Radioactive isotopes in the interstellar medium
arXiv:2110.10207 · doi:10.1007/s10509-021-04003-8
Abstract
Radioactive components of the interstellar medium provide an entirely-different and new aspect to the studies of the interstellar medium. Injected from sources of nucleosynthesis, unstable nuclei decay along their trajectories. Measurements can occur through characteristic gamma rays that are emitted with the decay, or in cosmic material samples through abundances of parent and daughter isotopes as they change with decay. The dynamics and material flows within interstellar medium are thus accessible to measurement, making use of the intrinsic clock that radioactive decay provides. We describe how measurements of radioactive decay have obtained a break-through in studies of the interstellar medium, after first summarizing the characteristics of radioactivity and the sources of unstable nuclei.
arXiv comment16 pages, 13 figures. Contribution to Topical Collection of Astrophysics and Space Sciences about Plasma, Particles, and Photons: ISM Physics Revisited. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science
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