Determining Amino Acid Chirality in the Supernova Neutrino Processing Model

Abstract

A model is described that can be used to estimate the bulk polarization of large rotating meteoroids in the magnetic field of a neutron star. The results of this model are applicable to the Supernova Neutrino Amino Acid Processing model, which describes one possible way in which the amino acids, known in nearly all cases to exhibit supramolecular chirality, could have become enantiomeric.

Sites that Can Produce Left-handed Amino Acids in the Supernova Neutrino Amino Acid Processing Model

“…-At present the quantum molecular calculations have assumed that the meteoroids pass by the central object, if it is a supernova or cooling neutron star, at mid-plane and normal to the axis that connects the poles. But the resulting ees, as high as one percent, with the amino acid isovaline in an aqueous environment, as has been suggested in recent meteoritic analyses (Herd et al 2011), are particularly noteworthy in that they are in the ballpark of what is observed in the meteorites. However, if more sophisticated calculations fail to increase the predicted ees over the one percent level, some autocatalysis will be necessary for the SNAAP model to explain the meteoritic ees.…”

“…However, analysis of meteorites has found that they do contain amino acids, so that they are made in outer space (Kvenvolden et al 1970;Bada et al 1983;Cronin & Pizzarello 1997;Cronin et al 1998;Glavin & Dworkin 2009;Herd et al 2011) and that some of them do exhibit nonzero enantiomeric excesses, typically at a level of a few percent, with a preference for left-handedness. Thus cosmic production of the amino acids becomes a strong contender for explaining how Earth was seeded with amino acids, and how they came to have a left-handed chirality.…”

Núcleo Atômico E a Energia Nuclear: O Uso Dos Radioisótopos Na Medicina

“…Essas moléculas em quantidades enantioméricas desiguais podem ter sido formadas em nuvens moleculares e conduzidas para a Terra em meteoritos ou adicionados nos compostos que constituíram a Terra durante a sua formação (BOYD et al, 2011). Ou, ainda, no campo magnético de uma estrela de nêutrons (FAMIANO et al, 2014).…”