The Search for Supernova-produced Radionuclides in Terrestrial Deep-sea Archives

Abstract

An enhanced concentration of 60Fe was found in a deep ocean's crust in 2004 in a layer corresponding to an age of ~2 Myr. The confirmation of this signal in terrestrial archives as supernova-induced and detection of other supernova-produced radionuclides is of great interest. We have identified two suitable marine sediment cores from the South Australian Basin and estimated the intensity of a possible signal of the supernova-produced radionuclides 26Al, 53Mn, 60Fe and the pure r-process element 244Pu in these cores. A finding of these radionuclides in a sediment core might allow to improve the time resolution of the signal and thus to link the signal to a supernova event in the solar vicinity ~2 Myr ago. Furthermore, it gives an insight on nucleosynthesis scenarios in massive stars, the condensation into dust grains and transport mechanisms from the supernova shell into the solar system.

References in corpus (6)

• Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars With Improved Nuclear and Stellar Physics
• The nucleosynthesis of Al26 and Fe60 in solar metallicity stars extending in mass from 11 to 120 Msun: the hydrostatic and explosive contributions
• Geological Isotope Anomalies as Signatures of Nearby Supernovae
• Experimental Limit to Interstellar 244Pu Abundance
• Deep-Ocean Crusts as Telescopes: Using Live Radioisotopes to Probe Supernova Nucleosynthesis
• Discovery Prospects for a Supernova Signature of Biogenic Origin

Cited by in corpus (10)

• New limit of ${}^{244}$Pu on Earth points to rarity of actinide nucleosynthesis
• Astrophysical Shrapnel: Discriminating Among Near-Earth Stellar Explosion Sources of Live Radioactive Isotopes
• Cosmic Ray Models
• Radioactive Iron Rain: Transporting ${}^{60}$Fe in Supernova Dust to the Ocean Floor
• The Fractional Ionization of the Warm Neutral Interstellar Medium
• Numerical studies on the link between radioisotopic signatures on Earth and the formation of the Local Bubble. I. 60Fe transport to the solar system by turbulent mixing of ejecta from nearby supernovae into a locally homogeneous ISM
• AMS measurements of cosmogenic and supernova-ejected radionuclides in deep-sea sediment cores
• The Origin of the Cluster of Local Interstellar Clouds
• The New Astronomical Frontier of Interstellar Objects
• Impacts of Dust Grains Accelerated by Supernovae on the Moon