Abstract: The remarkable ability of migratory birds to navigate accurately using the geomagnetic field for journeys of thousandsof kilometres is currently thought to arise from radical pair reactions inside a protein called cryptochrome. In this articlewe explain the quantum mechanical basis of the radical pair mechanism and why it is currently the dominant theory of compassmagnetoreception. We also provide a brief account of two important computational simulation techniques that are used to study themechanism in cryptochrome: spin dynamics and molecular dynamics. At the end, we provide an overview of current research on quantummechanical processes in avian cryptochromes and the computational models for describing them. URL
Fabian Schuhmann
Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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