Seminario a cargo de Daniel Maria Busiello (EPFL, Laussane).
Resumen: Life has most likely originated as a consequence of processes taking place in non-equilibrium conditions (e.g. in the proximity of deep-sea thermal vents) selecting states of matter that would have been otherwise unfavorable at equilibrium. External sources, and the subsequent thermodynamic necessity of dissipating heat, might have driven pre-biotic molecules against their equilibrium fate. In a simple chemical network, the presence of a thermal gradient selects states participating to faster reactions and contributing the most to the dissipation rate. The furanose conundrum potentially finds a solution within this picture. Furanose is boosted beyond the limits set by equilibrium thermodynamics, exhibiting maximum selection at optimal dissipation, as gauged by the temperature gradient and energy barriers for isomerization. This predicted optimum is compatible with temperature drops found in hydrothermal vents. A byproduct of our approach is that as the complexity of the chemical network increases, the velocity of reaction paths leading to a given state determines its selection, giving rise to non-trivial localization phenomena in state space. The proposed framework singles out the role of non-equilibrium dissipation, in particular when it is declinable in terms of entropy production rate. A general non-equilibrium dissipative functional might generalize our intuition, potentially providing a better grasp on processes underpinning selection.
- Fecha: Viernes 26 de Febrero de 2021
- Lugar: Online en el enlace: https://meet.google.com/kez-diov-xay
- Horario: 12:00 horas
- Organiza: Institute “Carlos I” de Física Teórica y Computacional
- Más información: