The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sustained Quantum Coherence and Entanglement in the Avian Compass
Open accessAbstract
In artificial systems, quantum superposition and entanglement typically decay rapidly unless cryogenic temperatures are used. Could life have evolved to exploit such delicate phenomena? Certain migratory birds have the ability to sense very subtle variations in Earth's magnetic field. Here we apply quantum information theory and the widely accepted "radical pair" model to analyze recent experimental observations of the avian compass. We find that superposition and entanglement are sustained in this living system for at least tens of microseconds, exceeding the durations achieved in the best comparable man-made molecular systems. This conclusion is starkly at variance with the view that life is too "warm and wet" for such quantum phenomena to endure.
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Citations
Cites
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Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems
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A Model for Photoreceptor-Based Magnetoreception in Birds
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“Although the first two are essentially classical effects, there is growing body of evidence in certain species (including birds[4], fruit flies[13] and even plants[14]) for the RP mechanism — which relies on the quantum evolution of a spatially-separated interacting pair of electron spins.”
BackgroundMethodDephasing-assisted transport: quantum networks and biomolecules
Plenio, M. B., & Huelga, S. F. (2008) · New Journal of Physics · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/10/11/113019 · Cited by 1,002
Resonance effects indicate a radical-pair mechanism for avian magnetic compass
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Cryptochrome mediates light-dependent magnetosensitivity in Drosophila
Gegear, R. J., Casselman, A., Waddell, S., & Reppert, S. M. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07183 · Cited by 421
Cryptochrome Mediates Light-Dependent Magnetosensitivity of Drosophila's Circadian Clock
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Cited by
Lambert, N., Chen, Y.-N., Cheng, Y.-C., Li, C.-M., Chen, G.-Y., & Nori, F. (2013) · Nature Physics · doi:10.1038/nphys2474 · Cited by 948
The Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception
Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2016) · Annual Review of Biophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-biophys-032116-094545 · Cited by 813
Description of quantum coherence in thermodynamic processes requires constraints beyond free energy
Lostaglio, M., Jennings, D., & Rudolph, T. (2015) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms7383 · Cited by 727
Vibrations, quanta and biology
Huelga, S. F., & Plenio, M. B. (2013) · Contemporary Physics · doi:10.1080/00405000.2013.829687 · Cited by 568
Anthropogenic electromagnetic noise disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird
Engels, S., Schneider, N.-L., Lefeldt, N., Hein, C. M., Zapka, M., Michalik, A., Elbers, D., Kittel, A., Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature13290 · Cited by 403
Metadata
- Authors
- Gauger, E. M., Rieper, E., Morton, J. J. L., Benjamin, S. C., & Vedral, V.
- Venue
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2011-01-25
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 040503-040503
- ISSN
- 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
- 1079-7114
- OpenAlex
- W2014364499
- Cited by
- 357
- References
- 8
- FWCI
- 17.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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- Gauger, E. M., Rieper, E., Morton, J. J. L., Benjamin, S. C., & Vedral, V. (2011). Sustained Quantum Coherence and Entanglement in the Avian Compass. Physical Review Letters. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.106.040503
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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