PHYSICS SEMINAR by Iannis Kominis

KOÇ UNIVERSITY PHYS SEMINAR **************************** Speaker : Iannis Kominis, Department of Physics, University of Crete Title : The scientific and technological promise of quantum biology Date : Friday, January 12, 2024 Time : 14:00-15:00 Place : SCI 103 Abstract: In this talk I will introduce quantum biology, the synthesis of modern quantum science & technology with biological systems. As a specific paradigm of this synthesis, I will describe biological quantum sensing using radical-pair reactions, and discuss why such biochemical magnetometers ideally demonstrate the premise of quantum biology. In short, because they realize quantum measurement dynamics, and further, they require measures of quantum coherence for their understanding. I will then present recent work pushing the study of quantum biological effects into the cellular environment. This is achieved by using a fundamental quantum-information concept, the Wigner-Yanase information. We arrive at a sort of “quantum biological uncertainty relation”, which connects the product of a biological resource and a biological figure of merit, with a measure of coherence based on the Wigner-Yanase information. Finally, I will discuss the general scientific and technological outlook of the synthesis quantum+bio. Selected Publications [1] IK Kominis, Physiological search for quantum biological effects based on the Wigner-Yanase connection between coherence and uncertainty, Advanced Quantum Technologies 2300292 (2023). [2] IK Kominis, Quantum relative entropy shows singlet-triplet coherence is a resource in the radical-pair mechanism of biological magnetic sensing, Physical Review Research 2, 023206 (2020). [3] K Vitalis and IK Kominis, Quantum-limited biochemical magnetometers designed using the Fisher information and quantum reaction control, Physical Review A 95, 032129 (2017). [4] K Mouloudakis and IK Kominis, Quantum information processing in the radical-pair mechanism: Haberkorn’s theory violates the Ozawa entropy bound, Physical Review E 95, 022413 (2017). [5] IK Kominis, The radical-pair mechanism as a paradigm for the emerging science of quantum biology, Modern Physics Letters B 29, 1530013 (2015). [6] IK Kominis, Quantum Zeno effect explains magnetic-sensitive radical-ion-pair reactions, Physical Review E 80, 056115 (2009). Short Biosketch: Prof. Kominis received a Diploma in Electrical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. He then obtained a PhD in Physics at Princeton University. He held post-doctoral appointments at Princeton University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since 2004 he is a faculty member at the Physics Department of the University of Crete.

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