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SUMMARY:Quantum effects in light-initiated reactions in biology  - Alexand
 ra Olaya-Castro (UCL)
DTSTART:20140310T153000Z
DTEND:20140310T170000Z
UID:TALK49152@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:6270
DESCRIPTION:It is well known that primary steps in photosynthesis rely on 
 quantum mechanical phenomena. For instance\, excitons or the collective el
 ectronic excitations of light-gathering macromolecules are a clear manifes
 tation of collective quantum behaviour of the chromophores that form these
  complexes\, and they are essential for optimal absorption of sunlight in 
 photosynthesis. However\, when it comes to excitation energy transfer and 
 conversion in the picosecond time scale\, it is not entirely clear which d
 ynamical features can only be predicted within a quantum mechanical framew
 ork and how they correlate to the efficiency of the process. In this talk\
 , I will discuss our recent research [1] which provides theoretical eviden
 ce both (i) that non-trivial quantum phenomena are manifested during prima
 ry steps in energy transfer in photosynthetic systems at room temperature\
 , and (ii) that such non-classicality is concomitant with effective energy
  distribution. Our work suggests that a careful inspection of the dynamics
  and fluctuations of quantum-scale vibrations assisting transport\, photo-
 transduction\, photo-conversion and sensing in biomolecular processes coul
 d benchmark a common principle for non-trivial quantum effects in biology.
  \n\n[1] E. J O’Reilly and A. Olaya-Castro\, “Non-classicality of the 
 molecular vibrations assisting excitation energy transfer at room temperat
 ure” Nature Comm. 5\, 3012 (2014) \n\n
LOCATION:Rutherford building\, Seminar Room B
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