Chiral and chemical oscillations in a simple dimerization model

TL;DR

This paper investigates a minimal chemical model demonstrating how chiral oscillations can spontaneously emerge in polymerization processes, revealing complex dynamic behaviors in non-catalytic chiral systems.

Contribution

It introduces a simple dimerization model that exhibits spontaneous chiral oscillations, advancing understanding of chiral symmetry breaking in chemical systems.

Findings

Chiral oscillations can spontaneously occur in the APED model.

Oscillations are linked to concentration fluctuations of chemical species.

The model provides insights into non-catalytic chiral polymerization dynamics.

Abstract

We consider the APED model (activation-polymerization-epimerization-depolymerization) for describing the emergence of chiral solutions within a non-catalytic framework for chiral polymerization. The minimal APED model for dimerization can lead to the spontaneous appearance of chiral oscillations and we describe in detail the nature of these oscillations in the enantiomeric excess, and which are the consequence of oscillations of the concentrations of the associated chemical species.