Abstract
We suggest that the unidentified fission xenon component in carbonaceous chondrites may be attributable to the decay of the extinct radioactivities250Cm and, to a lesser extent,258Cm. Two assumptions are fundamental to this picture: (1) these relatively short-lived actinides (1.13×104 and 3.7×105 yr, respectively) were incorporated into grains in the vicinity of their supernova birthplace (prior to decay); and (2) such grains and their trapped anomalous xenon component were incorporated intact into the meteorites. Recognizing the many substantial uncertainties associated with our suggested model, we emphasize the importance of precise experimental determinations of the mass spectra of fission xenon resulting from250Cm and248Cm decay.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Alexander, E. C., Jr., Lewis, R. S., Reynolds, J. H., and Michel, M. C.: 1971,Science 172, 837.
Anders, E.: 1971,Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 9, 1.
Anders, E.: 1972, in H. Reeves (ed.)L'Origine du Systéme Solaire, (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris).
Anders, E.: 1975, personal communication.
Anders, E. and Heymann, D.: 1969,Science 164, 821.
Anders, E. and Larimer, J. W.: 1972,Science 175, 981.
Bengtsson, R., Boleu, R., Larsson, S. E., and Randrup, J.: 1975, inProc. Nobel Symposium on Superheavy Elements, Ronneby, Sweden, June 1974,Physica Scripta, in press.
Black, D. C.: 1972,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 36, 377.
Black, D. C.: 1975,Nature 253, 417.
Black, D. C. and Pepin, R. O.: 1969,Earth Planetary Sci. Letters,6, 395.
Brandt, R., Thompson, S. G., Gatti, R. C., and Phillips, L.: 1963,Phys. Rev. 131, 2617.
Cameron, A. G. W.: 1973a,Nature 246, 30.
Cameron, A. G. W.: 1973b, ‘The Role of Dust in Cosmogony’, Symposium on the Dusty Universe, Center for Astrophysics preprint No. 21.
Clayton, D. D.: 1975a,Astrophys. J. (accepted for publication).
Clayton, D. D.: 1975b, submitted toNature.
Clayton, R. N., Grossman, L., and Mayeda, T. K.: 1973,Science 182, 485.
Eberhardt, P.: 1974,Earth Planetary Sci. Letters 24, 182.
Fiset, E. O. and Nix, J. R.: 1972,Nucl. Phys. A193, 647.
Glendenin, J. E.: 1975, personal communication.
Gray, C. M. and Compston, W.: 1974,Nature 251, 495.
Gray, C. M., Papanastassiou, D. A., and Wasserburg, G. J.: 1973.,Icarus 20, 213.
Herzog, G. F. and Anders, E.: 1974,Earth Planetary Sci. Letters 24, 173.
Hoffman, D. C., and Hoffman, M. M.: 1974,Ann. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 24, 151.
Hoffman, D. C., Ford, G. P., and Balagna, J. P.: 1973,Phys. Rev. C7, 276.
Hohenberg, C. M., Munk, M. N., and Reynolds, J. H.: 1967,J. Geophys. Res. 72, 3139.
Lee, T. and Papanastassiou, D. A.: 1974,Geophys. Res. Letters 1, 227.
Manuel, O. K., Hennecke, E. W., and Sabu, D. D.: 1972a,Nature Phys Sci. 240, 99.
Manuel, O. K., Wright, R. J., Miller, D. K., and Kuroda, P. K.: 1972b,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 36 961.
Mazor, E., Heymann, D., and Anders, E.: 1970,Geochim. Cosmochim Acta 34, 781.
Morgan, J. W.: 1971, in B. Mason, (ed.),Handbook of Elemental Abundances in Meteorites (Gordon and Breach, New York), p. 517.
Nix, J. R.: 1969,Phys. Letters 30B, 1.
Nix, J. R.: 1975, personal communication.
Pepin, R. O.: 1968, in L. H. Ahrens (ed.),Origin and Distribution of the Elements, (Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York), p. 379.
Pepin, R. O.: 1975, personal communication.
Phinney, D.: 1973,Meteoritics 8, 420.
Rao, M. N. and Gopalan, K.: 1973,Nature 245, 304.
Rowe, M. W.: 1968,Geochim. Cosmochim Acta 32, 1317.
Srinivasan, B., Alexander, E. C., Jr., Manuel, O. K., and Troutner, D. E.: 1969,Phys. Rev. 179, 1166.
Unik, J. P., Gindler, J. E., Glendenin, L. E., Flynn, K. F., Gorski, A., and Sjoblom, R. K.: 1973.Proc. Third IAEA Symp. Phys. Chem. Fission, Rochester, N.Y., August 1973 (IAEA, Vienna, 1974)2, 19.
Vandenbosch, R. and Huizenga, J. R.: 1973,Nuclear Fission (Academic Press, N.Y.)
Wene, C.-O.: 1974, personal communication. See also C.-O. Wene and S. A. E. Johansson, 1975. inProc. Nobel Symposium on Superheavy Elements, Ronnenby, Sweden, in press.
Wolfsberg, K. and Ford, G. P.: 1974,167th Nat. A.C.S. Meeting, Los Angeles, April 1–4, 1974 (Abstract).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported in part by the National Science Foundation (MPS 73-05117 A01 at the University of Illinois).
Chargé de Recherches F.N.R.S. On leave of absence from the Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Howard, W.M., Arnould, M. & Truran, J.W. On possible short-lived progenitors of fission xenon in carbonaceous chondrites. Astrophys Space Sci 36, L1–L9 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00681956
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00681956