Supernova antineutrino interactions cause chiral symmetry breaking and possibly homochiral biomaterials for life.
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.
Cline
David B
DB
Astrophysics Division, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. dcline@physics.ucla.edu
D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D001256:Astronomy; D002625:Chemistry, Organic; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D019110:Meteoroids; D055601:Organic Chemistry Phenomena; D013237:Stereoisomerism