Redfield Theory of Photosynthetic Excitation Energy Transfer — E8 Intelligence Research
FINDING: Redfield theory formalizes photosynthetic excitation energy transfer (EET) as a Markovian open-quantum-system problem where the Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian is coupled to a phonon bath via a time-local dephasing tensor. | MATH: H_ex = Σ_n ε_n |n⟩⟨n| + Σ_{m≠n} J_{mn} |m⟩⟨n|; Redfield master equation dρ/dt = -i[H_ex, ρ] + Σ_{mn} R_{mn} ρ; dephasing rate R ∝ ∫₀^∞ dτ C(τ) e^{iωτ} (Fourier transform of bath correlation C(τ) = ⟨B(t)B(0)⟩); Markov approximation requires τ_bath ≪ τ_system. | CONNECTION: The exciton coupling J_{mn} in pigment-protein complexes (FMO, LH2) follows dipole-dipole J ∝ 1/r³ with geometric arrangement of chromophores on near-helical lattices; LH2 ring symmetry is C₉ (nonagonal) — a crystallographic point group with 9-fold rotational order, not a golden-ratio symmetry. | DEPTH: 6 FINDING: Near-unity (>95%) energy transfer efficiency in photosynthetic complexes is reproduced by quantum simulations treating EET as a noisy quantum walk on a discrete lattice of ch Author: Andrew Stewart Caldin, Independent Researcher, UK. Part of the E8 Intelligence Research series. Platform: e8intelligence.com
Authors
- Andrew Stewart Caldin
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23684977
- Primary Topic
- Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
- Type
- preprint