Reactant-Product Quantum Coherence in Electron Transfer Reactions

Abstract

We investigate the physical meaning of quantum superposition states between reactants and products in electron transfer reactions. We show that such superpositions are strongly suppressed and to leading orders of perturbation theory do not pertain in electron transfer reactions. This is because of the intermediate manifold of states separating the reactants from the products. We provide an intuitive description of these considerations with Feynman diagrams. We also discuss the relation of such quantum coherences to understanding the fundamental quantum dynamics of spin-selective radical-ion-pair reactions.

4 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Sensitivity and Entanglement in the Avian Chemical Compass
• The radical-pair mechanism as a paradigm for the emerging science of quantum biology
• Quantum measurement corrections to CIDNP in photosynthetic reaction centers
• Retrodictive derivation of the radical-ion-pair master equation and Monte-Carlo simulation with single-molecule quantum trajectories
• Lamb shift in radical-ion pairs produces a singlet-triplet energy splitting in photosynthetic reaction centers