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Supernova antineutrino interactions cause chiral symmetry breaking and possibly homochiral biomaterials for life
Author(s) -
Cline David B.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
chirality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.43
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1520-636X
pISSN - 0899-0042
DOI - 10.1002/chir.20142
Subject(s) - homochirality , chemistry , abiogenesis , chiral symmetry breaking , astrobiology , chemical physics , extraterrestrial life , supernova , meteorite , mechanism (biology) , symmetry breaking , chiral symmetry , theoretical physics , physics , particle physics , biochemistry , amino acid , quantum mechanics , quark
There is some evidence that nonracemic hydrocarbons occur in meteorites. This would indicate an extraterrestrial origin of the homochirality in living systems (proteins, DNA, RNA). The weak interaction breaks chiral symmetry, but a robust process is needed. We propose that, in an SNII explosion, antineutrinos could provide this mechanism in the solar cloud. Pre‐simple estimates of this possibility are given here. Chirality 17:S234–S239, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.