A Laboratory-driven Multiscale Investigation of X-Ray Induced Mass Loss and Photochemical Evolution in Cosmic Carbon and Silicate Dust

1,2Lisseth Gavilan,3Phay J. Ho,1,4Uma Gorti,5Hirohito Ogasawara,6Cornelia Jäger, 1Farid Salama
The Astrophysical Journal 925, 86 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac3dfd]
1NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science & Astrobiology Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
2Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Columbia, MD 21046, USA
3Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
4SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
5Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, P.O. Box 20450, Stanford, CA 94309, USA
6Laboratory Astrophysics and Cluster Physics Group of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the Friedrich Schiller University & Institute of Solid State Physics, Helmholtzweg 3, D-07743 Jena, Germany

We present the results of an integrated laboratory and modeling investigation into the impact of stellar X-rays on cosmic dust. Carbonaceous grains were prepared in a cooled (<200 K) supersonic expansion from aromatic molecular precursors, and were later irradiated with 970 eV X-rays. Silicate (enstatite) grains were prepared via laser ablation, thermally annealed, and later irradiated with 500 eV X-rays. Infrared spectra of the 3.4 μm band of the carbon sample prepared with benzene revealed 84% ± 5% band area loss for an X-ray dose of 5.2 ×1023 eV.cm−2. Infrared spectra of the 8–12 μm Si–O band of the silicate sample revealed band area loss up to 63% ± 5% for doses of 2.3 × 1023 eV.cm−2. A hybrid Monte Carlo particle trajectory approach was used to model the impact of X-rays and ensuing photoelectrons, Auger and collisionally ionized electrons through the bulk. As a result of X-ray ionization and ensuing Coulomb explosions on surface molecules, the calculated mass loss is 60% for the carbonaceous sample and 46% for the silicate sample, within a factor of 2 of the IR band loss, supporting an X-ray induced mass-loss mechanism. We apply the laboratory X-ray destruction rates to estimate the lifetimes of dust grains in protoplanetary disks surrounding 1 M and 0.1 M G and M stars. In both cases, X-ray destruction timescales are short (a few million years) at the disk surface, but are found to be much longer than typical disk lifetimes (≳10 Myr) over the disk bulk.

Theoretical Distributions of Short-lived Radionuclides for Star Formation in Molecular Clouds

1Marco Fatuzzo,2,3Fred C. Adams
The Astrophysical Journal 925 56 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac38a7]
1Department of Physics, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH 45207, USA; fatuzzo@xavier.edu
2Department of Physics, University of Michigan, MI 48109, USA
3Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, MI 48109, USA; fca@umich.edu

Short-lived radioactive nuclei (half-life τ1/2 ∼ 1 Myr) influence the formation of stars and planetary systems by providing sources of heating and ionization. Whereas many previous studies have focused on the possible nuclear enrichment of our own solar system, the goal of this paper is to estimate the distributions of short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) for the entire population of stars forming within a molecular cloud. Here we focus on the nuclear species 60Fe and 26Al, which have the largest impact due to their relatively high abundances. We construct molecular-cloud models and include nuclear contributions from both supernovae and stellar winds. The resulting distributions of SLRs are time dependent with widths of ∼3 orders of magnitude and mass fractions ρSLR/ρ* ∼ 10−11–10−8. Over the range of scenarios explored herein, the SLR distributions show only modest variations with the choice of cloud structure (fractal dimension), star formation history, and cluster distribution. The most important variation arises from the diffusion length scale for the transport of SLRs within the cloud. The expected SLR distributions are wide enough to include values inferred for the abundances in our solar system, although most of the stars are predicted to have smaller enrichment levels. In addition, the ratio of 60Fe/26Al is predicted to be greater than unity, on average, in contrast to solar system results. One explanation for this finding is the presence of an additional source for the 26Al isotope.

Isotopic Compositions of Ruthenium Predicted from the NuGrid Project

1Seonho Kim,1Kwang Hyun Sung,1Kyujin Kwak
The Astrophysical Journal 924, 88 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac35e1]
1Department of Physics, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic Of Korea

