Asymmetric Spatiotemporal Evolution of Prebiotic Homochirality
arXiv:astro-ph/0606593 · doi:10.1007/s11084-006-9058-x
Abstract
The role of asymmetry on the evolution of prebiotic homochirality is investigated in the context of autocatalytic polymerization reaction networks. A model featuring enantiometric cross-inhibition and chiral bias is used to study the diffusion equations controlling the spatiotemporal development of left and right-handed domains. Bounds on the chiral bias are obtained consistent with present-day constraints on the emergence of life on early Earth. The viability of biasing mechanisms such as weak neutral currents and circularly polarized UV light is discussed. The results can be applied to any hypothetical planetary platform.
Expanded version with added discussion, with 4 new figures and no modified results, in press in Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres. 12 pages in RevTeX
References in corpus (6)
Cited by in corpus (12)
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- Models for Mirror Symmetry Breaking via β-Sheet-Controlled Copolymerization: (i) Mass Balance and (ii) Probabilistic Treatment