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.