60Fe and 244Pu deposited on Earth constrain the r-process yields of recent nearby supernovae

A. Wallner*, M. B. Froehlich, M. A.C. Hotchkis, N. Kinoshita, M. Paul, M. Martschini, S. Pavetich, S. G. Tims, N. Kivel, D. Schumann, M. Honda, H. Matsuzaki, T. Yamagata

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

Half of the chemical elements heavier than iron are produced by the rapid neutron capture process (r-process). The sites and yields of this process are disputed, with candidates including some types of supernovae (SNe) and mergers of neutron stars. We search for two isotopic signatures in a sample of Pacific Ocean crust-iron-60 (60Fe) (half-life, 2.6 million years), which is predominantly produced in massive stars and ejected in supernova explosions, and plutonium-244 (244Pu) (half-life, 80.6 million years), which is produced solely in r-process events. We detect two distinct influxes of 60Fe to Earth in the last 10 million years and accompanying lower quantities of 244Pu. The 244Pu/60Fe influx ratios are similar for both events. The 244Pu influx is lower than expected if SNe dominate r-process nucleosynthesis, which implies some contribution from other sources.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)742-745
Number of pages4
JournalScience
Volume372
Issue number6543
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 May 2021

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