Hypomagnetic field effects as a potential avenue for testing the radical pair mechanism in biology

Abstract

Near-zero magnetic fields, called hypomagnetic fields, are known to impact biological phenomena, including developmental processes, the circadian system, neuronal and brain activities, DNA methylation, calcium balance in cells, and many more. However, the exact mechanism underlying such effects is still elusive, as the corresponding energies are far smaller than thermal energies. It is known that chemical reactions involving radical pairs can be magnetic field dependent at very low intensities comparable to or less than the geomagnetic field. Here, we review in detail hypomagnetic field effects from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism, pointing out that under certain conditions, they can be comparable or even stronger than the effects of increasing the magnetic field. We suggest that hypomagnetic field effects are an interesting avenue for testing the radical pair mechanism in biology.

The Radical Pair Mechanism Cannot Explain Telecommunication Frequency Effects on Reactive Oxygen Species

“…The coherence in spin dynamics and the interconversion between singlet and triplet states can be mathematically described by the Liouville-von Neumann equation, which governs the time evolution of the spin density matrix, incorporating coherent superpositions and external perturbations like magnetic field effects 31, 60 . It is given by: where Ĥ represents the Hamiltonian of the system including all interactions such as the Zeeman effect and hyperfine coupling 31, 52, 53, 61 .…”

“…where Ĥ represents the Hamiltonian of the system including all interactions such as the Zeeman effect and hyperfine coupling 31,52,53,61 .…”

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