The isotopic compositions of ruthenium (Ru) are measured from presolar silicon carbide (SiC) grains. In a popular scenario, the presolar SiC grains formed in the outskirt of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star, left the star as a stellar wind, and joined the presolar molecular cloud from which the solar system formed. The Ru isotopes formed inside the star, moved to the stellar surface during the AGB phase, and were locked into the SiC grains. Following this scenario, we analyze the Nucleosynthesis Grid (NuGrid) data, which provide the abundances of the Ru isotopes in the stellar wind for a set of stars in a wide range of initial masses and metallicities. We apply the C > O (carbon abundance larger than the oxygen abundance) condition, which is commonly adopted for the condition of the SiC formation in the stellar wind. The NuGrid data confirm that SiC grains do not form in the winds of massive stars. The isotopic compositions of Ru in the winds of low-mass stars can explain the measurements. We find that lower-mass stars (1.65 M☉ and 2 M☉) with low metallicity (Z = 0.0001) can explain most of the measured isotopic compositions of Ru. We confirm that the abundance of 99 Ru inside the presolar grain includes the contribution from the in situ decay of 99 Tc. We also verify our conclusion by comparing the isotopic compositions of Ru integrated over all the pulses with those calculated at individual pulses.

Chemical Differentiation of Planets: A Core Issue

1Hervé Toulhoat,2Viacheslav Zgonnik
The Astrophysical Journal 924, 83 Openb Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac300b]
1Sorbonne Université, UPMC, CNRS, Laboratoire de Réactivité de Surface, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75005, Paris, France; herve.toulhoat@orange.fr
2 Natural Hydrogen Energy LLC, French Branch: 31 Rue Raymond Queneau, F-92500 Rueil Malmaison, France

By plotting empirical chemical element abundances on Earth relative to the Sun and normalized to silicon versus their first ionization potentials, we confirm the existence of a correlation reported earlier. To explain this, we develop a model based on principles of statistical physics that predicts differentiated relative abundances for any planetary body in a solar system as a function of its orbital distance. This simple model is successfully tested against available chemical composition data from CI chondrites and surface compositional data of Mars, Earth, the Moon, Venus, and Mercury. We show, moreover, that deviations from the proposed law for a given planet correspond to later surface segregation of elements driven both by gravity and chemical reactions. We thus provide a new picture for the distribution of elements in the solar system and inside planets, with important consequences for their chemical composition. Particularly, a 4 wt% initial hydrogen content is predicted for bulk early Earth. This converges with other works suggesting that the interior of the Earth could be enriched with hydrogen.

Chondrite diversity revealed by chromium, calcium and magnesium isotopes

1,2KeZhu朱柯,3Martin Schiller,2Frédéric Moynier,3Mirek Groen,4Conel M. O’D. Alexander,5Jemma Davidson,5Devin L.Schrader,6Addi Bischoff,3Martin Bizzarro
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.12.014]
1Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Malteserstr. 74-100, 12249 Berlin, Germany
2Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS UMR 7154, 1 rue Jussieu, Paris 75005, France
3Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5–7, Copenhagen DK-1350, Denmark
4Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, 5241 Broad Branch Road, Washington, DC 20015, USA
5Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 781 East Terrace Road, Tempe, AZ 85287-6004, USA
6Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149 Münster, Germany
Copyright Elsevier

Chondrites are undifferentiated meteorites that can provide information on the compositions of materials in the early solar System, including the building blocks of the terrestrial planets. While most chondrites belong to well-defined groups based on their mineralogy and chemical composition, a minor fraction have unusual characteristics and are classified as ungrouped chondrites. These ungrouped chondrites reflect the diversity of chondritic materials in the early solar system; however, they are not as well studied as grouped meteorites and their origins are poorly understood. In this study, we present high-precision mass-independent Cr, Ca and Mg isotope data for 17 ungrouped chondrites. The ε54Cr and ε48Ca (ε expresses parts per ten thousand mass-independent isotope deviation) data for ungrouped chondrites also provide important constraints for assessing their relationships to the known chondrite groups, and the radiogenic Mg isotope ratios (μ26Mg*) can be used to track the early solar system history. We also present the first high-precision data for a Kakangari (KC) chondrite, an enstatite chondrite, and for four enstatite-rich meteorites. The ε54Cr and ε48Ca values for the KC are -0.44 ± 0.04 and -1.30 ± 0.25, respectively, and ε48Ca value for SAH 97096 (EH3) is -0.19 ± 0.22 that overlaps with that of those of Earth-Moon system and ordinary chondrites. All the carbonaceous chondrite-like (CC) ungrouped chondrites show positive ε54Cr and ε48Ca values, and all the non-carbonaceous chondrite-like (NC) ungrouped chondrites and KCs (also belong to the NC trend) show zero or negative ε54Cr and ε48Ca values. This observation confirms the CC-NC dichotomy for primitive solar system materials. LEW 87232 (KC) also shows the highest 55Mn/52Cr ratio and ε53Cr value amongst all the chondrites. There is a positive trend between 55Mn/52Cr ratios and ε53Cr values among all the chondrites that mostly reflects a mixing between multiple chondritic components. Previously it has been reported that there is a bulk 26Al-26Mg correlation line amongst chondrites. This correlation has been interpreted as being due to mixing of CAIs (high 27Al/24Mg ratios and μ26Mg* values) and other silicate material (e.g., chondrules and matrix). By providing additional 26Al-26Mg chondrite data, we show that there is no 26Al-26Mg correlation line for the chondrites, ruling out the two-endmember (i.e., CAIs and other silicates) mixing model.

