Live radioisotopes as signatures of nearby supernovae

Brian D. Fields

doi:10.1016/j.newar.2003.11.017

Live radioisotopes as signatures of nearby supernovae

Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

Abstract

Nearby (≲1 kpc) supernovae were almost certainly common in earth's geological history. Such events allow the direct study of their freshly synthesized live radioisotopes, opening new windows onto supernovae. Very close supernovae (within a few tens of pc) may deposit radioisotopes directly on the earth. Recent high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometry measurements of deep-ocean samples find live ⁶⁰Fe at levels that greatly exceed background, suggesting an explosion occurred within 30 pc during the last 5 Myr. Somewhat more distant - but also more frequent - supernovae leave observable signatures of radioisotopes whose decay includes γ-ray line emission. In particular, a large, old supernova remnant was recently discovered at ∼100 pc, and appears to contain ²⁶Al. If confirmed, this would be the first detection of ²⁶Al in a single remnant, and would be a new probe of supernova nucleosynthesis and astrophysics.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	119-123
Number of pages	5
Journal	New Astronomy Reviews
Volume	48
Issue number	1-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newar.2003.11.017
State	Published - Feb 2004

Keywords

Nucleosynthesis
Supernovae
γ-rays

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1016/j.newar.2003.11.017

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title = "Live radioisotopes as signatures of nearby supernovae",

abstract = "Nearby (≲1 kpc) supernovae were almost certainly common in earth's geological history. Such events allow the direct study of their freshly synthesized live radioisotopes, opening new windows onto supernovae. Very close supernovae (within a few tens of pc) may deposit radioisotopes directly on the earth. Recent high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometry measurements of deep-ocean samples find live 60Fe at levels that greatly exceed background, suggesting an explosion occurred within 30 pc during the last 5 Myr. Somewhat more distant - but also more frequent - supernovae leave observable signatures of radioisotopes whose decay includes γ-ray line emission. In particular, a large, old supernova remnant was recently discovered at ∼100 pc, and appears to contain 26Al. If confirmed, this would be the first detection of 26Al in a single remnant, and would be a new probe of supernova nucleosynthesis and astrophysics.",

keywords = "Nucleosynthesis, Supernovae, γ-rays",

author = "Fields, {Brian D.}",

note = "Funding Information: I am grateful to the organizers for an outstanding meeting, and the participants for lively and fruitful discussions. I am indebted to my collaborators John Ellis, Peter McCullough, and Vasiliki Pavlidou, and to the anonymous referee whose suggestions improved this paper. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-0092939. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2004",

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doi = "10.1016/j.newar.2003.11.017",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "New Astronomy Reviews",

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AU - Fields, Brian D.

N1 - Funding Information: I am grateful to the organizers for an outstanding meeting, and the participants for lively and fruitful discussions. I am indebted to my collaborators John Ellis, Peter McCullough, and Vasiliki Pavlidou, and to the anonymous referee whose suggestions improved this paper. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-0092939. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2004/2

Y1 - 2004/2

N2 - Nearby (≲1 kpc) supernovae were almost certainly common in earth's geological history. Such events allow the direct study of their freshly synthesized live radioisotopes, opening new windows onto supernovae. Very close supernovae (within a few tens of pc) may deposit radioisotopes directly on the earth. Recent high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometry measurements of deep-ocean samples find live 60Fe at levels that greatly exceed background, suggesting an explosion occurred within 30 pc during the last 5 Myr. Somewhat more distant - but also more frequent - supernovae leave observable signatures of radioisotopes whose decay includes γ-ray line emission. In particular, a large, old supernova remnant was recently discovered at ∼100 pc, and appears to contain 26Al. If confirmed, this would be the first detection of 26Al in a single remnant, and would be a new probe of supernova nucleosynthesis and astrophysics.

AB - Nearby (≲1 kpc) supernovae were almost certainly common in earth's geological history. Such events allow the direct study of their freshly synthesized live radioisotopes, opening new windows onto supernovae. Very close supernovae (within a few tens of pc) may deposit radioisotopes directly on the earth. Recent high-sensitivity accelerator mass spectrometry measurements of deep-ocean samples find live 60Fe at levels that greatly exceed background, suggesting an explosion occurred within 30 pc during the last 5 Myr. Somewhat more distant - but also more frequent - supernovae leave observable signatures of radioisotopes whose decay includes γ-ray line emission. In particular, a large, old supernova remnant was recently discovered at ∼100 pc, and appears to contain 26Al. If confirmed, this would be the first detection of 26Al in a single remnant, and would be a new probe of supernova nucleosynthesis and astrophysics.

KW - Nucleosynthesis

KW - Supernovae

KW - γ-rays

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ER -

Live radioisotopes as signatures of nearby supernovae

Abstract

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