Effects of Quantum Decoherence Interference on Birds’ Navigation Mechanism

Abstract

This article uses a numerical simulation method to simulate birds’ magnetoreception mechanism with the Liouville master equation based on free radical pair theory A virtual retina projection method is also created in this article in order to visualize the magnetoreception mechanism as a visual compass In isolated systems the magnetic field strength and the coupling coefficients can still be the factors that may affect the magnetoreception mechanism For a more realistic model the Lindblad master equation which is used for analyzing quantum decoherence effect is further applied to the magnetoreception model Quantum decoherence is a type of interference caused by the interaction between the quantum system and the environment Quantum decoherence affects the magnetoreception system mainly by reducing the overall triplet yield of the magnetoreceptor particles which is the source of the whole magnetoreception reaction However with some specific types of quantum decoherence the accuracy of birds’ navigation can still be lifted according to which type the quantum decoherence is

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ciann-Dong Yang (Supervisor)