Efficient Energy Transport in Photosynthesis: Roles of Coherence and Entanglement

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum coherence and entanglement facilitate highly efficient energy transport in photosynthesis, analyzing the process through a computer science lens and proposing a wave-based search algorithm model.

Contribution

It introduces a novel computational model based on wave dynamics to explain energy transport in photosynthesis, highlighting the roles of coherence and entanglement.

Findings

Photosynthesis exhibits high coherence at ambient temperatures.

A wave-based search algorithm models energy transport efficiency.

Quantum effects are integral to biological energy transfer processes.

Abstract

Recently it has been discovered---contrary to expectations of physicists as well as biologists---that the energy transport during photosynthesis, from the chlorophyll pigment that captures the photon to the reaction centre where glucose is synthesised from carbon dioxide and water, is highly coherent even at ambient temperature and in the cellular environment. This process and the key molecular ingredients that it depends on are described. By looking at the process from the computer science view-point, we can study what has been optimised and how. A spatial search algorithmic model based on robust features of wave dynamics is presented.