Solar activity during the early stages of the Sun’s life cycle might have played an important role in the emergence of life on our planet, claimed a study recently published in the scientific journal Life.
During the course of their work, the scientists examined the influence the galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and solar energetic particles (SEP) “associated with superflares from the young Sun” might have had on the formation of amino acids and carboxylic acids – building blocks of organic life - in "weakly reduced gas mixtures representing the early Earth’s atmosphere."
The team, led by Kensei Kobayashi from Yokohama National University’s Department of Chemistry, declared that they were able to show "experimentally" for the first time that "the production rates of amino acids and carboxylic acids in non-reducing gas mixtures due to proton irradiation can significantly exceed the production rates of these molecules via GCRs and spark discharges."
"This provides experimental evidence supporting the importance of SEP events in the young Sun as energy sources which were required for the synthesis of the biologically important molecules deposited and accumulated in diverse aquatic geological settings of the early Earth," the researchers wrote.
The scientists also suggested that their results hint at the possibility of "endogenous production of amino acids via SEPs" being greater than that caused by comet and meteorite impacts.