Entanglement and intra-molecular cooling in biological systems? - A quantum thermodynamic perspective

2008/06/27 by Hans J. Briegel, Sandu Popescu, Briegel, Hans J. +1 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Biomolecules (q-bio.BM) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #q-bio.BM #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0806.4552

Section 2 expanded. A few references added. 20 pages, 6 figures

openalex publication_date 2008/06/27 · arxiv created 2009/10/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We discuss the possibility of existence of entanglement in biological systems. Our arguments centre on the fact that biological systems are thermodynamic open driven systems far from equilibrium. In such systems error correction can occur which may maintain entanglement despite high levels of de-coherence. We also discuss the possibility of cooling (classical or quantum) at molecular level.

Citations

• Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems
• Good Quantum Error-Correcting Codes Exist
• Quantum computing

Cited by

• Prospects and Limitations of Algorithmic Cooling
• Dynamic entanglement in oscillating molecules and potential biological implications
• A quantum-mechanical description of ion motion within the confining potentials of voltage-gated ion channels

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