Extremely 54Cr- and 50Ti-rich presolar oxide grains in a primitive meteorite: Formation in rare types of supernovae and implications for the astrophysical context of solar system birth.

摘要

We report the identification of 19 presolar oxide grains from the Orgueil CI meteorite with substantial enrichments in ⁵⁴Cr, with ⁵⁴Cr/⁵²Cr ratios ranging from 1.2 to 56 times the solar value. The most enriched grains also exhibit enrichments at mass 50, most likely due in part to ⁵⁰Ti, but close-to-normal or depleted ⁵³Cr/⁵²Cr ratios. There is a strong inverse relationship between ⁵⁴Cr enrichment and grain size; the most extreme grains are all <80 nm in diameter. Comparison of the isotopic data with predictions of nucleosynthesis calculations indicate that these grains most likely originated in either rare, high-density Type Ia supernovae (SNIa), or in electron-capture supernovae (ECSN) which may occur as the end stage of evolution for stars of mass 8−10 M⊙. This is the first evidence for preserved presolar grains from either type of supernova. An ECSN origin is attractive since these likely occur much more frequently than high-density SNIa, and their evolutionary timescales (~20 Myr) are comparable to those of molecular clouds. Self-pollution of the Sun’s parent cloud from an ECSN may explain the heterogeneous distribution of n-rich isotopic anomalies in planetary materials, including a recently reported dichotomy in Mo isotopes in the solar system. The stellar origins of three grains with solar ⁵⁴Cr/⁵²Cr, but anomalies in ⁵⁰Cr or ⁵³Cr, as well as of a grain enriched in ⁵⁷Fe, are unclear.