2004/07/01 by Axel Brandenburg, Tuomas Multamäki · 7 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Origins and Evolution of Life #Protein Structure and Dynamics #astro-ph #cond-mat.dis-nn #q-bio.BM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1473550404001983
published as Int.J.Astrobiol. 3 (2004) 209-219 · submitted to Int. J. Astrobiol., 15 pages, 10 figs. submitted to Int. J. Astrobiol., 15 pages, 10 figs
openalex publication_date 2004/07/01 · arxiv created 2004/07/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Reaction-diffusion equations based on a polymerization model are solved to simulate the spreading of hypothetic left and right-handed life forms on the Earth's surface. The equations exhibit front-like behavior as is familiar from the theory of the spreading of epidemics. It is shown that the relevant time scale for achieving global homochirality is not, however, the time scale of front propagation, but the much longer global diffusion time. The process can be sped up by turbulence and large scale flows. It is speculated that, if the deep layers of the early ocean were sufficiently quiescent, there may have been the possibility of competing early life forms with opposite handedness.