Quasars and Antimatter

Abstract

MR. GRAY has directed attention to a remarkable parallel between the evolution in living species of particular enantiomorphs or optical isomers to the complete exclusion of the other, and the evolution of matter in the Universe to the (apparently) complete exclusion of antimatter. In both cases a particular parity is preferred, that in the latter case being defined by a particular direction for the emission of β-particles relative to an applied magnetic field in β-decay. Under the symmetrical conditions of synthesis in the laboratory, only inactive mixtures of equal quantities of the dextro- and laevoforms are formed, as we would expect if the materials involved in the synthesis are optically inactive. In the case of matter synthesis, the materials appear to be symmetrical, namely, equal numbers of particles and antiparticles produced by pair creation, yet the product is asymmetrical. As Gray points out, the large-scale asymmetry (either in the stereochemistry of naturally occurring molecules or in the creation of matter in the Universe) appears to have evolved from what was initially a very small-scale and chance asymmetry.