Physiological Search for Quantum Biological Sensing Effects Based on the Wigner–Yanase Connection between Coherence and Uncertainty

Abstract

A fundamental concept of quantum physics, the Wigner–Yanase information, is used here as a measure of quantum coherence in spin-dependent radical-pair reactions pertaining to biological magnetic sensing. This measure is connected to the uncertainty of the reaction yields and, further, to the statistics of a cellular receptor-ligand system used to biochemically convey magnetic-field changes. Measurable physiological quantities, such as the number of receptors and fluctuations in ligand concentration, are shown to reflect the introduced Wigner–Yanase measure of singlet-triplet coherence. A quantum-biological uncertainty relation connecting the product of a biological resource and a biological figure of merit with the Wigner–Yanase coherence is arrived at. This approach can serve as a general search for quantum-coherent effects within cellular environments.