Julian ChelaFlores

1

Evolution of the universe From Astrophysics to
Astrobiology
Evolution of the universe From Astrophysics to
Astrobiology

• Julian Chela-Flores
• The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italia
• and
• Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas,
• Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
• The Origins how, when and where it all started,
• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Centro Linceo
  Interdisciplinare Beniamino Segre,
• Roma, 22 May 2006

Julian Chela-Flores The Abdus
Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italia and Instituto de
Estudios Avanzados, Caracas, R.B. Venezuela
2
Plan of the talk

• The Origins the universe (how, when and where).
• The new science of astrobiology.
• The Origins life in the universe (how, when and
  where).
• The search for an independent origin of life in
  the universe.
• Can a human-level of intelligence evolve in an
  exoplanet?

3
The Origins1. The universe
Part I

• How?
• When?
• Where?
• Not relevant in a Friedmann universe, given the
  geometric interpretation of classical General
  Relativity.

4

Evolution of the universe From Astrophysics to
Astrobiology
How did the universe start?

• Julian Chela-Flores
• The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italia
• and
• Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas,
• Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
• The Origins how, when and where it all started,
• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Centro Linceo
  Interdisciplinare Beniamino Segre,
• Roma, 22 May 2006

5
What is needed to understand how the universe
started?

• 1. We are at a point where experiments must
  guide us as to how the universe started and what
  will be its ultimate destiny.
• We cannot make progress without these
  experiments.
• 2. The theories of the space sciences that need
  to be tested are

The equations of General Relativity G????????????
???????????????????
?g????

• General Relativity and the
• Standard Model.

6
What is needed to understand how the universe
started?

• 1. We are at a point where experiments must
  guide us as to how the universe started and what
  will be its ultimate destiny.
• We cannot make progress without these
  experiments.
• 2. The theories of the space sciences that need
  to be tested are

The equations of General Relativity G????????????
???????????????????
?g????

• General Relativity and the
• Standard Model.

7
What is needed to understand how the universe
started?

• 1. We are at a point where experiments must
  guide us as to how the universe started and what
  will be its ultimate destiny.
• We cannot make progress without these
  experiments.
• 2. The theories of the space sciences that need
  to be tested are

The equations of General Relativity G????????????
???????????????????
?g????

• General Relativity and the
• Standard Model.

8
A new source of insights into how the universe
started the Large Hadron Collider

• With the LHC we will be able to search for
  new forms of matter with energies up to 14 TeV.

At some of the LHC detectors we will be able to
test the validity of

• Models of quantized
• General Relativity
• and
• The Standard Model.

9
The contribution of space missions
New experimental facilities such as LHC will
help, but especially relevant are a few of
many space missions to come

• Planck
• CMBpol
• LISA

10
The Planck and CMBpol missions(2007, gt2014)

• These missions aim to
• test gravitational waves produced after the Big
  Bang, by careful consideration of the ripples in
  the early universe.

11
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)

• LISA is jointly sponsored by ESA and NASA.
• LISA will test the Theory of General Relativity,
  probe the early Universe, and will search for
  gravitational waves.

12

Evolution of the universe From Astrophysics to
Astrobiology
When did the universe start?

• Julian Chela-Flores
• The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italia
• and
• Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas,
• Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
• The Origins how, when and where it all started,
• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Centro Linceo
  Interdisciplinare Beniamino Segre,
• Roma, 22 May 2006

13
The anthropic approach

• Explaining the values of the observables of the
  universe in terms of the possibility of favoring
  life is called anthropic.
• These arguments are analogous to those originally
  used by Sir Fred Hoyle in the synthesis of
  chemical elements in stars.

14
The intelligibility of the accelerating universe

• If our universe is part of an ensemble of
  universes - a multiverse, each with different
  physical constants, it is conceivable that a
  fraction of them offer conditions favorable for
  life.
• We may assume that we are living in a universe in
  which the physical constants, favor the existence
  of life for a few billion years.

15
New insights with the anthropic principle
One example where these new insights are needed
is in the discussion of

• The density of dark matter
• The density of dark energy.

