Related papers: A review of Johnjoe McFadden's book ``Quantum Evol…
This paper is a response to the critical review by Mathew J. Donald of the popular science book 'Quantum Evolution' by Johnjoe McFadden and our earlier paper (by Johnjoe McFadden and Jim Al-Khalili), in which we propose a quantum mechanical…
A critical assessment of the recent developments of molecular biology is presented. The thesis that they do not lead to a conceptual understanding of life and biological systems is defended. Maturana and Varela's concept of autopoiesis is…
The comment mostly concerns mis-representation of my position on Quantum Biology, by stating that I am 'reducing cell's behavior to quantum particles inside the cell'. I contrast my position with that of McFadden-Al-Khalili, as well as with…
The rapidly increasing interest in the quantum properties of living matter stimulates a discussion of the fundamental properties of life as well as quantum mechanics. In this discussion often concepts are used that originate in philosophy…
We combine the collisional picture for open system dynamics and the control of the rate of decoherence provided by the quantum (anti-)Zeno effect to illustrate the temporal unfolding of the redundant encoding of information into a…
Evolution is the fundamental physical process that gives rise to biological phenomena. Yet it is widely treated as a subset of population genetics, and thus its scope is artificially limited. As a result, the key issues of how rapidly…
We construct a descriptive toy model that considers quantum effects on biological evolution starting from Chaitin's classical framework. There are smart evolution scenarios in which a quantum world is as favorable as classical worlds for…
The quantum Zeno effect consists in the hindrance of the evolution of a quantum system that is very frequently monitored and found to be in its initial state at every single measurement. On the basis of the correct formula for the survival…
Quantum physics and biology have long been regarded as unrelated disciplines, describing nature at the inanimate microlevel on the one hand and living species on the other hand. Over the last decades the life sciences have succeeded in…
We address the problem of assessing the coherent character of physical evolution. We take the quantum Zeno effect (QZE) as a characteristic trait of quantum dynamics, and derive relations among transfer rates as a function of the strength…
The quantum Zeno effect is a striking feature of quantum mechanics with foundational implications and practical applications in quantum control, error suppression, and error correction. In recent years, the effect has branched off into a…
The evolution of a quantum system is supposed to be impeded by measurement of an involved observable. This effect has been proven indistinguishable from the effect of dephasing the system's wave function, except in an individual quantum…
Quantum technologies leverage the laws of quantum physics to achieve performance advantages in applications ranging from computing to communications and sensing. They have been proposed to have a range of applications in biological science.…
Invited contribution to "Quantum Aspects of Life", D. Abbott Ed. (World Scientific, Singapore, 2007).
The quantum Zeno effect, in its original form, uses frequent projective measurements to freeze the evolution of a quantum system that is initially governed by a fixed Hamiltonian. We generalize this effect simultaneously in three directions…
The time evolution of an unstable quantum mechanical system coupled with an external measuring agent is investigated. According to the features of the interaction Hamiltonian, a quantum Zeno effect (hindered decay) or an inverse quantum…
The oft-repeated claim that life is written into the laws of nature are examined and criticized. Arguments are given in favour of life spreading between near-neighbour planets in rocky impact ejecta (transpermia), but against panspermia,…
Deeper insight leads to better practice. We show how the study of the foundations of quantum mechanics has led to new pictures of open systems and to a method of computation which is practical and can be used where others cannot. We…
The aim of this essay is to analyze the role of quantum mechanics as an inherent characteristic of life. During the last ten years the problem of the origin of life has become an innovative research subject approached by many authors. The…
For the first time in history, humankind might conceivably begin to imagine itself as a multi-planetary species. This goal will entail technical innovation in a number of contexts, including that of healthcare. All life on Earth shares an…