Towards a measurement of the half-life of 60Fe for stellar and early Solar System models

K. Ostdiek*, T. Anderson, W. Bauder, M. Bowers, P. Collon, R. Dressler, J. Greene, W. Kutschera, W. Lu, M. Paul, D. Robertson, D. Schumann, M. Skulski, A. Wallner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Radioisotopes, produced in stars and ejected into the Interstellar Medium, are important for constraining stellar and early Solar System (ESS) models. In particular, the half-life of the radioisotope, 60Fe, can have an impact on calculations for the timing for ESS events, the distance to nearby Supernovae, and the brightness of individual, non-steady-state 60Fe gamma ray sources in the Galaxy. A half-life measurement has been undertaken at the University of Notre Dame and measurements of the 60Fe/56Fe concentration of our samples using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry has begun. This result will be coupled with an activity measurement of the isomeric decay in 60Co, which is the decay product of 60Fe. Preliminary half-life estimates of (2.53 ± 0.24) × 106 years seem to confirm the recent measurement by Rugel et al. (2009).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)638-642
Number of pages5
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume361
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Oct 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
  • Fe
  • Gamma Ray Spectroscopy
  • Half-life

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Towards a measurement of the half-life of 60Fe for stellar and early Solar System models'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this