Research report 2019 - Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

The Design Principles of Nature Revealed at the Atomic and Electronic Timescales

Authors

Eike C. Schulz, Robert Bücker, Günther H. Kassier, Hong Guan Duan,  R.J. Dwayne Miller

Departments

Abteilung Dynamik in Atomarer Auflösung am Max-Planck-Institut für Struktur und Dynamik der Materie, Hamburg

Summary
Just how has nature optimized certain biological structures to optimally transduce chemistry into living systems? In the area of barrier-crossing, which takes around 100 femtoseconds, there is a proposal that nature has optimized form and function to exploit quantum effects by environmental engineering to extend coherences - even electronic coherences - on the timescale relevant to electronic motions sensitive to the environment fluctuations. In enzymatic processes lasting microseconds and above, stochastic thermally driven motions need to steer the chemistry to drive biological functions.

For the full text, see the German version.

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