¹Nan Liu,²Nicolas Dauphas,^3,4Sergio Cristallo,^4,5Sara Palmerini,^4,5Maurizio Busso
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2021.11.022]
¹Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
²Origins Laboratory, Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA
³INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Via Mentore Maggini snc, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁴INFN, Sezione di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli snc, 06123 Perugia, Italy
⁵Department of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia, Via A. Pascoli snc, I-06123 Perugia, Italy
Copyright Elsevier

Presolar oxide grains have been previously divided into several groups (Group 1 to 4) based on their isotopic compositions, which can be tied to several stellar sources. Much of available data was acquired on large grains, which may not be fully representative of the presolar grain population present in meteorites. We present here new O isotopic data for 74 small presolar oxide grains (∼200 nm in diameter on average) from Orgueil and Al-Mg isotopic systematics for 25 of the grains. Based on data-model comparisons, we show that (i) Group 1 and Group 2 grains more likely originated in low-mass first-ascent (red giant branch; RGB) and/or second-ascent (asymptotic giant branch; AGB) red giant stars and (ii) Group 1 grains with (26Al/27Al)0 ⪆ 5×10−3 and Group 2 grains with (26Al/27Al)0 ⪅ 1×10−2 all likely experienced extra circulation processes in their parent low-mass stars but under different conditions, resulting in proton-capture reactions occurring at enhanced temperatures. We do not find any large 25Mg excess in Group 1 oxide grains with large 17O enrichments, which provides evidence that 25Mg is not abundantly produced in low-mass stars. We also find that our samples contain a larger proportion of Group 4 grains than so far suggested in the literature for larger presolar oxide grains (≥ 400 nm). We also discuss our observations in the light of stellar dust production mechanisms.