Programme

I.4 -- Invited, VCTP-51

Date: Monday, 3 August 2026

Time: 16:00 - 16:40

DNA molecule as an effective quantum wire for the long-distance transfer of a charged carrier

Victor Yushankhai

Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, JINR, Dubna, Russia

Soon after the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA by J. Watson and F. Crick in 1953, a theoretical prediction was made about the conductive properties of the DNA molecule [1]. This was confirmed by a group led by J. Barton [2], who observed rapid charge transfer between a donor and an acceptor intercalated into the DNA molecule, and later by experimental studies by B. Giese and his colleagues [3] of the propagation of a photoinduced charge carrier over long distances in artificially created DNA oligonucleotide chains. Some key features of the charge transfer behavior observed in [3] can be described within the framework of a relatively simple one-dimensional quantum-statistical model [4], an extended version of which was also chosen in our study [5]. The DNA containing an extra charged carrier is considered as an open quantum system weakly coupled to its environment. The single-particle density operator ρ(t) for the charged carrier obeys the Lindblad master equation with two different dissipative processes involved, including (i) a capture of the carrier by the environment and (ii) a decoherence of its quantum-wave motion due to the influence of stochastic environmental fields. To describe the time evolution of charged carrier wavefunction, numerical solutions of the Lindblad equation for the density operator ρ(t) are found using the Lindblad MPO Solver program [6]. The results are interpreted in terms of two modes of charged carrier motion: the tunneling for a short-length DNA fragment and the ballistic propagation for the long-length fragment, in accordance with the experimentally observed crossover behavior. The obtained results can be conceptually interpreted from different perspectives. The first concept suggests viewing DNA as a one-dimensional quantum wire enabling to efficiently transfer a fermionic charge carrier between its two ends. A prototypical effect known as environment-assisted quantum transport has been shown to remarkably enhance the efficiency of charge transfer over long distances. The second concept, derived from quantum information processing and quantum communication theory, is to consider DNA as a quantum wire that serves to efficiently transmit localized quantum states over long distances. We consider in detail how a specially designed spin-1/2 chain model simulates such a transport process. 1. Eley D.D., Spivey D.I. Trans. Faraday Soc. 1962. V. 58. P. 411–415. 2. Hall D.B., Holmlin R.E., Barton J.K. Nature. 1996. V. 382. P. 731–735. 3. Giese B., Amaudrut J., Köhler A.K., Spormann M., Wessely S. Nature. 2001.V. 412. P.318–320. 4. Skourtis S., Nitzan A. J. of Chem. Phys. 2003. V. 119. P. 6271–6276. 5. Syurakshin A.V., Lakhno V.D., Yushankhai V.Yu. Маthematical biology and ioinformatics. 2024. V. 19. P. 212–231. 6. Landa H., Misguich G. SciPost Phys. Core. 2023. V. 6. P. 037

Presenter: Yushankhai Victor