${}^{60}$Fe in core-collapse supernovae and prospects for X-ray and $\gamma$-ray detection in supernova remnants

Abstract

We investigate ${}^{60}$Fe in massive stars and core-collapse supernovae focussing on uncertainties that influence its production in 15, 20 and 25 $M_{\odot }$ stars at solar metallicity. We find that the ${}^{60}$Fe yield is a monotonic increasing function of the uncertain ${}^{59}$Fe$(n,\gamma {)}^{60}$Fe cross section and that a factor of 10 reduction in the reaction rate results in a factor 8-10 reduction in the ${}^{60}$Fe yield; while a factor of 10 increase in the rate increases the yield by a factor 4-7. We find that none of the 189 simulations we have performed are consistent with a core-collapse supernova triggering the formation of the Solar System, and that only models using ${}^{59}$Fe$(n,\gamma {)}^{60}$Fe cross section that is less than or equal to that from NON-SMOKER can reproduce the observed ${}^{60}$Fe/${}^{26}$Al line flux ratio in the diffuse ISM. We examine the prospects of detecting old core-collapse supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Milky Way from their $\gamma$-ray emission from the decay of ${}^{60}$Fe, finding that the next generation of gamma-ray missions could be able to discover up to $\sim 100$ such old SNRs as well as measure the ${}^{60}$Fe yields of a handful of known Galactic SNRs. We also predict the X-ray spectrum that is produced by atomic transitions in ${}^{60}$Co following its ionization by internal conversion and give theoretical X-ray line fluxes as a function of remnant age as well as the Doppler and fine-structure line broadening effects. The X-ray emission presents an interesting prospect for addressing the missing SNR problem with future X-ray missions.

25 pages, 25 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• Gamma-ray Emission of 60Fe and 26Al Radioactivities in our Galaxy
• Stochastic Chemical Evolution of Radioactive Isotopes with a Monte Carlo Approach
• The Nucleosynthetic Yields of Core-Collapse Supernovae, prospects for the Next Generation of Gamma-Ray Astronomy
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• Nuclear astrophysics
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