Short-lived radioactivity in the early Solar System: the Super-AGB star hypothesis

Abstract

The composition of the most primitive Solar System condensates, such as calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI) and micron-sized corundum grains, show that short-lived radionuclides (SLR), e.g., 26Al, were present in the early Solar System. Their abundances require a local origin, which however is far from being understood. We present for the first time the abundances of several SLR up to 60Fe predicted from stars with initial mass in the range roughly 7-11 Msun. These stars evolve through core H, He, and C burning. After core C burning they go through a "Super"-asymptotic giant branch (Super-AGB) phase, with the H and He shells activated alternately, episodic thermal pulses in the He shell, a very hot temperature at the base of the convective envelope (~ 10^8 K), and strong stellar winds driving the H-rich envelope into the surrounding interstellar medium. The final remnants of the evolution of Super-AGB stars are mostly O-Ne white dwarfs. Our Super-AGB models produce 26Al/27Al yield ratios ~ 0.02 - 0.26. These models can account for the canonical value of the 26Al/27Al ratio using dilutions with the Solar Nebula of the order of 1 part of Super-AGB mass per several 10^2 to several 10^3 of Solar Nebula mass, resulting in associated changes in the O composition in the range 3 permil to 20 permil. This is in agreement with observations of the O isotopic ratios in primitive Solar System condensated, which do not carry the signature of a stellar pollutor. The radionuclides 41Ca and 60Fe are produced by neutron captures in Super-AGB stars and their meteoritic abundances are also matched by some of our models, depending on the nuclear and stellar physics uncertainties as well as the meteoritic experimental data. We also expect and are currently investigating Super-AGB production of SLR heavier than iron, such as 107Pd.

23 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication on Meteoritics and Planetary Science

References in corpus (42)

• The chemical composition of the Sun
• The Birth Environment of the Solar System
• The Supernova Channel of Super-AGB Stars
• Electron-capture supernovae as the origin of elements beyond iron
• Charged-Particle Thermonuclear Reaction Rates: II. Tables and Graphs of Reaction Rates and Probability Density Functions
• Short-lived Nuclei in the Early Solar System: Possible AGB Sources
• Full computation of massive AGB evolution. I. The large impact of convection on nucleosynthesis
• Luminosities and mass-loss rates of SMC and LMC AGB stars and Red Supergiants
• Rubidium-Rich Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
• Deep Mixing in Evolved Stars: I. The Effect of Reaction Rate Revisions from C to Al
• Solar system genealogy revealed by extinct short-lived radionuclides in meteorites
• The bottleneck of the CNO burning and the age of the Globular Clusters
• The Irradiation Origin of Beryllium Radioisotopes and Other Short-lived Radionuclides
• The 12C(alpha,gamma)16O Reaction Rate and the Evolution of Stars in the Mass Range 0.8 < M/M(sun) < 25
• Lithium and zirconium abundances in massive Galactic O-rich AGB stars
• The Uncertainties in the 22Ne + alpha-capture Reaction Rates and the Production of the Heavy Magnesium Isotopes in Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars of Intermediate Mass
• The origin of short-lived radionuclides and the astrophysical environment of solar system formation
• Heavy Element Nucleosynthesis in the Brightest Galactic Asymptotic Giant Branch stars
• Rubidium, zirconium, and lithium production in intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch stars
• Heterogeneous distribution of Al-26 at the birth of the Solar System
• Rb-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• News on the s process from young open clusters
• Is Extra Mixing Really Needed in Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars?
• Infrared Photometry and Evolution of Mass-Losing AGB Stars I. Carbon Stars Revisited
• On the Need for Deep Mixing in AGB Stars of Low Mass
• The production of short-lived radionuclides by new non-rotating and rotating Wolf-Rayet model stars
• Abundances in intermediate-mass AGB stars undergoing third dredge-up and hot-bottom burning
• Injection of Short-Lived Radionuclides into the Early Solar System from a Faint Supernova with Mixing-Fallback
• The end of super AGB and massive AGB stars I. The instabilities that determine the final mass of AGB stars
• Convection Theory and Sub-photospheric Stratification
• On the likelihood of supernova enrichment of protoplanetary disks
• A runaway Wolf-Rayet star as the origin of 26-Al in the early solar system
• Triggered Star Formation
• The frequency of occurrence of novae hosting an ONe white dwarf
• Who Pulled the Trigger: a Supernova or an AGB Star?
• An empirical calibration of the mixing-length parameter alpha
• The Role of Massive Agb Stars in the Early Solar System Composition
• The late stages of the evolution of intermediate-mass primordial stars: the effects of overshooting
• The AGB stars of the intermediate-age LMC cluster NGC 1846 Variability and age determination
• Star Formation Patterns and Hierarchies
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of AGB star candidates in Fornax, Sculptor and NGC 6822
• Collateral Effects on Solar Nebula Oxygen Isotopes due to Injection of 26Al by a Nearby Supernova

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Super and massive AGB stars - IV. Final fates - Initial to final mass relation
• Super and Massive AGB Stars: II - Nucleosynthesis and Yields - Z=0.02, 0.008 and 0.004
• The Correlation Between Mixing Length and Metallicity on the Giant Branch: Implications for Ages in the Gaia Era
• Radioactive nuclei from cosmochronology to habitability
• Stellar origin of the 182Hf cosmochronometer and the presolar history of solar system matter
• ExoMol line lists XXVIII: The rovibronic spectrum of AlH
• Electron-capture supernovae as sources of 60Fe
• Triggered Star Formation Inside the Shell of a Wolf-Rayet Bubble as the origin of the Solar System
• Gamma-ray Emission of 60Fe and 26Al Radioactivities in our Galaxy
• Probing astrophysically important states in ${}^{26}$Mg nucleus to study neutron sources for the $s$-Process
• 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
• Triggering Collapse of the Presolar Dense Cloud Core and Injecting Short-Lived Radioisotopes with a Shock Wave. III. Rotating Three Dimensional Cloud Cores
• On the alumina dust production in the winds of O-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch stars
• ${}^{60}$Fe in core-collapse supernovae and prospects for X-ray and $\gamma$-ray detection in supernova remnants
• On the Origin of the Early Solar System Radioactivities. Problems with the AGB and Massive Star Scenarios
• Light Element Nucleosynthesis in a Molecular Cloud Interacting with a Supernova Remnant and the Origin of Beryllium-10 in the Protosolar Nebula
• Triggering Collapse of the Presolar Dense Cloud Core and Injecting Short-Lived Radioisotopes with a Shock Wave. II. Varied Shock Wave and Cloud Core Parameters
• Galactic Chemical Evolution of Radioactive Isotopes with an s-process Contribution
• Measurement of the 33S(α,p)36Cl cross section: Implications for production of 36Cl in the early Solar System
• Re-measurement of the ${}^{33}$S($\alpha$,p)${}^{36}$Cl cross section for Early solar system enrichment
• Setting the Stage for Habitable Planets
• Exploring circumstellar effects on the lithium and calcium abundances in massive Galactic O-rich AGB stars
• Measurement of ${}^{34}$S(${}^3$He,p)${}^{36}$Cl cross sections for early solar system nuclide enrichment
• Aluminium-26 production in low- and intermediate-mass binary systems
• Cosmic Radioactivity and Galactic Chemical Evolution
• AGB nucleosynthesis at low metallicity: what can we learn from carbon- and s-elements-enhanced metal-poor stars