Chemical compass model for avian magnetoreception as a quantum coherent device

TL;DR

This paper models avian magnetoreception as a quantum interferometer, emphasizing the role of global quantum coherence in the chemical compass mechanism, and uses quantum metrology to analyze its function and influencing factors.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum coherence-based framework for understanding the chemical compass, linking quantum metrology with biological magnetoreception.

Findings

Global quantum coherence correlates with chemical compass function.

Factors affecting quantum coherence influence magnetoreception performance.

Quantum metrology provides insights into biological navigation mechanisms.

Abstract

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 coherence rather than any subsystem coherence. Within the framework of quantum metrology, we quantify global quantum coherence and correlate it with the function of chemical magnetoreception. Our results allow us to understand and predict how various factors can affect the performance of a chemical compass from the unique perspective of quantum coherence assisted metrology. This represents a crucial step to affirm a direct connection between quantum coherence and the function of a chemical compass.