Metal Pollution of the Solar White Dwarf by Solar System Small Bodies

1,2Daohai Li,2Alexander J. Mustill,2,3Melvyn B. Davies
The Astrophysical Journal 924, 61 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac33a8]
1Department of Astronomy Beijing Normal University, No.19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China; lidaohai@gmail.com, lidaohai@bnu.edu.cn
2Lund Observatory Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics Lund University, Box 43, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
3Centre for Mathematical Sciences Lund University, Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

White dwarfs (WDs) often show metal lines in their spectra, indicating accretion of asteroidal material. Our Sun is to become a WD in several gigayears. Here, we examine how the solar WD accretes from the three major small body populations: the main belt asteroids (MBAs), Jovian Trojan asteroids (JTAs), and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Owing to the solar mass loss during the giant branch, 40% of the JTAs are lost but the vast majority of MBAs and TNOs survive. During the WD phase, objects from all three populations are sporadically scattered onto the WD, implying ongoing accretion. For young cooling ages ≲100 Myr, accretion of MBAs predominates; our predicted accretion rate ∼106 g s−1 falls short of observations by two orders of magnitude. On gigayear timescales, thanks to the consumption of the TNOs that kicks in ≳100 Myr, the rate oscillates around 106–107 g s−1 until several gigayears and drops to ∼105 g s−1 at 10 Gyr. Our solar WD accretion rate from 1 Gyr and beyond agrees well with those of the extrasolar WDs. We show that for the solar WD, the accretion source region evolves in an inside-out pattern. Moreover, in a realistic small body population with individual sizes covering a wide range as WD pollutants, the accretion is dictated by the largest objects. As a consequence, the accretion rate is lower by an order of magnitude than that from a population of bodies of a uniform size and the same total mass and shows greater scatter.

Galactic Chemical Evolution of Radioactive Isotopes with an s-process Contribution

1,2,8Thomas C. L. Trueman,1,3,4,8Benoit Côté,1,8Andrés Yagüe López,1,8Jacqueline den Hartogh,1,2,4,8Marco Pignatari,1,5Benjámin Soós,6,7Amanda I. Karakas,1,5,6Maria Lugaro
The Astrophysical Journal 924, 10 Open Access Link to Article [DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac31b0]
1Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary; thomas.trueman@csfk.mta.hu
2E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada
4Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics—Center for the Evolution of the Elements, USA

5ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Physics, Budapest 1117, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, Hungary
6School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia
7ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Australia
8NuGrid Collaboration http://nugridstars.org.

Analysis of inclusions in primitive meteorites reveals that several short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) with half-lives of 0.1–100 Myr existed in the early solar system (ESS). We investigate the ESS origin of 107Pd, 135Cs, and 182Hf, which are produced by slow neutron captures (the s-process) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We modeled the Galactic abundances of these SLRs using the OMEGA+ galactic chemical evolution (GCE) code and two sets of mass- and metallicity-dependent AGB nucleosynthesis yields (Monash and FRUITY). Depending on the ratio of the mean-life τ of the SLR to the average length of time between the formations of AGB progenitors γ, we calculate timescales relevant for the birth of the Sun. If τ/γ ≳ 2, we predict self-consistent isolation times between 9 and 26 Myr by decaying the GCE predicted 107Pd/108Pd, 135Cs/133Cs, and 182Hf/180Hf ratios to their respective ESS ratios. The predicted 107Pd/182Hf ratio indicates that our GCE models are missing 9%–73% of 107Pd and 108Pd in the ESS. This missing component may have come from AGB stars of higher metallicity than those that contributed to the ESS in our GCE code. If τ/γ ≲ 0.3, we calculate instead the time (TLE) from the last nucleosynthesis event that added the SLRs into the presolar matter to the formation of the oldest solids in the ESS. For the 2 MZ = 0.01 Monash model we find a self-consistent solution of TLE = 25.5 Myr.

