The
open–access journal for physics
New Journal
of Physics
From plasma
crystals and helical structures towards inorganic living matter
V N
Tsytovich
1G E Morfill
V E Fortov
N G Gusein-Zade
B A Klumov
and S V Vladimirov
General
Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Vavilova str. 38,
Moscow,
119991, Russia
Max-Planck-Institut
für Extraterrestrische Physik, 85740 Garching, Germany
Insitute of
Physics of Extremal State of Matter, Russian Academy of Science,
Moscow,
Russia
School of
Physics, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
E-mail: tsyto@mpe.mpg.de
New Journal
of Physics 9 (2007) 263
Received 19
April 2007
Published
14 August 2007
Online at
http://www.njp.org/
doi:10.1088/1367-2630/9/8/263
Abstract. Complex plasmas may naturally
self-organize themselves into stable interacting helical structures that
exhibit features normally attributed to organic living matter.
The self-organization is based on non-trivial
physical mechanisms of plasma interactions involving over-screening of plasma
polarization. As a result, each helical string composed of solid micro particles
is topologically and dynamically controlled by plasma fluxes leading to particle charging and over-screening,
the latter providing attraction even among helical strings of the same charge
sign. These interacting complex structures exhibit thermodynamic and
evolutionary features thought to be peculiar only to living matter such as bifurcations
that serve as ‘memory marks’, self-duplication, metabolic rates in a thermo dynamically
open system, and non-Hamiltonian dynamics.
We examine the salient features of this new
complex ‘state of soft matter’ in light of the autonomy, evolution, progenity
and auto poiesis principles used to define life.
It is concluded that complex self-organized
plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as
candidates for inorganic living matter that may exist in space provided certain
conditions allow them to evolve naturally.
Author to
whom any correspondence should be addressed.
New Journal
of Physics 9 (2007) 263 PII: S1367-2630(07)48657-8
1367-2630/07/010263+11$30.00
© IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
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