16
WMAP The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe

• has demonstrated that the universe is compatible
  with an age of 13.7 Gyrs.
• is composed of 73 percent dark energy, 23 percent
  cold dark matter, and only 4 percent atoms, and
• will expand forever.

A detailed picture of the infant universe.
Colors indicate "warmer" (red) and "cooler"
(blue) spots. The white bars show the
"polarization" direction of the oldest light.
17
The new science of astrobiology
Part II

• It is a space science that emphasizes the life
  sciences.
• It is a life science that emphasizes the space
  sciences.
• The main areas of interest are

• The destiny of life in the universe.
• The distribution of life in the universe,

In common with the space sciences

• The evolution of life in the universe.
• The origin of life in the universe,

In common with the life sciences
18

19
Destiny of life in the universe,related with the
origin and destiny of the universeThe first area
of astrobiology
Is the universe intelligible?

20
Distribution of life in the universe The second
area of astrobiology
21
A red dwarf 9,000 light-years away
An icy "super-Earth" (x13) and hypothetical moon
22
Are there biosignatures in the exoplanets?
23
The search for biosignatures in exoplanets

• The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) will consist
  of space telescopes.
• Darwin will use three space telescopes (3 m in
  diameter) and a fourth spacecraft to serve as
  communications hub.
• TPF and Darwin will go beyond the three previous
  techniques for exoplanet hunting wobbling stars,
  transits and microlensing.

TPF, 2014 and 2020
Darwin, 2015
24

Evolution of the universe From Astrophysics to
Astrobiology
The last two aspects of astrobiology evolution
and the origin of life in the universe

• Julian Chela-Flores
• The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italia
• and
• Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas,
• Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
• The Origins how, when and where it all started,
• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Centro Linceo
  Interdisciplinare Beniamino Segre,
• Roma, 22 May 2006

25
The evolution of life in the universe,universal
darwinism The third area of astrobiology
The theory of evolution discusses the relative
importance of
(i) contingency, (ii) gradual action of natural
selection.

• The implications of human evolution in
  astrobiology will be discussed in Part V.

26
Can the outcome of evolutionary processes be
predictable?

• Independent of historical contingency, natural
  selection is
• powerful enough for organisms living in
  similar environments
• (in the universe) to be shaped to similar ends
  (De Duve).

• To a certain extent and in certain conditions,
  natural selection may be stronger than chance
  (Conway-Morris).
• The ubiquity of evolutionary convergence argues
  against the view that biological diversity on
  Earth is unique.

27
The Origins2. Life in the universe
(The fourth area of
astrobiology)
Part III

• How?
• When?
• Where?

28
How did life start on Earth?
29
Miller-Urey Synthesis (Chemical evolution)
Precursor molecule
Biomolecule
RNA World
30
When did life start on Earth?

• The evidence from fossils of stromatolites is
  that cyanobacteria were present since the Archean
  over 2.5 Gyr BP.
• The exact date is still controversial.

31
Where did life start on Earth?
32
Endogenous synthesis

• In hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges, lava
  from the Earth's mantle forms continents.

• Circulation of water
• heated by magma provides elements for metabolism.

Tube worms 9 N , East Pacific Rise
Black-smoker
33
Chemical and biological evolution
Theories
Scientists
34
How did life start in the universe?
Dense clouds
Star and planet formation
Interplanetary dust particles
Comets
Meteorites
35
Compounds observed in the comas of comets
36
Interplanetary dust particles

• IDPs of carbonaceous material, if larger than
  about 100 micrometres in size, reach the ground
  in large quantities - a few 104 tons per year
  (micro-meterorites).

A 2-micrometer particle of silicate
mineral (forsterite)

• The Stardust spacecraft was launched in 1999 to
  collect dust and carbon-based samples during its
  closest encounter with Comet Wild 2.

