Reciprocating thermochemical mediator of pre-biotic polymer decomposition on mineral surfaces

A continuing frustration for origin of life scientists is that abiotic and, by extension, pre-biotic attempts to develop self-sustaining, evolving molecular systems tend to produce more dead-end substances than macromolecular products with the necessary potential for biostructure and function – the so-called 'tar problem'. Nevertheless, primordial life somehow emerged despite that presumed handicap. A resolution of this problem is important in emergence-of-life science because it would provide valuable guidance in choosing subsequent paths of investigation, such as identifying pre-biotic patterns on Mars. To study the problem we set up a simple non-equilibrium flow dynamical model for the coupled temperature and mass dynamics of the decomposition of a polymeric carbohydrate adsorbed on a mineral surface, with incident stochastic thermal fluctuations. Results show that the model system behaves as a reciprocating thermochemical oscillator. The output fluctuation distribution is bimodal, w..., The file reciprocator.ode is an XPPAUT script used to generate Figure 3 and Figure 4 in: 
Ball, R. and Brindley, J. 2024. Reciprocating thermochemical mediator of pre-biotic polymer decomposition on mineral surfaces. J. R. Soc. Interface, accepted manuscript rsif-2024-0492.R2
The file reciprocator.ode.set was generated by running XPPAUT on reciprocator.ode and contains all numerical data and system settings for a particular run. , , # Reciprocating thermochemical mediator: Open Source Script

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[Access this script via Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kh18932hr)

The XPPAUT script (**reciprocator.ode**) to generate Figure 3 and Figure 4 in 'Reciprocating thermochemical mediator of pre-biotic polymer decomposition on mineral surfaces' has been uploaded to Dryad.

The XPPAUT-generated file (**reciprocator.ode.set**) has been uploaded to Dryad.  

## Description of the open source software XPPAUT and the script reciprocator.ode and the file reciprocator.ode.set

XPPAUT is required to run the reciprocator.ode script.

XPPAUT is a powerful and capable software tool for solving differential equations, difference equations, delay equations, functional equations, boundary value problems, and stochastic equations.

Download and install XPPAUT for your computer from [https://sites.pitt.edu/~phase/bard/bardware/xpp/xpp.html](https://sites.pitt.edu/~phase/bard/bardware/xpp/xpp.html)

XPPAUT is easy to use. Read the docum...