Evidence from stable isotopes and 10Be for solar system formation triggered by a low-mass supernova

Projjwal Banerjee, Yong-Zhong Qian (), Alexander Heger and W C Haxton
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Projjwal Banerjee: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota
Yong-Zhong Qian: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota
Alexander Heger: Monash Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University
W C Haxton: University of California, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract About 4.6 billion years ago, some event disturbed a cloud of gas and dust, triggering the gravitational collapse that led to the formation of the solar system. A core-collapse supernova, whose shock wave is capable of compressing such a cloud, is an obvious candidate for the initiating event. This hypothesis can be tested because supernovae also produce telltale patterns of short-lived radionuclides, which would be preserved today as isotopic anomalies. Previous studies of the forensic evidence have been inconclusive, finding a pattern of isotopes differing from that produced in conventional supernova models. Here we argue that these difficulties either do not arise or are mitigated if the initiating supernova was a special type, low in mass and explosion energy. Key to our conclusion is the demonstration that short-lived 10Be can be readily synthesized in such supernovae by neutrino interactions, while anomalies in stable isotopes are suppressed.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13639

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