This work investigates the effect of chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) on quantum spin coherence in the radical pair mechanism of avian magnetoreception. Additionally, we examine the utilitarian role of coherence for the avian compass by analyzing its correlation with the yield of the signaling state. We find that both the relative entropy of global coherence and local coherence in the radical pair increases with CISS. However, only global coherence exhibit the utilitarian role for the avian compass. We also analyze the interplay of dipolar interaction with the CISS and their effect on the coherence of the radical pair. Further, we analyze the effect of environmental decoherence along with CISS. We conclude that a high CISS results in a high correlation of global coherence with signaling state yield. It confirms that CISS plays an important role both for compass sensitivity and coherence in the avian compass.
The simulation of open quantum dynamics on quantum circuits has attracted wide interests recently with a variety of quantum algorithms developed and demonstrated. Among these, one particular design of a unitary-dilation-based quantum algorithm is capable of simulating general and complex physical systems. In this paper, we apply this quantum algorithm to simulating the dynamics of the radical pair mechanism in the avian compass. This application is demonstrated on the IBM QASM quantum simulator. This work is the first application of any quantum algorithm to simulating the radical pair mechanis…
Theoretical studies indicating the presence of long-lived coherence in the radical pair system have engendered questions about the utilitarian role of sustained coherence in the avian compass. In this manuscript, we investigate this for a realistic multi-nuclear radical pair system, along with the related question of its sensitivity to the geomagnetic field. Firstly, we find that sustenance of long-lived coherence is unlikely in a realistic hyperfine environment. Secondly, probing the role of the hyperfine interactions on the compass sensitivity, we establish the hyperfine anisotropy as an ess…
The Radical Pair Mechanism can help to explain avian orientation and navigation. Some evidence indicates that the intensity of external magnetic fields plays an important role in avian navigation. In this paper, based on a two-stage strategy, we demonstrate that birds could reasonably detect the directions of geomagnetic fields and gradients of these fields using a yield-based chemical compass that is sensitive enough for navigation. Also, we find that the lifetime of entanglement in this proposed compass is angle-dependent and long enough to allow adequate electron transfer between molecules.
It is hypothesised that the avian compass relies on spin dynamics in a recombining radical pair. Quantum coherence has been suggested as a resource to this process that nature may utilise to achieve increased compass sensitivity. To date, the true functional role of coherence in these natural systems has remained speculative, lacking insights from sufficiently complex models. Here, we investigate realistically large radical pair models with up to 21 nuclear spins, inspired by the putative magnetosensory protein cryptochrome. By varying relative radical orientations, we reveal correlations of s…
We review the spin radical pair mechanism which is a promising explanation of avian navigation. This mechanism is based on the dependence of product yields on (1) the hyperfine interaction involving electron spins and neighboring nuclear spins and (2) the intensity and orientation of the geomagnetic field. One surprising result is that even at ambient conditions quantum entanglement of electron spins can play an important role in avian magnetoreception. This review describes the general scheme of chemical reactions involving radical pairs generated from singlet and triplet precursors; the spin…
Magnetic measurement can be performed by various sensors, such as SQUID and Giant Magnetoresistance. This device can achieve high accuracy while losing efficiency and convenience. The model of biological magnetic sensing in avian proposes a radical pair response to the external field on the FLY results in regulating animal behaviour. Inspired by the radical pair system found in biological system, the effect of intra-radical coupling and the initial condition is studied in this simplified radical pair model as the quantum advantage results from entanglement and superposition are investigated in…
The radical pair model has been successful in explaining behavioral characteristics of the geomagnetic compass believed to underlie the navigation capability of certain avian species. In this study, the spin dynamics of the radical pair model and decoherence therein are interpreted from a microscopic state transition point of view. This helps to elucidate the interplay between the hyperfine and Zeeman interactions that enables the avian compass, and the distinctive effects of nuclear and environmental decoherence on it. Using a quantum information theoretic quantifier of coherence, we find tha…
It is known that more than 50 species use the Earth's magnetic field for orientation and navigation. Intensive studies particularly behavior experiments with birds, provide support for a chemical compass based on magnetically sensitive free radical reactions as a source of this sense. However, the fundamental question of how quantum coherence plays an essential role in such a chemical compass model of avian magnetoreception yet remains controversial. Here, we show that the essence of the chemical compass model can be understood in analogy to a quantum interferometer exploiting global quantum c…
