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Why is Energy Transfer in Photosynthesis So Efficient?

为什么光合作用中的能量转移如此高效？

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Photosynthesis is an extremely efficient biological process in plants, algae, and some types of bacteria, that utilizes light energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce oxygen (O2) and chemical energy stored in glucose (a sugar). Numerical simulations are showing that Bose Einstein condensates may be the key for such a high efficiency, and this phenomenon challenges what modern physics defines as possible regarding fundamental mechanisms in biological systems as it implies a quantum process that is not expected to happen at room temperature and in disordered (noisy) conditions that potentially degrade any quantum behavior.

Bose Einstein condensates -abbreviated as BEC- are considered a fifth state of matter; these are very exotic states of matter that are typically formed when a collection of separate atoms or subatomic particles at very low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (−273.15 °C), condition at which a large fraction of these entities occupy the lowest quantum state simultaneously. By doing so, their wave functions overlap, and they behave as a single entity macroscopically.  It is as if they became a single atom; they all share the same quantum state and behave as a single entity.

Light-harvesting complexes involved in photosynthesis, transfer energy in the form of excitons created by the photo-excitation of an electron by sunlight. An electron absorbs a photon from light, and excites into a different quantum state, leaving a hole at that former location, which is now entangled to the original electron. These entangled pairs or excitons are transported through a series of light sensible regions of molecules -called chromophores- that act like molecular wires to transport this energy to a reaction center where this energy is collected for diverse biological functions, like sugar production. A chromophore is the part of a molecule that is responsible for its color.

Utilizing a theoretical model that explicitly introduces strong electron correlations in the form of intra-chromophore coupling, authors of this research explore the energy transfer and exciton condensation in microscopic biological systems under ambient condition. They expand the usual single-site model used for the chromophore complex, and that can only address interchromophore couplings, to a model with multiple electron sites on each chromophore, what allows for intra-chromophore couplings and creates additional channels for exciton transfer, where the coupling between the sites on the chromophores can be tuned using a coupling parameter.

Authors also find that via this mix of inter- and intra- couplings, the model exhibits a signature for exciton condensation in the single-excitation manifold which evolves with the dynamics of exciton transport. The signature results from a combination of inter- and intra-chromophore exciton entanglement and depends on the initial excitation state and number of sites per chromophore.Unified Science in perspective These remarkable results demonstrate a link between the enhanced exciton transfer and the exciton-condensation-like mechanism, showing that electron correlation and entanglement within the chromophores significantly increase the efficiency of energy transfer by creating additional pathways or channels for transfer. This also hints into the mystery of how biological systems can function so efficiently at ambient conditions.

Journal：spacefed.com

Title：Why is Energy Transfer in Photosynthesis So Efficient?（8/28/2024）

Category：Biology

Photosynthesis is an extremely efficient biological process in plants, algae, and some types of bacteria, that utilizes light energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce oxygen (O2) and chemical energy stored in glucose (a sugar). 

光合作用是一种在植物、藻类和某些细菌中极为高效的生物过程，它利用光能和二氧化碳（CO₂）来产生氧气（O₂）以及储存在葡萄糖（一种糖类）中的化学能。

They expand the usual single-site model used for the chromophore complex, and that can only address interchromophore couplings, to a model with multiple electron sites on each chromophore, what allows for intra-chromophore couplings and creates additional channels for exciton transfer, where the coupling between the sites on the chromophores can be tuned using a coupling parameter.

句子主干：They（主语）+ expand（谓语）+ the usual single-site model（宾语）。used for the chromophore complex, and that can only address interchromophore couplings是一个过去分词短语作后置定语，修饰“the usual single-site model”；to a model是一个介词短语，作为“expand”的补足语，表示“扩展到...的模型”。what allows for...是一个关系代词“what”引导的名词性从句，作为“a model”的同位语。where引导一个定语从句，修饰前面的整个介词短语“to a model...".

翻译：它们将通常用于发色团复合物的单位点模型（该模型只能处理发色团之间的耦合）扩展为每个发色团上具有多个电子位点的模型，该模型允许发色团内部的耦合并为激子转移创造额外的通道，其中发色团上的位点之间的耦合可以使用耦合参数进行调整。

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