Decoherence in the chemical compass: The role of decoherence for avian magnetoreception

Abstract

Contrary to the usual picture that decoherence destroys quantum properties and causes the quantum-to-classical transition, we argue that decoherence can also play a constructive role in driving quantum dynamics and amplifying its results to macroscopic scales. We support this perspective by presenting an example system from spin chemistry, which is also of importance for biological systems, e.g. in avian magnetoreception.