Limits on asymmetric orthopositronium formation in high Z optically active molecules
- 1 March 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Discover Life
- Vol. 16 (1) , 81-87
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01808051
Abstract
The proposed connection between the parity violating handedness of beta particles in radioactive decay and the sign (L) of biological chirality (the Vester-Ulbricht [V-U] hypothesis) is experimentally tested. The theoretically predicted asymmetry in triplet positronium formation (APs) is measured in several highZ optically active molecules using low energy positrons with a net helicity. We findAPs APs>2×10−6 in these molecules. The connection between these limits and limits on asymmetric radiolysis (AR) is made, with a new limit ofAR>10−9 being placed. This limit onAR, which is thirty times lower than a previous measurement in the amino acid leucine (Z=6), is still not small enough to rule out the V-U hypothesis.Keywords
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