Related papers: Quantum fluctuations and life
Is there a functional role for quantum mechanics or coherent quantum effects in biological processes? While this question is as old as quantum theory, only recently have measurements on biological systems on ultra-fast time-scales shed…
This article traces the development of fluctuation theory and its deep connection to irreversibility, from equilibrium to near-equilibrium, and finally to far-from-equilibrium systems. Classical fluctuation theorems, which capture the…
Decoherence is the process by which quantum systems interact and become correlated with their external environments; quantum trajectories are a powerful technique by which decohering systems can be resolved into stochastic evolutions,…
What is the major difference between large and small systems? At small length-scales the dynamics is dominated by fluctuations, whereas at large scales fluctuations are irrelevant. Therefore, any thermodynamically consistent description of…
Fluctuation Theorems are central in stochastic thermodynamics, as they allow for quantifying the irreversibility of single trajectories. Although they have been experimentally checked in the classical regime, a practical demonstration in…
The effects of fluctuating boundaries on a superposition state of a quantum particle in a box is studied. We consider a model in one space dimension in which the initial state is a coherent superposition of two energy eigenstates. The…
We discuss the role of quantum coherence in the energy fluctuations of open quantum systems. To this aim, we introduce an operational protocol, to which we refer to as the end-point-measurement scheme, allowing to define the statistics of…
We discuss the role of quantum coherence in the energy fluctuations of open quantum systems. To this aim, we introduce a protocol, to which we refer to as the end-point-measurement scheme, allowing to define the statistics of energy changes…
Recent advances in the spectroscopy of biomolecules have highlighted the possibility of quantum coherence playing an active role in biological energy transport. The revelation that quantum coherence can survive in the hot and wet…
Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as…
Vacuum quantum fluctuations are an inescapable and fundamental feature of modern physics. By integrating cavity-enhanced or surface-modified vacuum quantum fluctuations with low-dimensional materials, a new paradigm-vacuumronics-emerges,…
Coherence is a familiar concept in physics: It is the driving force behind wavelike phenomena such as the diffraction of light. Moreover, wave-particle duality implies that all quantum objects can exhibit coherence, and this quantum…
The theory of quantum thermodynamics investigates how the concepts of heat, work, and temperature can be carried over to the quantum realm, where fluctuations and randomness are fundamentally unavoidable. These lecture notes provide an…
A quantum fluctuation theorem for a driven quantum subsystem interacting with its environment is derived based solely on the assumption that its reduced density matrix obeys a closed evolution equation i.e. a quantum master equation (QME).…
Molecular biology and biochemistry interpret microscopic processes in the living world in terms of molecular structures and their interactions, which are quantum mechanical by their very nature. Whereas the theoretical foundations of these…
The quite different behaviors exhibited by microscopic and macroscopic systems with respect to quantum interferences suggest that there may exist a naturally frontier between quantum and classical worlds. The value of the Planck mass…
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…
The coherent superposition of states, in combination with the quantization of observables, represents one of the most fundamental features that mark the departure of quantum mechanics from the classical realm. Quantum coherence in many-body…
We examine from first principles one of the basic assumptions of modern quantum theories of structure formation in the early universe, i.e., the conditions upon which fluctuations of a quantum field may transmute into classical stochastic…
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…