R. de J. León-Montiel, Juan P. Torres
Photosynthesis is a biological process that involves the highly-efficient transport of energy captured from the sun to a reaction center, where conversion into useful biochemical energy takes place. Even though one can always use a quantum perspective to describe any physical process, since everything follows the laws of Quantum Mechanics, is the use of quantum theory imperative to explain this high efficiency? Several theoretical studies suggest that the high efficiency can only be understood as a result of the interplay between the quantum coherent evolution of the photosynthetic system, and noise introduced by its surrounding environment. Notwithstanding, we show here that noise-assisted highly-efficient energy transport can be found as well in purely classical systems; therefore, we might conclude that high efficiency energy transfer in photosynthetic systems could also be anticipated by classical models, without the need to resorting to quantum effects. Strikingly, the wider scope of applicability of the noise-assisted energy transport concept that our work provides, it might open new ways for developing new technologies aimed at enhancing the efficiency of a myriad of energy transfer systems, from information channels in micro-electronic circuits to long-distance high-voltage electrical lines.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.1605
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