Connections Between Nuclear Physics and the Origin of Life - Examining the Origin of Biomolecular Chirality

Abstract

The discovery of bio-molecules in meteorites with an excess of one chiral state has created one of the biggest questions in astrobiology today. That is, what is the origin of bio-molecular homochirality? Studies of this question are highly interdisciplinary, and while several phenomenological models exist, we examine the relationship between fundamental symmetries at the particle level and the macroscopic formation of bio-molecules. A model has been developed which couples fundamental interactions with the formation of molecular chirality. In this magneto-chiral model atomic nuclei bound in amino acids interact via the weak interaction in stellar environments. Nuclei are coupled to the molecular geometry (chirality) via the shielding tensor, the same interaction responsible for NMR identification. Associated with this is the fact that isotopic abundances vary from solar system values. Interactions with leptons can selectively destroy one chiral state over the other while changing isotopic values. Possible sites are proposed in which this model may exist.