NEW EVIDENCE PLANTS GET THEIR ENERGY USING QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT - WHAT EINSTEIN CALLED "SPOOKY ACTION"

Biophysicists theorize that plants tap into the eerie world of quantum entanglement during photosynthesis. But the evidence to date has been purely circumstantial. Now, scientists have discovered a feature of plants that cannot be explained by classical physics alone — but which quantum mechanics answers quite nicely.

The fact that biological systems can exploit quantum effects is quite astounding. In a way, they're like mini-quantum computers capable of scanning all possible options in order to choose the most efficient paths or solutions. For plants, this means the ability to make the most of the energy they receive and then deliver that energy from leaves with near perfect efficiency. But for this to work, plants require the capacity to work in harmony with the wild, wacky, and extremely small world of quantum phenomena.

The going theory is that plants have light-gathering macromolecules in their cells that can transfer energy via molecular vibrations — vibrations that have no equivalents in classical physics. Most of these light-gathering macromolecules are comprised of chromophores attached to proteins. These macromolecules carry out the first step of photosynthesis by capturing sunlight and efficiently transferring the energy.





Previous inquiries suggested that this energy is transferred in a wave-like manner, but it was a process that could still be explained by classical physics. In the new study, however, UCL researchers identified a specific feature in biological systems that can only be predicted by quantum physics.

The team learned that the energy transfer in the light-harvesting macromolecules is facilitated by specific vibrational motions of the chromophores. "We found that the properties of some of the chromophore vibrations that assist energy transfer during photosynthesis can never be described with classical laws, and moreover, this non-classical behaviour enhances the efficiency of the energy transfer," noted supervisor and co-author Alexandra Olaya-Castro in a statement.

The vibrations in question are periodic motions of the atoms within a molecule. It's similar to how an object moves when it's attached to a spring. Sometimes, the energy of two vibrating chromophores match the energy difference between the electronic transitions of chromophores. The result is a coherent exchange of a single quantum of energy. "When this happens electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom are jointly and transiently in a superposition of quantum states, a feature that can never be predicted with classical physics," explained study co-author Edward O'Reilly.

In other words, quantum effects improve the efficiency of plant photosynthesis in a way that classical physics cannot allow. Which is pretty wild if you ask me.

Read the entire study at Nature Communications: "Non-classicality of the molecular vibrations assisting exciton energy transfer at room temperature."

Source - http://io9.com/new-evidence-that-plants-get-their-energy-using-quantum-1498695627

RELATED

What is Spooky Action or Quantum Entanglement?

Quantum entanglement is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/q/quantum_entanglement.htm

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Einstein's Spooky Action is common in large quantum systems

Entanglement is a property in quantum mechanics that seemed so unbelievable and so lacking in detail that, 66 years ago this spring, Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance."  But a mathematician at Case Western Reserve University and two of his recent PhD graduates show entanglement is actually prevalent in large quantum systems and have identified the threshold at which it occurs.  If harnessed, entanglement could yield super high-speed communications, hack-proof encryptions and quantum computers so fast and powerful they would make today's supercomputers look like adding machines in comparison.

Read more - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130528122433.htm


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A link between wormholes and quantum entanglement

This advance is so meta. Theoretical physicists have forged a connection between the concept of entanglement — itself a mysterious quantum mechanical connection between two widely separated particles—and that of a wormhole—a hypothetical connection between black holes that serves as a shortcut through space.

The insight could help physicists reconcile quantum mechanics and Einstein's general theory of relativity, perhaps the grandest goal in theoretical physics. But some experts argue that the connection is merely a mathematical analogy. 

Entanglement links quantum particles so that fiddling with one can instantly affect another.

According to the bizarre quantum laws that govern the subatomic realm, a tiny particle can be in two opposite conditions or states at once. For example, an atom can spin in one direction or the other—up or down—or both ways at once. That two-way state lasts only until the atom's spin is measured, however, at which point it "collapses" into either the up or down state.

Two atoms can then be entangled so that both spin two ways at once but their spins are completely correlated, so that, for example, they point in opposite directions. Then, if the first atom is measured and found to be spin up, the second atom will instantly collapse into the down state, even if it's light-years away.

Wormholes, on the other hand, are a prediction of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which describes how massive objects warp space and time, or spacetime, to create the effects we call gravity. If an object is massive enough, it can create a funnel-like hole in spacetime so steep that not even light can escape from it—a black hole. In principle, two widely separated black holes can connect like back-to-back trumpet horns to make a shortcut through spacetime called a wormhole.

Read more -
http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/2013/12/link-between-wormholes-and-quantum-entanglement


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