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Quantum Biology on the Edge of Quantum Chaos

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  • Gabor Vattay
  • Stuart Kauffman
  • Samuli Niiranen

Abstract

We give a new explanation for why some biological systems can stay quantum coherent for a long time at room temperature, one of the fundamental puzzles of quantum biology. We show that systems with the right level of complexity between chaos and regularity can increase their coherence time by orders of magnitude. Systems near Critical Quantum Chaos or Metal-Insulator Transition (MIT) can have long coherence times and coherent transport at the same time. The new theory tested in a realistic light harvesting system model can reproduce the scaling of critical fluctuations reported in recent experiments. Scaling of return probability in the FMO light harvesting complex shows the signs of universal return probability decay observed at critical MIT. The results may open up new possibilities to design low loss energy and information transport systems in this Poised Realm hovering reversibly between quantum coherence and classicality.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabor Vattay & Stuart Kauffman & Samuli Niiranen, 2014. "Quantum Biology on the Edge of Quantum Chaos," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-6, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0089017
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elisabetta Collini & Cathy Y. Wong & Krystyna E. Wilk & Paul M. G. Curmi & Paul Brumer & Gregory D. Scholes, 2010. "Coherently wired light-harvesting in photosynthetic marine algae at ambient temperature," Nature, Nature, vol. 463(7281), pages 644-647, February.
    2. Gregory S. Engel & Tessa R. Calhoun & Elizabeth L. Read & Tae-Kyu Ahn & Tomáš Mančal & Yuan-Chung Cheng & Robert E. Blankenship & Graham R. Fleming, 2007. "Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems," Nature, Nature, vol. 446(7137), pages 782-786, April.
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