Sounding-rocket microgravity experiments on alumina dust

Shinnosuke Ishizuka, Yuki Kimura (), Itsuki Sakon, Hiroshi Kimura, Tomoya Yamazaki, Shinsuke Takeuchi and Yuko Inatomi
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Shinnosuke Ishizuka: Hokkaido University
Yuki Kimura: Hokkaido University
Itsuki Sakon: University of Tokyo
Hiroshi Kimura: Chiba Institute of Technology
Tomoya Yamazaki: Hokkaido University
Shinsuke Takeuchi: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Yuko Inatomi: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Alumina (Al2O3) is believed to be the first major condensate to form in the gas outflow from oxygen-rich evolved stars because of the refractoriness and that α-Al2O3 (corundum, most stable polymorph) is a potential origin of a 13 μm feature that appears close to stars. However, no one has directly reproduced the 13 μm feature experimentally, and it has remained as a noteworthy unidentified infrared band. Here, we report nucleation experiments on Al2O3 nanoparticles monitored by a specially designed infrared spectrometer in the microgravity environment of a sounding rocket. The conditions approximate to those around asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The measured spectra of the nucleated Al2O3 show a sharp feature at a wavelength of 13.55 μm and comparable in width to that observed near oxygen-rich AGB stars. Our finding that α-Al2O3 nucleates under certain condition provides a solid basis to elaborate condensation models of dust around oxygen-rich evolved stars.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06359-y

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