We explore a quantum mechanical framework for modeling mutation dynamics in viral genomes. Motivated by experimental observations, such as interference-like mutation patterns and an inverse relationship between genome size and per-site mutation rate, we represent the viral genome as a superposition state in a high-dimensional Hilbert space, and model mutations as quantum operators acting on this state. This is not a microscopic theory of replication but an effective, physically inspired model aimed at capturing non-classical features such as interference and entanglement in sequence evolution. We introduce structured mutation operators diagonal, random, and spatially correlated, and study their action on quantum sequence states using numerical simulations. Correlated operators with phase structure produce interference patterns in mutation probabilities, analogous to the electron double-slit experiment. Entangled mutation dynamics, modeled via cluster-state-like correlations, alter the scaling behavior of the per-site mutation rate with genome size. We show that while classical models predict a constant per-site mutation rate for small genomes, entangled models yield size-dependent rates that decrease as \( L^{-\alpha} \), where \( \alpha > 0 \) reflects the strength of correlation. This matches trends observed in RNA viruses with genomes below \(\sim 30\) kb. Finally, we propose two experimental tests: (1) detection of replication-speed-dependent interference fringes using modified viral polymerases, and (2) ensemble-level coherence signatures measurable by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our results offer a testable hypothesis that quantum correlations may influence mutation dynamics in viral genomes below 30 kb in size.

We explore a quantum mechanical framework for modeling mutation dynamics in viral genomes. Motivated by experimental observations, such as interference-like mutation patterns and an inverse relationship between genome size and per-site mutation rate, we represent the viral genome as a superposition state in a high-dimensional Hilbert space, and model mutations as quantum operators acting on this state. This is not a microscopic theory of replication but an effective, physically inspired model aimed at capturing non-classical features such as interference and entanglement in sequence evolution. We introduce structured mutation operators diagonal, random, and spatially correlated, and study their action on quantum sequence states using numerical simulations. Correlated operators with phase structure produce interference patterns in mutation probabilities, analogous to the electron double-slit experiment. Entangled mutation dynamics, modeled via cluster-state-like correlations, alter the scaling behavior of the per-site mutation rate with genome size. We show that while classical models predict a constant per-site mutation rate for small genomes, entangled models yield size-dependent rates that decrease as L −α , where α > 0 reflects the strength of correlation. This matches trends observed in RNA viruses with genomes below ∼ 30 kb. Finally, we propose two experimental tests: (1) detection of replication-speed-dependent interference fringes using modified viral polymerases, and (2) ensemble-level coherence signatures measurable by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our results offer a testable hypothesis that quantum correlations may influence mutation dynamics in viral genomes below 30 kb in size.

Here, we experimentally investigated the electrochemical behavior of SPAN cathodes with different sulfur content (0-35 wt.%) using scan-rate dependent cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical capacitance spectroscopy (ECS), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Our results reveal that the balance between surface-controlled (related to quantum capacitance) and diffusion-controlled (arising from redox reactions) charge storage strongly depends on sulfur content with higher sulfur content SPAN favoring surface-controlled behavior. We attribute this to increased quantum capacitance arising from defects such as pores and N atoms in the graphitized carbon backbone of 29 and 35 wt. % S SPAN. By drawing an analogy from the density functional approach, we measured the redox density of states (g r (µ)) using ECS. While SPAN maintains a stable g r (µ), S 8 showed pronounced variations due to polysulfide formation. Our detailed XPS findings show that it is necessary to account for sulfone groups, often ignored in SPAN structure, in the electrochemistry of SPAN

Practical applications of sulfurized polymer (SP) materials in Li-S batteries are often written off due to their low S content (~35 wt. %) by placing them on the same footing as S8/C composite cathodes. Here, we show that some SP materials function as pseudocapacitors with an active carbon backbone using a comprehensive array of tools including in-situ Raman and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We calculated the critical metrics for 35 wt. % S containing SP cathodes by including pseudocapcitive contributions from the carbon backbone. We found that SP cathodes with an active carbon backbone are suitable for 350 Wh/kg target at the cell level if S loading >5 mg/cm 2 , E/S ratio < 2 µL/mg, and N/P ratio < 5 can be achieved. Although 3D current collectors can enable such high loadings, they often add excess mass that decreases the total capacity at the cell level. To overcome this, we developed an "active" carbon nanotube bucky sandwich (BS) current collector (amenable for roll-to-roll processing) that contributes to the total capacity offsetting its excess weight. We prepared SP cathode with ~5.5 mg/cm 2 of S loading (~15.8 mg/cm 2 of SP loading), which yielded a sulfur-level gravimetric capacity ~1360 mAh/gs (~690 mAh/gs), electrode level capacity 200 mAh/gelectrode (100 mAh/gelectrode), areal capacity ~7.8 mAh/cm 2 (~4.0 mAh/cm 2) at 0.1C (1C) rate for ~100 cycles at E/S ratio = 7 µL/mg. We also succeeded in preparing pouch cells using BS SP cathodes containing ~5 mg/cm 2 S with a capacity ~1300 mAh/gs (~190 mAh/gelectrode) at 0.1C rate.