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Title: Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes

Abstract

One of the major efforts in the quantum biological program is to subject biological systems to standard tests or measures of quantumness. These tests and measures should elucidate whether nontrivial quantum effects may be present in biological systems. Two such measures of quantum correlations are the quantum discord and the relative entropy of entanglement. Here, we show that the relative entropy of entanglement admits a simple analytic form when dynamics and accessible degrees of freedom are restricted to a zero- and single-excitation subspace. We also simulate and calculate the amount of quantum discord that is present in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson protein complex during the transfer of an excitation from a chlorosome antenna to a reaction center. We find that the single-excitation quantum discord and single-excitation relative entropy of entanglement are equal for all of our numerical simulations, but a proof of their general equality for this setting evades us for now. Also, some of our simulations demonstrate that the relative entropy of entanglement without the single-excitation restriction is much lower than the quantum discord. The first picosecond of dynamics is the relevant time scale for the transfer of the excitation, according to some sources in the literature. Our simulation results indicatemore » that quantum correlations contribute a significant fraction of the total correlation during this first picosecond in many cases, at both cryogenic and physiological temperatures.« less

Authors:
; ; ;  [1]
  1. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2A7 (Canada)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21528839
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Physical Review. A
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 82; Journal Issue: 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.82.062310; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; Journal ID: ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; ANTENNAS; BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION; CHLOROPHYLL; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; CORRELATIONS; DEGREES OF FREEDOM; ENTROPY; EXCITATION; PROTEINS; QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT; VISIBLE RADIATION; CARBOXYLIC ACIDS; ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS; EQUIPMENT; HETEROCYCLIC ACIDS; HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; ORGANIC ACIDS; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; PHYTOCHROMES; PIGMENTS; PORPHYRINS; RADIATIONS; SIMULATION; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES

Citation Formats

Bradler, Kamil, Wilde, Mark M, Vinjanampathy, Sai, Uskov, Dmitry B, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, and Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118. Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes. United States: N. p., 2010. Web. doi:10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.062310.
Bradler, Kamil, Wilde, Mark M, Vinjanampathy, Sai, Uskov, Dmitry B, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, & Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118. Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.062310
Bradler, Kamil, Wilde, Mark M, Vinjanampathy, Sai, Uskov, Dmitry B, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, and Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118. 2010. "Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.062310.
@article{osti_21528839,
title = {Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes},
author = {Bradler, Kamil and Wilde, Mark M and Vinjanampathy, Sai and Uskov, Dmitry B and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 and Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118},
abstractNote = {One of the major efforts in the quantum biological program is to subject biological systems to standard tests or measures of quantumness. These tests and measures should elucidate whether nontrivial quantum effects may be present in biological systems. Two such measures of quantum correlations are the quantum discord and the relative entropy of entanglement. Here, we show that the relative entropy of entanglement admits a simple analytic form when dynamics and accessible degrees of freedom are restricted to a zero- and single-excitation subspace. We also simulate and calculate the amount of quantum discord that is present in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson protein complex during the transfer of an excitation from a chlorosome antenna to a reaction center. We find that the single-excitation quantum discord and single-excitation relative entropy of entanglement are equal for all of our numerical simulations, but a proof of their general equality for this setting evades us for now. Also, some of our simulations demonstrate that the relative entropy of entanglement without the single-excitation restriction is much lower than the quantum discord. The first picosecond of dynamics is the relevant time scale for the transfer of the excitation, according to some sources in the literature. Our simulation results indicate that quantum correlations contribute a significant fraction of the total correlation during this first picosecond in many cases, at both cryogenic and physiological temperatures.},
doi = {10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.062310},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21528839}, journal = {Physical Review. A},
issn = {1050-2947},
number = 6,
volume = 82,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2010},
month = {Wed Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2010}
}