Can the chirality of the ISM be measured

Details Can the chirality of the ISM be measured Can the chirality of the ISM be measured

Apr 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990nascp3061..337p&link_type=abstract

In its Carbon in the Galaxy: Studies from Earth and Space p 337-338 (SEE N90-27562 21-88)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Interstellar Matter, Molecular Gases, Molecules, Signatures, Symmetry, Universe, Amino Acids, Astrophysics, Atmospheric Chemistry, Chemical Reactions, Feasibility, Light Beams, Molecular Spectroscopy, Oceans, Organisms, Polarized Light, Sugars

Scientific paper

Many moderately complex carbon-based molecules of the type associated with biological systems can exist in one of two mirror-image forms (left-handed and right-handed), which can be distinguished on the basis of their influence on the state of polarization of a light beam. Both forms are possible in nature; yet in living organisms it is invariably the rule that one of these two species predominates. This gives rise to a net chirality. One possible explanation for the net chirality is that the early earth was somehow seeded from the ISM with an excess of chiral organic compounds which led to the development of life forms which are based on left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars. Molecular spectroscopy of the interstellar medium (ISM) has revealed a complex variety of molecular species similar to those thought to have been available in the oceans and atmospheres of the earth at the time life formed. The detection of such molecules demonstrates the generality of the chemical processes occurring in both environments. If this generality extends to the processes which produce chirality, it may be possible to detect a net chirality in the ISM. This is of particular interest because determining whether or not net chirality exists elsewhere in the universe is an essential aspect of understanding how life developed on earth and how widely distributed it might be. Researchers report preliminary results of a feasibility study to determine whether or not a net chirality in the ISM can be measured. If laboratory results identify candidate chiral molecules that might exist in the ISM, the next step in this feasibility study will be to estimate the detectability of the chiral signature in astrophysical environments.

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