Life evolved on our planet by means of a combination of Darwinian selection
and innovations leading to higher levels of complexity. The emergence and
selection of replicating entities is a central problem in prebiotic evolution.
Theoretical models have shown how populations of different types of replicating
entities exclude or coexist with other classes of replicators. Models are
typically kinetic, based on standard replicator equations. On the other hand,
the presence of thermodynamical constrains for these systems remain an open
question. This is largely due to the lack of a general theory of out of
statistical methods for systems far from equilibrium. Nonetheless, a first
approach to this problem has been put forward in a series of novel
developements in non-equilibrium physics, under the rubric of the extended
second law of thermodynamics. The work presented here is twofold: firstly, we
review this theoretical framework and provide a brief description of the three
fundamental replicator types in prebiotic evolution: parabolic, malthusian and
hyperbolic. Finally, we employ these previously mentioned techinques to explore
how replicators are constrained by thermodynamics.Comment: 12 Pages, 5 Figure