Galactic Chemical Evolution of Radioactive Isotopes with an s-process Contribution

Abstract

Analysis of inclusions in primitive meteorites reveals that several short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) with half-lives $0.1-100$ Myr existed in the early Solar System (ESS). We investigate the ESS origin of ${}^{107}$Pd, ${}^{135}$Cs, and ${}^{182}$Hf, which are produced by $slow$ neutron captures (the $s$-process) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We modelled the galactic abundances of these SLRs using the OMEGA+ galactic chemical evolution (GCE) code and two sets of mass- and metallicity-dependent AGB nucleosynthesis yields (Monash and FRUITY). Depending on the ratio of the mean life $\ddot{I}„$ of the SLR to the average length of time between the formation of AGB progenitor ${\hat{I}}^3$, we calculate timescales relevant for the birth of the Sun. If $\ddot{I}„/{\hat{I}}^3\gtrsim 2$, we predict self-consistent isolation times between 9 and 26 Myr by decaying the GCE predicted ${}^{107}$Pd/${}^{108}$Pd, ${}^{135}$Cs/${}^{133}$Cs, and ${}^{182}$Hf/${}^{180}$Hf ratios to their respective ESS ratios. The predicted ${}^{107}$Pd/${}^{182}$Hf ratio indicates that our GCE models are missing $9-73\%$ of ${}^{107}$Pd and ${}^{108}$Pd in the ESS. This missing component may have come from AGB stars of higher metallicity than those that contributed to the ESS in our GCE code. If $\ddot{I}„/{\hat{I}}^3\lesssim 0.3$, we calculate instead the time ($T_{\mathrm{LE}}$) from the last nucleosynthesis event that added the SLRs into the presolar matter to the formation of the oldest solids in the ESS. For the 2 M${}_{\odot }$, $Z=0.01$ Monash model we find a self-consistent solution of $T_{\mathrm{LE}}=25.5$ Myr.