Related papers: Chirality in Astrophysics
Chirality or the property that distinguishes lefthandedness from righthandedness is an important aspect of the universe, starting from neutrinos, which are lefthanded. Fifteen years ago the author had proposed that life on the earth was…
Chirality, or handedness, is a topic that is common in biology and chemistry, yet is rarely discussed in physics courses. We provide a way of introducing the topic in classical physics, and demonstrate the merits of its inclusion - such as…
Chirality, or handedness, is a geometrical property denoting a lack of mirror symmetry. Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and is associated with the non-reciprocal interactions observed in complex systems ranging from biomolecules to…
(abridged) We review recent studies of chirality using circularly polarized light, along with the birth and evolution of life and planetary systems. Terrestrial life consists almost exclusively of one enantiomer, left-handed amino acids.…
In condensed matter physics, a broad spectrum of physical characteristics, such as chirality, axiality, and polarity, arises as a direct consequence of the underlying symmetry of the system. We here theoretically investigate the effective…
Chirality is a pervasive form of symmetry that is intimately connected to the physical properties of solids, as well as the chemical and biological activity of molecular systems. However, its control with light is challenging, because…
Synthetic chiral light fields were recently introduced as a novel source of chirality [Ayuso et al. Nat. Phot. 13, 866 (2019)]. This locally-chiral light spans a three-dimensional polarization that plots a chiral trajectory in space-time,…
Several aspects of mathematical astrobiology are discussed. It is argued that around the time of the origin of life the handedness of biomolecules must have established itself through an instability. Possible pathways of producing a certain…
Handedness, or chirality, has been a continuing source of inspiration across a wide range of scientific problems. After a quick review of some important, instructive historical examples, I present three contemporary case studies involving…
A phase transition can drive the spontaneous emergence of chiral orders in crystals below a critical temperature. However, selecting either a right- or a left-handed phase with the aid of electromagnetic fields is challenging, particularly…
It has been long recognized that the spatial polarization of the electronic clouds in molecules, and the spatial arrangements of atoms into chiral molecular structures, play crucial roles in physics, chemistry and biology. However, these…
While biologists have not yet reached a consensus on the definition of life, homochirality - the specific molecular handedness of biomolecules - is a phenomenon only produced by life. The unraveling of its origin requires interdisciplinary…
The coalescence of three levels has particular attractive features. Even though it may be difficult to realise such event in the laboratory (three additional real parameters must be adjusted), to take up the challenge seems worthwhile. In…
Chirality, handedness, is one of the most fundamental intriguing asymmetries in nature. By definition, chiral objects cannot be superimposed onto each other after mirror reflection operation. Numerous examples of chiral structures can be…
It is usually believed that unlike the external magnetic field which one can set directly, vorticity is a property of the flow of particles, which is indirectly controlled by external fields and initial conditions. Using the curved-space…
Chirality is breaking of mirror symmetry in matter. In the fields of biology and chemistry, this is particularly important because some of the essential molecules in life such as amino acids and DNA have chirality. It is a long-standing…
Chirality is a pervasive property of matter that underpins many important phenomena across physics, chemistry and biology. Given its broad significance, the development of protocols for rational control of chirality in solid state systems…
We compare the various chirality measures most widely used in the literature to quantify chiral symmetry in extended solids, i.e., the continuous chirality measure, the Hausdorff distance, and the angular momentum. By studying these…
Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in which a symmetry between left- and right-handed objects is broken, examples in nature ranging from subatomic particles and molecules to living organisms. In particle physics, the weak force is…
Conceptualizing planetary habitability depends on understanding how living organisms originated and what features of environments are essential to foster abiogenesis. Estimates of the abundance of life's building blocks are confounded by…