Related papers: Homochirality and the need of energy

Understanding how biological homochirality emerged remains a challenge for the researchers interested in the origin of life. During the last decades, stable non-racemic steady states of nonequilibrium chemical systems have been discussed as…

Spontaneous synchronization has long served as a paradigm for behavioral uniformity that can emerge from interactions in complex systems. When the interacting entities are identical and their coupling patterns are also identical, the…

Isolated systems tend to evolve towards equilibrium, a special state that has been the focus of many-body research for a century. Yet much of the richness of the world around us arises from conditions far from equilibrium. Phenomena such as…

Living systems have evolved to efficiently consume available energy sources using an elaborate circuitry of chemical reactions which, puzzlingly, bear a strict restriction to asymmetric chiral configurations. While autocatalysis is known to…

Chemical processes in closed systems are poorly controllable since they always relax to equilibrium. Living systems avoid this fate and give rise to a much richer diversity of phenomena by operating under nonequilibrium conditions. Recent…

Models in evolutionary game theory traditionally assume symmetric interactions in homogeneous environments. Here, we consider populations evolving in a heterogeneous environment, which consists of patches of different qualities that are…

The dynamical properties and mechanical functions of amorphous materials are governed by their microscopic structures, particularly the elasticity of the interaction networks, which is generally complicated by structural heterogeneity. This…

Statistical models provide a powerful and useful class of approximations for calculating reaction rates by bypassing the need for detailed, and often difficult, dynamical considerations. Such approaches invariably invoke specific…

The question of the onset of the homochirality on prebiotic Earth still remains a fundamental question in the quest for the origin of life. Recent works in this field introduce the concept of recycling, rather than the traditional open-flow…

Behavioral homogeneity is often critical for the functioning of network systems of interacting entities. In power grids, whose stable operation requires generator frequencies to be synchronized--and thus homogeneous--across the network,…

We present a systematic study of statistical mechanics for non-Hermitian quantum systems. Our work reveals that the stability of a non-Hermitian system necessitates the existence of a single path-dependent conserved quantity, which, in…

A hallmark of living systems is the ability to employ a common set of versatile building blocks that can self-organize into a multitude of different structures, in a way that can be controlled with minimal cost. This capability can only be…

There is an extensive philosophical literature on the interrelated issues of identity, individuality, and distinguishability in quantum systems. A key consideration is whether quantum systems are subject to a strong form of individuality…

A recently proposed model of non-autocatalytic reactions in dipeptide reactions leading to spontaneous symmetry breaking and homochirality is examined. The model is governed by activation, polymerization, epimerization and depolymerization…

The fact that a disordered material is not constrained in its properties in the same way as a crystal presents significant and yet largely untapped potential for novel material design. However, unlike their crystalline counterparts,…

We consider an evolution of two elementary quantum particles and ask the question: under what conditions such a system behaves as a single object? It is obvious that if the attraction between the particles is stronger than any other force…

It is generally recognized that a distinguishing feature of life is its peculiar capability to avoid equilibration. The origin of this capability and its evolution along the timeline of abiogenesis is not yet understood. We propose to study…

Stochastic and dynamical processes lie at the heart of all physical, chemical, and biological systems. However, kinetic and thermodynamic properties which characterize these processes have largely been treated separately as they can be…

Dynamic heterogeneity is now recognised as a central aspect of structural relaxation in disordered materials with slow dynamics, and was the focus of intense research in the last decade. Here we describe how initial, indirect observations…

The goal of this paper is to understand if the property of adaptation, which is a typical property of many biochemical systems, can be achieved only by biological systems that actively consume energy or if it can be achieved also by passive…