title: Can a hybrid chemical-ferromagnetic model of the avian compass explain its outstanding sensitivity to magnetic noise?
abstract: While many properties of the magnetic compass of migratory birds are satisfactory explained within the chemical model of magnetoreception, its extreme sensitivity to radio-frequency magnetic fields remains a mystery. Apparently, this difficulty could be overcome if the magnetoreceptor model were augmented with a magnetite nanoparticle, which would amplify the magnetic field at the position of the magneto-sensitive cryptochrome molecule. However, comparison of the radio-frequency power used in the experiment with intrinsic magnetization noise of such a particle, estimated from the theory of fluctuations, shows that the required sensitivity cannot be reached with realistic parameters of iron-oxide nanocrystals.
authors.affiliation: Spin Optics Laboratory, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia.|I.M.Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Kirill
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0047-5706
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavokin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D059346:Magnets; D008954:Models, Biological