DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: New Constraints on the Abundance of 60Fe in the Early Solar System

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of the Geophysical Sciences; Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Earth and Planetary Sciences
  4. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of the Geophysical Sciences. Enrico Fermi Inst.; Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, IL (United States)
  5. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of the Geophysical Sciences. Enrico Fermi Inst.; Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
  6. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Hawai'i Inst. of Geophysics and Planetology. School of Ocean, Earth Science and Technology

Establishing the abundance of the extinct radionuclide 60Fe (half-life 2.62 Ma) in the early solar system is important for understanding the astrophysical context of solar system formation. While bulk measurements of early solar system phases show a low abundance consistent with galactic background, some in situ measurements by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) imply a higher abundance, which would require injection from a nearby supernova (SN). In this paper, we present in situ nickel isotopic analyses by resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) in a chondrule from the primitive meteorite Semarkona (LL3.00). The same chondrule had been previously analyzed by SIMS. Despite improved precision compared to SIMS, the RIMS nickel isotopic data do not reveal any resolved excesses of 60Ni that could be unambiguously ascribed to in situ 60Fe decay. Linear regression of 60Ni/58Ni versus 56Fe/58Ni yields an initial 60Fe/56Fe ratio for this chondrule of (3.8 ± 6.9) × 10-8, which is consistent with both the low initial value found by bulk measurements and the low end of the range of initial ratios inferred from some in situ work. The same regression also gives a solar initial 60Ni/58Ni ratio, which shows that this sample was not disturbed by nickel mobilization, thus agreeing with a low initial 60Fe/56Fe ratio. These findings agree with a re-evaluation of previous SIMS measurements of the same sample. Finally, supernova injection of 60Fe into the solar system or its parental cloud material is therefore not necessary to account for the measured solar system's initial amount of 60Fe.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; NNX15AF78G; 80NSSC17K0250; 80NSSC17K0251; NNX17AE86G; NNX17AE87G; NNX15AJ25G; NNX11AG78G; NNX14AI19G; EAR1502591; EAR1444951
OSTI ID:
1438675
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-740364; TRN: US1900482
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 857, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8213
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 32 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (37)

CHILI – the Chicago Instrument for Laser Ionization – a new tool for isotope measurements in cosmochemistry journal August 2016
New Measurement of the Fe 60 Half-Life journal August 2009
Differentiation of planetesimals and the thermal consequences of melt migration: Differentiation of planetesimals journal May 2011
SPI observations of the diffuse 60 Fe emission in the Galaxy journal May 2007
26Al–26Mg and 207Pb–206Pb systematics of Allende CAIs: Canonical solar initial 26Al/27Al ratio reinstated journal July 2008
Fe–Ni and Al–Mg isotope records in UOC chondrules: Plausible stellar source of 60Fe and other short-lived nuclides in the early Solar System journal May 2014
Evolution of protoplanetary disk inferred from 26Al chronology of individual chondrules: Disk evolution and 26Al chronology of chondrules journal October 2011
Stellar sources of the short-lived radionuclides in the early solar system journal September 2009
Intermediate-mass Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars and Sources of 26 Al, 60 Fe, 107 Pd, and 182 Hf in the Solar System journal February 2017
Who Pulled the Trigger: a Supernova or an Asymptotic Giant Branch Star? journal June 2010
Least squares fitting of a straight line with correlated errors journal January 1968
Inheritance of solar short- and long-lived radionuclides from molecular clouds and the unexceptional nature of the solar system journal April 2014
Simultaneous iron and nickel isotopic analyses of presolar silicon carbide grains journal January 2018
LOW 60 FE ABUNDANCE IN SEMARKONA AND SAHARA 99555 journal March 2015
Abundance, distribution, and origin of 60Fe in the solar protoplanetary disk journal December 2012
Solar system genealogy revealed by extinct short-lived radionuclides in meteorites journal August 2012
Determination of the absolute isotopic composition and Atomic Weight of a reference sample of natural iron journal November 1992
26 Al AND THE FORMATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM FROM A MOLECULAR CLOUD CONTAMINATED BY WOLF-RAYET WINDS journal April 2009
Mass Fractionation Laws, Mass-Independent Effects, and Isotopic Anomalies journal June 2016
A Test of the Supernova Trigger Hypothesis with [TSUP]60[/TSUP]F[CLC]e[/CLC] and [TSUP]26[/TSUP]A[CLC]l[/CLC] journal June 1998
The Isotope Geochemistry of Ni journal January 2017
Recalculation of data for short-lived radionuclide systems using less-biased ratio estimation: Recalculation of data using less-biased ratio estimation journal December 2012
Fossil records of high level of 60Fe in chondrules from unequilibrated chondrites journal July 2014
In situ 60Fe-60Ni systematics of chondrules from unequilibrated ordinary chondrites journal January 2018
Isotopic mass fractionation laws for magnesium and their effects on 26Al–26Mg systematics in solar system materials journal June 2015
Al-26 and the formation of the Solar System from a molecular cloud contaminated by Wolf-Rayet winds text January 2009
Mobility of iron and nickel at low temperatures: Implications for 60Fe–60Ni systematics of chondrules from unequilibrated ordinary chondrites journal April 2016
Dating the Martian meteorite Zagami by the 87 Rb‐ 87 Sr isochron method with a prototype in situ resonance ionization mass spectrometer journal December 2014
The New “York” Regression: Application of an Improved Statistical Method to Geochemistry journal April 1996
Injection mechanisms of short-lived radionuclides and their homogenization journal September 2009
Triggered Star Formation inside the Shell of a Wolf–Rayet Bubble as the Origin of the Solar System journal December 2017
Ratio estimation in SIMS analysis
  • Ogliore, R. C.; Huss, G. R.; Nagashima, K.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 269, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2011.04.120
journal September 2011
Abundance of 60 Fe inferred from nanoSIMS study of QUE 97008 (L3.05) chondrules journal February 2016
Statistical bias in isotope ratios journal January 2013
Triggered Star Formation inside the Shell of a Wolf-Rayet Bubble as the Origin of the Solar System journal August 2018
Absolute isotopic abundance ratios and atomic weight of a reference sample of nickel journal November 1989
Abundance, distribution, and origin of 60Fe in the solar protoplanetary disk text January 2012

Cited By (8)

The formation of solar-system analogs in young star clusters journal January 2019
60Fe in core-collapse supernovae and prospects for X-ray and gamma-ray detection in supernova remnants journal February 2019
Refractory inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites: Records of early solar system processes journal June 2019
Short-lived radioactivities in the early solar system: A fossil record of our origins in stars journal July 2018
Presolar Silicon Carbide Grains of Types Y and Z: Their Molybdenum Isotopic Compositions and Stellar Origins text January 2019
On the Origin of Early Solar System Radioactivities: Problems with the Asymptotic Giant Branch and Massive Star Scenarios journal August 2018
Presolar Silicon Carbide Grains of Types Y and Z: Their Molybdenum Isotopic Compositions and Stellar Origins journal August 2019
The Formation of Solar System Analogs in Young Star Clusters text January 2018