37
Organic compounds in Murchison and other
meteorites
38
Part IV
The search for an independent origin of life in
the universe
International Journal of Astrobiology (2006)
39
The images of Voyayers and Galileo
NASA, 1977-1989
The Solar System Family
Udaeus-Minos intersection
Voyager
Galileo
The icy surface of Europa
40
Internal heat may provideecosystems driven by
hydrothermal vents
(a tidal effect)
41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
gate
submersible
melter
black smoker
Horvath et al, 1997
44
The Europa icy surface
(Spectrometer data from near IR)
and patchy
Distribution of non-ice component
albedo per pixel
McCord et al, Science 280 (1998), 1242
4 km/pixel
High resolution albedo image
45
Where is the S-belt region of highest
concentration of non-ice elements?
Udaeus-Minos intersection
S-belt
Conamara
Pywill
46
(No Transcript)
47
Non-water ice constituents staining the icy and
patchy surface of Europa
48
Conceivable sources of sulphur stains on the icy
and patchy surface of Europa

• External
• Ions may be implanted from the Jovian
  plasma, or alternatively the source is
• Internal
• Sulphur may be due to cryovolcanism, or we
  can ask
• Could the sulphur be biogenic?

49
Where else could we get some information of the
sulphur source of the icy patches?
Space weather
50
A probe in a solar north-south polar orbit
51
The Ulysses dust detector
52
Ios volcanic surface(Galileo)
53
The Europa Microprobe in-situ Explorer (The
EMPIE study)

• One way to decide on the sulphur source is to
  land on the icy surface of Europa.
• The lander would have a set of 4 miniprobes (350
  gm each). Expected penetration in ice is 72.5 cm.
• Mass constraint for the microprobes would be 1.7
  kg.

Tirso Velasco and colleagues
54
Mass spectrometry

• When living organisms process sulphur they tend
  to fractionate isotopes differently from
  geological processes.
• MS is the right tool. The image shows a light one
  built for the Bepi-Colombo 2012 mission to
  Mercury, although the lander was later cancelled.

Lander instrument (120 x 60 mm 500 g)
55
Part V
Can an exoplanet support a human-level of
intelligence?
International Journal of Astrobiology (2003)
56
Microorganism physiology

• Calcium channels are involved in protozoan
  movements.

• In archaea (Haloferax volcanii),
• voltage-dependent and mechano-
• sensitive ion channels are known.

Paramecium (protozoa)
57
Invertebrate physiology

• In jellyfish action potentials (nerve nets) are
  known.

• Even more surprising is that
• in sponges Ca- and
• Na-dependent channels
• are also known.

Aglantha digitale (cnidarian)
58
Cerebral ganglions

• receive inputs from sensory organs and deliver
  outputs to muscles, via nerve filaments.

Notoplana acticola (flatworm platyhelminths)
59
The probability of a human level of intelligence
arising in an independent evolutionary line

• The evolution of the simple nervous systems of
  invertebrates is information relevant to the
  study of the evolution of brain, as a correlate
  of intelligence.

• New discoveries about the spread of the early
  humans may add further constraints on what we can
  expect from other intelligences (Homo
  floresiensis?)

60
The search of intelligent behavior

• The Drake equation assumes that evolution of
  intelligence, as known to us through human
  evolution, is a cosmic phenomenon.
• Evolutionary convergence in the universe
  militates in favor of intelligent behavior being
  independent of human evolution.
• To study whether some aspects of human brain
  evolution are exceptional, comparisons with other
  species may be fruitful. (Lori Marino has gone
  some way in this direction.)

61
Discussion Evolution of the universe and life
Part VI

• Through a fleet of space missions the frontier
  between cosmological astrophysics and
  astrobiology will be extended in a joint search
  for its common objectives.
• Give us in the short term an independent origin
  of life on Europa, Mars, Titan, or Enceladus and
  the doors to progress will open.

62
What if life started outside the Solar System?

• Brain evolution may offer hints of the
  probability that a human level of intelligence
  may arise in an independent evolutionary line.

• The SETI project is an observational tool
  currently
• available to bioastronomers.

63
Beyond astrobiologyRelation between science and
the humanities

• A philosophical question What is the place of
  humans in the universe?
• Philosophy can progress by discussion of
  the current views
• on humans that are suggested by
  astrobiology.
• A theological question (why) Is there purpose
  for life in the universe?
• The fitness of the universe for life
  (Henderson, 1913)
• and the anthropic approaches stimulate
  the dialogue at
• the frontier between science and the
  humanities (JCF in
• Barrow et al, 2006).