Several experiments over the years have shown that the Earth's magnetic field is essential for orientation in birds migration. The most promising explanation for this orientation is the photo-stimulated radical pair (RP) mechanism. In order to define a reference frame for the orientation task radicals must have an intrinsic anisotropy. We show that this kind of anisotropy, and consequently the entanglement in the model, are not necessary for the proper functioning of the compass. Classically correlated initial conditions for the RP, subjected to a fast decoherence process, are able to provide …
The ability of migratory birds to orient relative to the Earth's magnetic field is believed to involve a coherent superposition of two spin states of a radical electron pair. However, the mechanism by which this coherence can be maintained in the face of strong interactions with the cellular environment has remained unclear. This Letter addresses the problem of decoherence between two electron spins due to hyperfine interaction with a bath of spin 1/2 nuclei. Dynamics of the radical pair density matrix are derived and shown to yield a simple mechanism for sensing magnetic field orientation. Ra…
The radical pair (RP) mechanism, which describes the quantum dynamics of a spatially separated electron pair, is considered as one of the principal models of avian magnetoreception. Different from the conventional phenomenological approach where the sensitivity of avian magnetoreception is characterized by the singlet yield $Φ_{S}$, we introduce the quantum Fisher information (QFI), which represents the maximum information about the magnetic field's direction extracted from the RP state, to give a precise measure of sensitivity of avian compass essentially. The consistency between our results …
The radical pair mechanism is one of two distinct mechanisms used to explain the navigation of birds in geomagnetic fields. However, little research has been done to explore the role of quantum entanglement in this mechanism. In this paper, we study the lifetime of radical pair entanglement corresponding to the magnitude and direction of magnetic fields to show that the entanglement lasts long enough in birds to be used for navigation. We also demonstrate that, due to a lack of orientational sensitivity of the entanglement in the geomagnetic field, the birds are not able to orient themselves b…
Migratory birds can utilize the geomagnetic field for orientation and navigation through a widely accepted radical-pair mechanism. Although many theoretical works have been done the available experimental results have not been fully considered, especially, the temporary disorientation induced by the field which is increased by 30% of geomagnetic field and the disorientation of the very weak resonant field of $15nT$. In this paper, we consider the monotonicity of the singlet yield angular profile as the prerequisite of direction sensitivity, and find that for some optimal values of the hyperfin…
Comment on "Quantum Control and Entanglement in a Chemical Compass"
在这篇评论中，我们表明，鸟罗盘纠缠的考虑，蔡，G。G. Guerreschi和H. J. Briegel（Phys. Rev. Lett. 104，220502（2010））导致对该生物化学传感器的磁灵敏度的非物理预测。从一系列关于精确测量和标准量子极限的详细推导的论文中可以看出，不考虑退相干会导致对纠缠寿命的高估，这就是手头的情况。作者错误地假设纠缠寿命与反应时间（复合速率的倒数）无关，因此大大高估了纠缠寿命。这是因为自旋相干寿命受到反应时间的限制，纠缠寿命不能再长。
The spin dynamics of the diamond NV$^{-}$ center turns out to be similar to that of the chemical compass responsible for avian magnetoreception. We present a simulation framework based on quantum master equation for the former that is based upon the Radical Pair model of the latter. We show that this framework captures all the experimentally studied behavior of the NV$^{-}$ center spin system and can therefore be a predictive modeling tool.
Max-Born-Institut（马克斯·博恩研究所）；Insitute of Physics, Humboldt University zu Berlin（柏林洪堡大学物理研究所）；Technion - Israel Institute of Technology（以色列理工学院）；School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学分子科学学院）；Department of Physics, Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院物理系）；Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin（柏林自由大学物理系）；Technische Universität Berlin（柏林工业大学）
Radical-ion pairs, fundamental for understanding photosynthesis and the avian magnetic compass, were recently shown to be biological open quantum systems. We here show that the coupling of the radical-pair's spin degrees of freedom to its decohering vibrational reservoir leads to a shift of the radical-pair's magnetic energy levels. The Lamb shift Hamiltonian is diagonal in the singlet-triplet basis, and results in a singlet-triplet energy splitting physically indistinguishable from an exchange interaction. This could have significant implications for understanding the energy level structure a…
Radical-ion-pair reactions, central in photosynthesis and the avian magnetic compass mechanism, have recently shown to be a paradigm system for applying quantum information science in a biochemical setting. The fundamental quantum master equation describing radical-ion-pair reactions is still under debate. We here use quantum retrodiction to produce a rigorous refinement of the theory put forward in Phys. Rev. E {\bf 83}, 056118 (2011). We also provide a rigorous analysis of the measure of singlet-triplet coherence required for deriving the radical-pair master equation. A Monte-Carlo simulatio…
The radical-pair mechanism was introduced in the 1960's to explain anomalously large EPR and NMR signals in chemical reactions of organic molecules. It has evolved to the cornerstone of spin chemistry, the study of the effect electron and nuclear spins have on chemical reactions, with the avian magnetic compass mechanism and the photosynthetic reaction center dynamics being prominent biophysical manifestations of such effects. In recent years the radical-pair mechanism was shown to be an ideal biological system where the conceptual tools of quantum information science can be fruitfully applied…
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 exemplifyi…
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 magnetomete…
