Table Of ContentAstronomers’ Universe
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Richard N. Boyd
Stardust, Supernovae
and the Molecules of Life
Might We All Be Aliens?
Richard N. Boyd
Ohio State University (Emeritus)
5846 Leona Court
Windsor, CA 95492, USA
[email protected]
ISSN 1614-659X
ISBN 978-1-4614-1331-8 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-1332-5
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1332-5
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Preface
In writing this book I gradually realized that I was addressing two
very disparate scientific communities: biochemists and astrophys-
icists, and that these communities are rarely in scientific commu-
nication. Furthermore, the astrophysicists were further divided
into two additional not-very-interactive communities, nuclear
astrophysicists and neutrino astrophysicists. What this forced me
to do is try to present what I regard as at least a minimal level of
information from each of those communities in the context of the
primary subject of this book, the chirality of the amino acids. The
biochemists will quickly realize that my allegiances are with the
astrophysicists; I hope I have done a reasonably credible job of rep-
resenting the chemists. Trying to gain a reasonable level of personal
credibility in biochemistry has certainly represented a major com-
ponent of the time I spent in writing this book. In recognition of
the wide diversity of topics, and the inevitable nomenclature that
goes with each, I’ve tried to include a pretty complete glossary.
Since this book is about origins, I felt it appropriate to pres-
ent several types of origins, notably, the Big Bang, the origin of
the elements, and finally the origin of the molecules of life in the
cosmos and on planet Earth (and quite possibly on other planets).
I have tried to present all of these subjects at a level that someone
with a minimal background in science, but a strong interest in
learning new things, can digest. This might also make the book
appropriate for a course for undergraduates who are not science
majors: “amino acid chirality for poets” (but with significant addi-
tional input from the teacher, probably with the help of the many
references to supplement the areas of professorial non-expertise).
For those readers who have more of a science background, I hope
I’ve not insulted your intelligence too much; the subjects in this
book are sufficiently varied that I can almost guarantee that you
will eventually find something discussed in which you’re not an
expert. In any event, I have tried to describe the subjects of the
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vvii Preface
book in such a way that a class of undergraduates could use the
book to truly get a grounding in astrobiology.
Although I have certainly emphasized the model that I,
together with my colleagues Toshitaka Kajino and Takashi Onaka,
have built, I have also tried to present enough generality in the
subjects relevant to the origin of life that students can gain an
overall impression of the basic features of the subject. And, of
course, I’ve included some physics background subjects that are
favorites of mine, which are relevant to origins, and which can
serve as general knowledge for students and other readers who are
generally curious about science.
In writing this book I’ve violated one of the basic tenets asso-
ciated with attempts to popularize science: don’t include equa-
tions. I’ve included lots of equations. In one instance the equation
was unavoidable: that was the discussion of the Drake equation,
which is pretty basic to discussions of detecting extraterrestrial
life. However, my other equations are not the sort of thing you
find in algebra books, rather they are more shorthand ways of stat-
ing processes or reactions. These are not equations that could be
solved for one of the variables; they don’t contain variables! I hope
the readers will find them useful.
I am deeply indebted to many people for contributing to my
knowledge of this subject, and therefore to the content of this
book. First and foremost in this regard are my collaborators on
the development of the Supernova Neutrino Amino Acid Process-
ing model, Toshitaka Kajino and Takashi Onaka, for their many
contributions to our efforts. This book could not have been writ-
ten without their inputs to our two papers. I must include in my
acknowledgements two other people who gave a boost to the early
efforts: Isao Tanihata and Reiko Kuroda.
And, finally, I gratefully acknowledge my wife, Sidnee, who
although she is a nonscientist, read through the manuscript, and
in many instances pointed out the places where the physicist in
me had gotten carried away with physics-speak. The places where
the physics-speak still lurks are my fault, but the readers can be
sure that there are many less such places than there would have
been without Sidnee’s efforts.
Windsor, CA, USA Richard N. Boyd
About the Author
Dr. Richard N. Boyd was the Science Director of the National Igni-
tion Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Lab from 2007 to 2010
and now serves as a staff physicist at LLNL. He earned his Ph.D. in
physics from the University of Minnesota in 1967, and has been a
physics professor at the University of Rochester from 1972 to 1978
and a professor of physics and astronomy at Ohio State University
from 1984 to 2002. Dr. Boyd also served as a program officer at
the National Science Foundation from 2002 to 2006, managing
the NSF portfolios in nuclear and particle astrophysics as well as
nuclear physics. Following that, he was a visiting professor at the
National Astronomical Observatory in Japan.
Dr. Boyd has enjoyed a research career that resulted in more
than 200 publications, both experimental and theoretical, and one
graduate-level textbook on nuclear astrophysics. He received an
Outstanding Scholar award from Ohio State University in 1982,
and was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was
named an honorary Native American of the Santa Clara Pueblo in
1997, and an Eminent Scientist of the Institute for Physical and
Chemical Research in Japan in 1998–1999.
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Contents
Preface ........................................................................................ v
About the Author ...................................................................... vii
1. Introduction ........................................................................ 1
1.1 In the Beginning ......................................................... 1
1.2 What Is “Life?” ........................................................... 6
1.3 The Miller Urey Experiment ..................................... 10
1.4 General Background and Definitions ........................ 13
References ........................................................................... 17
2. What is the Origin of the Lightest Elements? ................... 21
2.1 The Big Bang ............................................................... 21
2.2 The Supernova Cosmology Project ........................... 25
2.3 The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe .......... 27
2.4 Olber’s Paradox .......................................................... 30
2.5 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) ............................... 31
References ........................................................................... 38
3. What is the Origin of the Rest of the Elements? .............. 41
3.1 Introduction to Stellar Nucleosynthesis .................. 41
3.1.1 Hydrogen Burning .......................................... 43
3.1.2 Helium Burning .............................................. 49
3.1.3 Subsequent Burning Stages ............................ 50
3.2 After Stellar Burning .................................................. 53
3.2.1 Creating a Core-Collapse
Supernova Explosion ...................................... 54
3.2.2 Synthesizing the Heavy Elements ................. 56
3.2.3 White Dwarfs .................................................. 61
3.2.4 Type Ia Supernovae ......................................... 62
References ........................................................................... 63
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Description:Where were the amino acids, the molecules of life, created: perhaps in a lightning storm in the early Earth, or perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos? This book argues that at least some of them must have been produced in the cosmos, and that the fact that the Earthly amino acids have a specific handednes
