realistic quantum reaction control reminding of Ramsey interferometry, here presented as a quantum circuit involving the spin-exchange interaction and a recently proposed molecular switch, we can approach the fundamental quantum limit within a factor of 2. This work opens the application of well-advanced quantum metrology methods to biological systems. arXiv:1611.08902v1 [quant-ph]

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Section: A This Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, according to our understanding [26], singlettriplet decoherence is an unavoidable feature of the radical-pair mechanism itself, and in the case of equal recombination rates (k S = k T = k) leads to a master equation for ρ that reads dρ/dt…”

Section: A Is Entanglement a Resource?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum-limited biochemical magnetometers designed using the Fisher information and quantum reaction control

Vitalis

Kominis

2017

Phys. Rev. A

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“…Quantum biology [1][2][3] has been recently emerging as an interdisciplinary field pointing to certain biological processes which, counterintuitively, exhibit quantum coherent dynamics, and accordingly require for their understanding physical concepts developed in quantum information science. This is surprising since decoherence is ordinarily expected to be prevalent in complex biological matter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prominent among such examples have been the excitation energy transport in photosynthetic light harvesting [4][5][6][7][8][9] and the radical-pair mechanism [3,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], which was introduced in the late 1960's [22] to explain unexpectedly large signals in NMR measurements of organic radicals. The mechanism is the cornerstone of spin chemistry, a field of physical chemistry and photochemistry studying the effects of electron and nuclear spins in chemical reactions [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The radical-pair mechanism has recently attracted renewed attention when it was suggested [10] that RP reactions involve quantum measurement dynamics and require for their understanding concepts like quantum coherence measures and the quantum communications concept of quantum retrodiction [11,12], rendering the mechanism a vivid paradigm for quantum biology on the qualitative level. On the quantitative level, we have developed a new master equation describing the fundamental quantum dynamics of RP reactions [3], which departs from the traditional theory, attributed to Haberkorn [24]. * Electronic address: ikominis@physics.uoc.gr Abstract or not [25], the master equation describing the time evolution of the radical-pair spin density matrix is the starting point for virtually all theoretical predictions relevant to the radical-pair mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantum information processing in the radical-pair mechanism: Haberkorn's theory violates the Ozawa entropy bound

Mouloudakis

Kominis

2017

Phys. Rev. E

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Radical-ion-pair reactions, central for understanding the avian magnetic compass and spin transport in photosynthetic reaction centers, were recently shown to be a fruitful paradigm of the new synthesis of quantum information science with biological processes. We show here that the master equation so far constituting the theoretical foundation of spin chemistry violates fundamental bounds for the entropy of quantum systems, in particular the Ozawa bound. In contrast, a recently developed theory based on quantum measurements, quantum coherence measures, and quantum retrodiction, thus exemplifying the paradigm of quantum biology, satisfies the Ozawa bound as well as the Lanford-Robinson bound on information extraction. By considering Groenewold's information, the quantum information extracted during the reaction, we reproduce the known and unravel other magnetic-field effects not conveyed by reaction yields.

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Physiological Search for Quantum Biological Sensing Effects Based on the Wigner–Yanase Connection between Coherence and Uncertainty

Kominis

2023

Adv Quantum Tech

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A fundamental concept of quantum physics, the Wigner–Yanase information, is used here as a measure of quantum coherence in spin‐dependent radical‐pair reactions pertaining to biological magnetic sensing. This measure is connected to the uncertainty of the reaction yields and, further, to the statistics of a cellular receptor‐ligand system used to biochemically convey magnetic‐field changes. Measurable physiological quantities, such as the number of receptors and fluctuations in ligand concentration, are shown to reflect the introduced Wigner–Yanase measure of singlet‐triplet coherence. A quantum‐biological uncertainty relation connecting the product of a biological resource and a biological figure of merit with the Wigner–Yanase coherence is arrived at. This approach can serve as a general search for quantum‐coherent effects within cellular environments.

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The radical-pair mechanism as a paradigm for the emerging science of quantum biology

Cited by 31 publications

References 153 publications

Quantum-limited biochemical magnetometers designed using the Fisher information and quantum reaction control

Quantum-limited biochemical magnetometers designed using the Fisher information and quantum reaction control

Quantum information processing in the radical-pair mechanism: Haberkorn's theory violates the Ozawa entropy bound

Physiological Search for Quantum Biological Sensing Effects Based on the Wigner–Yanase Connection between Coherence and Uncertainty

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