Distribution of ^26^Al in the solar system

DOI

It is believed that ^26^Al, a short-lived (t_1/2_=0.73Ma) and now extinct radionuclide, was uniformly distributed in the nascent solar system (SS) with the initial ^26^Al/^27^Al ratio of ~5.2x10^-5^, suggesting an external, stellar origin rather than local, solar source. However, the stellar source of ^26^Al and the manner in which it was injected into the SS remain controversial: the ^26^Al could have been produced by an asymptotic giant branch star, a supernova, or a Wolf-Rayet star and injected either into the protosolar molecular cloud, protosolar cloud core, or protoplanetary disk. Corundum (Al_2_O_3_) is predicted to be the first condensate from a cooling gas of solar composition. Here we show that micron-sized corundum condensates from ^16^O-rich ({Delta}^17^O~-25%) gas of solar composition recorded heterogeneous distribution of ^26^Al at the birth of the SS: the inferred initial ^26^Al/^27^Al ratio ranges from ~6.5x10^-5^ to <2x10^-6^; 52% of corundum grains measured are ^26^Al-poor. Abundant ^26^Al-poor, ^16^O-rich refractory objects include grossite- and hibonite-rich calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in CH (high metal abundance and high iron concentration) chondrites, platy hibonite crystals in CM (Mighei-like) chondrites, and CAIs with fractionation and unidentified nuclear effects CAIs chondrites. Considering the apparently early and short duration (<0.3Ma) of condensation of refractory ^16^O-rich solids in the SS, we infer that ^26^Al was injected into the collapsing protosolar molecular cloud and later homogenized in the protoplanetary disk. The apparent lack of correlation between ^26^Al abundance and O-isotope composition of corundum grains constrains the stellar source of ^26^Al in the SS.

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.17339031
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/733/L31
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/733/L31
Related Identifier https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/733/L31
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/733/L31
Provenance
Creator Makide K.; Nagashima K.; Krot A.N.; Huss G.R.; Ciesla F.J.; Hellebrand E.,Gaidos E.; Yang L.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2012
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Interdisciplinary Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Physics; Solar System Astronomy