Basic ingredients of life found in conditions prevailing in the early universe

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected complex organic molecules frozen in ice around a baby star called ST6, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy about 160,000 light-years away (see this). There is an article about the finding by Sewilo M. et al, with title "Protostars at Subsolar Metallicity: First Detection of Large Solid-State Complex Organic Molecules in the Large Magellanic Cloud", published in Astrophysical Journal Letters (see this).

Molecules like methanol, ethanol, acetaldehyde, methyl formate, and even acetic acid — the key ingredient of vinegar — were locked inside cosmic ice. These chemicals belong to the molecules that help kick-start chemistry needed for life. Until now, finding them in solid ice was incredibly rare, even inside our own galaxy.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is a harsh place. It has fewer heavy elements and stronger radiation — conditions similar to the early universe, long before planets like Earth existed. Despite this complex organic chemistry is possible there. Does this mean that the ingredients for life don’t need “perfect” conditions or that there is new physics involved? Even more, is this new physics universal.

It is very difficult to imagine how a complex biochemistry (biochemistry as we understand it) could have prevailed much before planets like Earth did exist. New physics seems to be required and TGD predicts it. The notion of a field body (field-/magnetic body) carrying large h_eff phases of ordinary matter (see this, this, this, this and this) could explain how the organic molecules crucial for life could have formed in these circumstances.

1. Water is a key element of life in TGD inspired quantum biology. Therefore the fact that the molecules were inside ice is a valuable hint. Pollack effect (see this) occurs when water is irradiated with, say, infrared photons arriving from the Sun or some other source now the protostar. Pollack effect generates negatively charged regions, Exclusion Zones (EZs) with rather strange properties such as the ability to kick out impurities, which seems to be in conflict with the second law of thermodynamics.

   Protons must go somewhere from the EZ and the TGD inspired proposal is that they go to the magnetic body of the system and form a large h_eff phase, in many cases behaving like dark matter. These phases are not however identifiable as galactic dark matter. h_eff serves as a measure for the algebraic complexity of the space-time surface and also for the level of conscious intelligence, a kind of universal IQ. The magnetic body naturally controls the physics of ordinary matter.

   What matters is the energy needed to kick ordinary protons to the magnetic body: the needed energy corresponds to the energy difference between -OH and O^- + dark protons in the magnetic body. These two states of proton are proposed to define what might be regarded as a universal topological qubit (see this, this and this). Also the formation of organic molecules as bound states liberates binding energy and can induce the generalized Pollack effect.

2. The formation of dark protons at the magnetic body of water could represent one of the first steps in the evolution of life and already at this stage the dark analogs of the basic information molecules, genetic code and metabolism could have emerged. The chemical realization of the genetic code would have emerged later.

Could the Pollack effect and the notion of magnetic body allow us to understand the formation of the basic molecules of life found to exist in the Magellanic Cloud. -OH group, appearing also in water molecules, is essential for the standard form of Pollack effect so that it could be important also now.

1. Alcohols obey the formula H-(CH₂)_n-OH. Both methanol (CH₃)-OH and ethanol (CH₃)-(CH₂)-OH contain the OH group so that Pollack effect is possible for them and could explain the special effects of alcohol on consciousness. Note that methane CH₄ emerges from the decompositions of organic materials.
2. Acetaldehyde (CH₃)-(H-C=O) can be formed by a partial oxidation of ethanol in an exothermic reaction at temperatures 500-650 C. The reaction equation for the condensation of acetaldehyde and O₂ is 2 (CH₃)-(CH₂)-OH + O₂ → 2 (CH₃)-(H-C=O) + 2 H₂O. Dehydration is in question.

   One can imagine the following sketch for what might happen. At the first step the protons of -OH groups of ethanols are kicked to dark protons at the magnetic body. This would induce the transformation of C-O bonds to C=O bonds, forcing C to give up the second H atom of CH₂. The dark protons would drop back to ordinary protons and together with electrons and the two H atoms and oxygens of O₂ would form 2 water molecules.

3. Methyl formate (CH₃)-(O=C-OH) can be produced in the condensation reaction (CH₃)-OH + H-(O=C-OH)→ CH₃)-(O=C-OH)+H₂O of methanol (CH₃)-OH and formic acid H-(O=C-OH). Dehydration is involved.

   OH group must be replaced with O=C-OH in the reaction. One can imagine that the proton of -OH is temporarily transformed to a dark proton at the magnetic body and facilitates the replacement. After that the dark proton, O^- and H- of H-(O=C-OH) combine to form the water molecule.

4. Acetic acid (CH₃)-(O=C-OH) is formed by the transformation H₂→ =O occurring in the condensation reaction of ethanol and oxygen as (CH₃)-(CH₂)-OH + O₂ → (CH₃)-(O=C-OH )+H₂O involving dehydration. Also now the proton of -OH could transform to a dark proton. This should induce replacement CH₂ → C=O, the splitting of O₂ and the formation of H₂O. The dark proton would drop back and -OH would be regenerated.

To conclude, the temporary transformation of proton to dark proton at the magnetic body by Pollack effect could be involved with all these reactions.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

For the lists of articles (most of them published in journals founded by Huping Hu) and books about TGD see this.