One of the hardest challenges of quantum computing is the retention of coherence, a delicate condition characterizing quantum systems that is easily lost when the latter are surrounded by a thermodynamically active medium. In view of this, qubits have to be maintained in cold, empty environments, since the slightest interaction with a corpuscle may cause the loss of coherent behaviours. While the R&D in the field of quantum computing looks for strategies to prevent the phenomenon of decoherence, experimental studies on different physiological complexes seem to suggest that living systems may have developed a strategy for maintaining quantum coherence in the warm and wet environments proper of the cellular structures. More specifically, some organisms - ranging from photosynthetic complexes to birds - may harness specific quantum mechanical features to gain biological advantages, being able to protect the elementary, quantum-like mechanism at the basis of their strategy from the onset of decoherence.
In this talk, the challenge of quantum biology will be discussed, and some exemplary cases where quantum mechanics seem to be exploited by living systems will be presented, with a particular focus on photosynthetic light harvesting and avian magnetoreception.
Link zoom:
https://cern.zoom.us/j/68336589713?pwd=YWJLV09kai9PdzNWbzFCQ2VQOWo1QT09
Gaia Pupillo