title: Space asymmetry as a possible global feature.
abstract: A series of reports in the literature indicated symmetry breaking in assemblies of chiral molecules of opposite handedness. These unexpected observations could be accounted for as being generated by the "parity violation" of the nuclear weak force, combined with an autocatalytic amplification process. However, in many such cases, in particular of chiral fluids, this putative mechanism is far from providing a reasonable explanation for such discrimination. In this article it is suggested that space may have deviated a priori from absolute symmetry, a possibility which complies with observations in atoms and molecules and may even be implicated in the asymmetrical configuration of spiral galaxies. Space asymmetry can be extrapolated to a difference between the relative statistical weights of the "right" versus the "left" directions with respect to Euclidian coordinates or, analogously, to a difference between the clockwise and anticlockwise orientations in polar coordinates. The difference in weights of these directions in space is estimated to be around 1%, based on the differences observed in density values of chiral fluids and chiral crystals of NaClO3. The implied asymmetry of time, as the conjugated fourth dimension, suggests a similar difference in magnitude of the time coordinate in a right-handed versus left-handed space, which is feasible for experimental verification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. meir.shinitzky@weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: Meir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shinitzky
mesh_terms: D002704:Chlorates / Q000737:chemistry; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D002704:Chlorates; C032706:sodium chlorate