Chiral conformity emerges from the least-time free energy consumption

Abstract

The prevalence of chirally pure biological polymers is often assumed to stem from some slight preference for one chiral form at the origin of life. Likewise, the predominance of matter over antimatter is presumed to follow from some subtle bias for matter at the dawn of the universe. However, rather than being imposed from the start, handedness standards in societies emerged to make things work. Since work is the universal measure of transferred energy, it is reasoned that standards at all scales and scopes emerge to consume free energy. Free energy minimization, equal to entropy maximization, turns out to be the second law of thermodynamics when derived from statistical physics of open systems. This many-body theory is based on the atomistic axiom that everything comprises the same fundamental elements known as quanta of action; hence, everything follows the same law. According to the thermodynamic principle, the flows of energy naturally select standard structures over less-fit functional forms to consume free energy in the least time. Thermodynamics making no distinction between animate and inanimate renders the question of life’s handedness meaningless and deems the search for an intrinsic difference between matter and antimatter pointless.

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royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsfs
Research
Cite this article: Annila A. 2023
Chiral conformity emerges from the least-time
free energy consumption. Interface Focus 13:
20220074.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2022.0074
Received: 25 November 2022
Accepted: 17 February 2023
One contribution of 15 to a theme issue
‘Making and breaking symmetries in mind and
life’.
Subject Areas:
astrobiology, biophysics, systems biology
Keywords:
chirality, entropy, free energy, natural
selection, statistical physics, symmetry
Author for correspondence:
Arto Annila
e-mail: arto.annila@helsinki.fi
Chiral conformity emerges from the
least-time free energy consumption
Arto Annila
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
AA, 0000-0003-2955-2389
The prevalence of chirally pure biological polymers is often assumed to
stem from some slight preference for one chiral form at the origin of life.
Likewise, the predominance of matter over antimatter is presumed to
follow from some subtle bias for matter at the dawn of the universe. How-
ever, rather than being imposed from the start, handedness standards in
societies emerged to make things work. Since work is the universal
measure of transferred energy, it is reasoned that standards at all scales
and scopes emerge to consume free energy. Free energy minimization,
equal to entropy maximization, turns out to be the second law of thermo-
dynamics when derived from statistical physics of open systems. This
many-body theory is based on the atomistic axiom that everything com-
prises the same fundamental elements known as quanta of action; hence,
everything follows the same law. According to the thermodynamic prin-
ciple, the flows of energy naturally select standard structures over less-fit
functional forms to consume free energy in the least time. Thermodynamics
making no distinction between animate and inanimate renders the question
of life’s handedness meaningless and deems the search for an intrinsic
difference between matter and antimatter pointless.
1. Introduction
The prevalence of left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars over their
mirror-image molecules on the Earth is not truly comprehended. Likewise, the
predominance of matter over antimatter in the universe is not well understood.
Here, I argue that chiral conformity, like all standards, emerges from mini-
mizing free energy in the least time. This universal imperative states the
common cause for molecular homochirality and corpuscular charge convention
while leaving specific scenarios to these standards open.
In physics, a cause is a force, i.e. a difference in energy. However, it may
seem as if forces are negligible to favour a form over its mirror image. There
is hardly any difference in energy between two enantiomers when in a
test tube [1–5] or between a particle and its antiparticle when in a cloud
chamber [6,7]. Thus, under these reduced experimental conditions, the dissym-
metry in abundance between left- and right-handed forms seems inexplicable
indeed [8,9].
Then again, inthe biosphere, the force for the enantiomeric excess is enormous.
Wrong-handed molecules would block metabolism consuming free energy, ulti-
mately totalling all energy absorbed in photosynthesis. Similarly, in the cosmos,
the broken charge–parity symmetry for particles is compelling. Antiparticles
would purge particles from participating in nuclear reactions powering stars,
thereby eventually terminating all processes. And in an economy, non-standard
components would jam assembly lines and shut down activity.
From this thermodynamic perspective, free energy minimization imposes
molecular and corpuscular standards for systems to gain balance with their sur-
roundings in the least time. Thus, the tellurian homochirality convention and the
universal charge–parity violation emerged from evolution rather than from some
subtle bias during abiogenesis [10,11] and baryogenesis [12]. I motivate this view
with an all-inclusive theory of evolution derived from statistical physics.
© 2023 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.