Habitable Zones & Global Climate

Multiverse Predictions For Habitability: Origin Of Life Scenarios

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
March 7, 2023
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Multiverse Predictions For Habitability: Origin Of Life Scenarios
Bayes factors for different combinations of habitability criteria. Each entry in this matrix represents the best combination of criteria containing the origin of life scenario and habitability condition specified on their respective axes. Here we use the notation ae-x“ a ˆ 10´x. — astro-ph.EP

If the origin of life is rare and sensitive to the local conditions at the site of its emergence, then, using the principle of mediocrity within a multiverse framework, we may expect to find ourselves in a universe that is better than usual at creating these necessary conditions.

We use this reasoning to investigate several origin of life scenarios to determine whether they are compatible with the multiverse, including the prebiotic soup scenario, hydrothermal vents, delivery of prebiotic material from impacts, and panspermia. We find that most of these scenarios induce a preference toward weaker-gravity universes, and that panspermia and scenarios involving solar radiation or large impacts as a disequilibrium source are disfavored.

Additionally, we show that several hypothesized habitability criteria which are disfavored when the origin of life is not taken into account become compatible with the multiverse, and that the emergence of life and emergence of intelligence cannot both be sensitive to disequilibrium production conditions.

McCullen Sandora, Vladimir Airapetian, Luke Barnes, Geraint F. Lewis, Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez

Comments: 27 pages, 4 figures
Subjects: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2303.02678 [q-bio.PE] (or arXiv:2303.02678v1 [q-bio.PE] for this version)
Journal reference: Universe 2023, 9, 42
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3390/universe9010042
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Submission history
From: McCullen Sandora
[v1] Sun, 5 Mar 2023 14:29:44 UTC (2,284 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.02678
Astrobiology

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