Quantum Zeno Threshold Mapping in LHCII Chromophore Networks: Physiological Dephasing Rates Coincide with the ENAQT Optimum
Abstract
Abstract The Quantum Zeno effect — the localisation of a quantum system by rapid environmental measurement — has been proposed as a limiting regime for excitonic energy transfer in photosynthetic antenna complexes, but its critical threshold γₙ has not been mapped for light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) of higher plants under non-equilibrium source-to-sink boundary conditions. Here we simulate the steady state of the 14-site LHCII chromophore network using the Lindblad master equation in a 15-dimensional Hilbert space incorporating an incoherent excitation source at Chl b 601 and an irreversible energy trap at Chl a 610, sweeping the pure dephasing rate γ from 1 to 10,000 cm − 1 (24,000 simulations across two geometry classes and three disorder levels). The inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the steady-state excitation density is non-monotonic in γ: it reaches a minimum of 0.1021 (participation ratio 9.79) at γₘₙₐⁱₜ = 112.5 cm − 1, marking the environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT) optimum, before increasing toward localisation above a Zeno threshold of γₙ = 701.2 cm − 1 (95% CI: 692.4–710.1 cm − 1). Crucially, γₘₙₐⁱₜ lies squarely within the physiological protein conformational flu ctuation range of 50–200 cm − 1 at 300 K, raising the intriguing possibility that LHCII protein dynamics are consistent with operation at the quantum transport optimum. The Zeno threshold γₙ lies 3.5- to 14-fold above the physiological range (50–200 cm − 1), suggesting LHCII operates…
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