Impact-induced devolatilization of four ungrouped ataxites and the formation of a silica glass spherule in ALHA77255

1,2Alan E. Rubin,1Bidong Zhang
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13939]
1Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095-1567 USA
2Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, 99 Main Street, PO Box 500, Bethel, Maine, 04217 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Allan Hills A77255, Babb’s Mill (Blake’s Iron), Nordheim, and Chinga are ungrouped ataxitic iron meteorites that are similar to the IAB group of noncarbonaceous-type irons in their concentrations of common and refractory siderophile elements. Mo-isotopic data show that ALHA77255, Nordheim, and Chinga are carbonaceous-type (CC) irons. (The Mo-isotopic composition of Babb’s Mill [Blake’s Iron] has not yet been measured, but it also seems likely to be a CC iron.) Relative to mean IAB irons, these four ataxites are severely depleted in moderately volatile elements: Ga, >99%; Ge, >99%; Cu, 79%–97%; As, 70%–96%; P, 76%–90%. These samples were probably devolatilized by major collisions on separate parent asteroids (consistent with fractional crystallization modeling showing they are unlikely to be derived from the same metallic core). Collisionally induced devolatilization of ALHA77255 likely facilitated the formation of a 5-mm diameter silica–glass spheroid in this meteorite. The spheroid may have formed by a complex process involving impact-induced vaporization of mantle material in its parent asteroid, followed by fractional condensation.

Condensation of cometary silicate dust using an induction thermal plasma system

1S. Enju,2H. Kawano,3,4,5A. Tsuchiyama,6T. H. Kim, A.7Takigawa,3J. Matsuno,8H. Komaki
Astronomy & Astrophysics 661, A121 Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142620%5D
1Earth’s Evolution and Environment Course, Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Earth Science, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyocho, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan
2Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
3Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
4CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou 510640, PR China
5CAS Center for Excellence in Deep Earth Science, Guangzhou 510640, PR China
6Department of Chemical Engineering, Wonkwang University, 460 Iksan-daero, Iksan 54538, Republic of Korea
7Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
8JEOL Ltd., Tokyo 196-8558, Japan
Reproduced with permission (C) ESO

Glass with embedded metal and sulfides (GEMS), the major components of chondritic-porous interplanetary dust particles (CP-IDPs), is one of the most primitive materials in the Solar System and may be analogous to the amorphous silicate dust observed in various astronomical environments. Mineralogical characteristics of GEMS should reflect their formation process and condition. In this study, synthetic experiments in the sulfur-bearing system of Fe–Mg–Si–O–S were performed with a systematic change in redox conditions using thermal plasma systems to reproduce the mineralogy and textures of GEMS. The resulting condensates were composed of amorphous silicates with Fe-bearing nano-inclusions. The Fe content and texture in the amorphous silicates as well as the mineral phases of the nanoparticles correlate with redox conditions. Fe dissolved in the amorphous silicate as FeO in oxidizing conditions formed Fe-metal nanoparticles in intermediate redox conditions, and gupeiite (Fe3 Si) nanoparticles in reducing conditions. In intermediate to reducing redox conditions, Fe-poor amorphous silicate formed a biphasic texture with Mg- and Si-rich regions, indicating liquid immiscibility during the melt phase. Most Fe-metal particles were surrounded by FeS and formed on the surface of amorphous silicate grains. Condensates produced in intermediate to slightly reducing redox conditions resemble GEMS in that they have similar mineral assemblages and chemical compositions to amorphous silicate, except that the Fe-metal grains are absent from the interior of the amorphous silicate grains. This textural difference can be explained by the sulfidation at high temperatures in this study, in contrast to sulfidation occurring at low temperatures in the presence of H2 in natural GEMS formation. Based on the two-liquid structures observed in the experimental products and in GEMS, also recognized in infrared spectra, we propose that GEMS condensed as silicate melt under limited redox conditions followed by incorporation of multiple metal grains into the silicate melt or by aggregation of coreshell structured grains before sulfidation of the metallic iron. Condensates produced in oxidizing conditions are similar to GEMS-like material in the matrices of primitive carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, indicating the possibility that they form by direct condensation from nebula gas in relatively oxidizing conditions compared to GEMS.

Terrestrial demonstrator for a low-temperature carbothermal reduction process on lunar regolith simulant: Design and AIV activities

1Jacopo Prinetto,1Andrea Colagrossi,1Alice Dottori,1Ivan Troisi,1Michèle Roberta Lavagna Planetary and Space Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2022.105618] 1Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, Milano, 20156, Italy We currently do not have a copyright agreement with this publisher and cannot display the abstract here