Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-mx8w7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-25T10:08:18.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Terrestrial and Astronomical Sources of Circular Polarisation: A Fresh Look at the Origin of OF Homochirality on Earth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Ramon D. Wolstencroft
Ramon D. Wolstencroft*
Affiliation:
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, U.K.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In searching for a terrestrial source of circular polarization that could be an agent for homochirality, I have re-discovered earlier work by Ivanoff & Waterman (1958) showing that total internal reflection of sunlight scattered by water or suspended particles can, in calm shallow waters such as tidal pools, yield a degree of circular polarization >10% in favourable directions. A terrestrial source would have the distinct advantage over an astronomical source that the perilous journey to the planetary surface is eliminated. The relative viability of this mechanism is compared with the widely discussed astronomical mechanism of Bailey et al. (1998).

Information

Type
Astrochemistry
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 154 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Bailey, J., Chrysostomou, A., Hough, J. H., Gledhill, T. M., McCall, A., Clark, S., Menard, F. & Tamura, M. 1998, Science, 281, 672 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, J. 2001, Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, 31, 167 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basiuk, V. A. 2001, Adv. Space Research, 27, 335 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canuto, V. M, et al. 1983, Nature, 305, 281 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, B. A., & Chyba, C. 2000, Icarus, 145, 272 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronin, J. R., & Pizzarello, S. 1997, Science, 275, 951 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitzfelder, S. J., Plass, G. N., & Kattawar, G. W., 1976, Appl. Optics, 2489 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivanoff, A., & Waterman, T. H. 1958, J. of Marine Research, 16, 255 Google Scholar
Mason, S. F. 1997, Nature, 389, 804 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. C., & Baker, K. S. 1981, Appl. Optics, 20, 177 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waterman, T. H. 1954, Science, 120, 927 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, T. H. 1955, Deep Sea Research Suppl., 3, 426 Google Scholar
Wolstencroft, R. D. 1985, in IAU Symposium 112, The Search for Extraterrestrial Life (Dordrecht: Reidel), 171 Google Scholar