Hannover 2010 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 22: Quantum Effects: Entanglement and Decoherence II
Q 22.1: Talk
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 10:30–10:45, A 310
Dynamic entanglement in oscillating molecules and potential biological implications — •Gian Giacomo Guerreschi1,2, Jianming Cai1,2, Sandu Popescu3,4, and Hans J. Briegel1,2 — 1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Austria — 2Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation der ÖAW, Innsbruck, Austria — 3H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, U.K. — 4Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Stoke Gifford, U.K.
The fragility of entanglement under noise and decoherence is often used as an argument to dismiss the possibility of entanglement in biological systems. Here, we however demonstrate that entanglement can persistently recur in an oscillating two-spin molecule coupled to a hot and noisy environment, in which no static entanglement can survive. The system, driven through the oscillatory motions, represents a non-equilibrium quantum system. As a building block, the present simple mechanism supports the perspective that entanglement can exist also in systems which are exposed to a hot environment and to high levels of decoherence, which we expect e.g. for biological systems. Experimental simulation of our model with trapped ions is within reach of the current state-of-the-art quantum technologies.