Quantum physics meets biology

Autor(en)

Markus Arndt, Thomas Juffmann, Vlatko Vedral

Abstrakt

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 past decades the life sciences have succeeded in providing ever more and refined explanations of macroscopic phenomena that were based on an improved understanding of molecular structures and mechanisms. Simultaneously, quantum physics, originally rooted in a world-view of quantum coherences, entanglement, and other nonclassical effects, has been heading toward systems of increasing complexity. The present perspective article shall serve as a “pedestrian guide” to the growing interconnections between the two fields. We recapitulate the generic and sometimes unintuitive characteristics of quantum physics and point to a number of applications in the life sciences. We discuss our criteria for a future “quantum biology,” its current status, recent experimental progress, and also the restrictions that nature imposes on bold extrapolations of quantum theory to macroscopic phenomena.

Organisation(en)

Quantenoptik, Quantennanophysik und Quanteninformation

Externe Organisation(en)

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Journal

Human Frontier Science Program Journal

Band

3

Seiten

386-400

Anzahl der Seiten

15

ISSN

1955-2068

DOI

https://doi.org/10.2976/1.3244985

Publikationsdatum

2009

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103034 Teilchenphysik

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/bace69b4-ce91-4426-8bda-641524a9c5f2