Study supports role of quantum effects in photosynthesis
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - 09:01
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until a few years ago, photosynthesis seemed to be a straightforward and well-understood process in which plants and other organisms use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, with oxygen as a waste product. But recent research showing that the light energy entering these organisms light-absorbing chromophore molecules may exist in two places at once as a quantum superposition has raised a new question: what role, if any, do quantum effects play in the vastly important and widespread process of photosynthesis?