Birgitta Whaley, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract
Discussion of quantum mechanical effects in biology is generally restricted to molecular energetics, stability, and kinetics as determined by potential energy barriers. In recent years however, an increasing number of experiments have shown evidence for the existence of dynamical phenomena in biological systems that involve coherent quantum motion. A short survey of these phenomena will be provided before focusing on the occurrence of electronic quantum coherence in photosynthesis. After summarizing experimental studies of the highly efficient light-harvesting step of photosynthesis that show evidence for quantum coherent electronic dynamics, I shall present theoretical studies that analyze the nature of this coherence and its relation to the non-local quantum correlations characteristic of entanglement, as well as implications for possible relevance of quantum information processing to natural systems. I shall also address the question of whether and how such quantum coherence might result in a biological advantage.