Quantum Coherence in Photosynthesis and the Interpretation of Spectroscopic Results
Kenley Pelzer, University of Chicago
An open question in modern biophysics is what role, if any, quantum effects may play in energy transport mechanisms. One area of such research concerns the possibility of coherent energy transport in photosynthetic systems. Spectroscopic evidence of long-lived quantum coherence in photosynthetic light-harvesting pigment protein complexes (PPCs), along with theoretical modeling of PPCs, has indicated that coherent energy transport might boost efficiency of energy transport in photosynthesis. Accurate assessment of coherence lifetimes is crucial for modeling the extent to which quantum effects participate in this energy transfer because such quantum effects can only contribute to mechanisms proceeding on timescales over which the coherences persist. While spectroscopy is a useful way to measure coherence lifetimes, inhomogeneity in the transition energies across the measured ensemble may lead to underestimation of coherence lifetimes from spectroscopic experiments. Theoretical models of antenna complexes generally model a single system, and direct comparison of single-system models to ensemble-averaged experimental data may lead to systematic underestimation of coherence lifetimes, distorting much of the current discussion. In this study, we use simulations of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex to model single complexes as well as averaged ensembles to demonstrate and roughly quantify the effect of averaging over an inhomogeneous ensemble on measured coherence lifetimes. Our work addresses the distinction between single-system and ensemble-averaged observations, and shows that the ensemble averaging inherent in many experiments leads to an underestimation of coherence lifetimes in individual systems.
Abstract Author(s): Kenley Pelzer, Graham Griffin, Stephen Gray, and Greg Engel