2013/12/31 by K. M. Vitalis, I. K. Kominis · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Chemistry #Compass #Electron transfer #Excited state #Hamiltonian (control theory) #Ion #Photochemistry #Photoreceptor and optogenetics research #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Photosynthetic reaction centre #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Radical ion #Singlet state #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Triplet state #physics.bio-ph #physics.chem-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1140/epjp/i2014-14187-x
published as European Physical Journal Plus 129, 187 (2014) · 7 pages, 2 figures
openalex publication_date 2014/08/30 · arxiv created 2014/09/28 · arxiv updated 2014/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 and the dynamics of photosynthetic reaction centers.