Parity violation and critical temperature of non-interacting chiral molecules

Abstract

Thermodynamical properties of non-interacting chiral molecules are studied under the two-state model in an asymmetric double well potential. The competition between thermal effects, the tunneling process and any pseudoscalar interaction (including electroweak parity violation) is governed by a critical temperature, T c , where the heat capacity displays a maximum, and the entropy and the population difference between left and right conformations show an inflection point. This population difference becomes appreciable at temperatures below T c , whereas, at higher temperatures, the racemization process is more and more important. The critical values of the entropy and heat capacity are constants and independent of the chiral system under study.