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Interstellar Fe60 in Antarctica

Dominik Koll, Gunther Korschinek, Thomas Faestermann, J. M. Gómez-Guzmán, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Silke Merchel, and Jan M. Welch
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 072701 – Published 12 August 2019
Physics logo See Synopsis: Seeking Stardust in the Snow  

Abstract

Earth is constantly bombarded with extraterrestrial dust containing invaluable information about extraterrestrial processes, such as structure formation by stellar explosions or nucleosynthesis, which could be traced back by long-lived radionuclides. Here, we report the very first detection of a recent Fe60 influx onto Earth by analyzing 500 kg of snow from Antarctica by accelerator mass spectrometry. By the measurement of the cosmogenically produced radionuclide Mn53, an atomic ratio of Fe60/Mn53=0.017 was found, significantly above cosmogenic production. After elimination of possible terrestrial sources, such as global fallout, the excess of Fe60 could only be attributed to interstellar Fe60 which might originate from the solar neighborhood.

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  • Received 28 March 2019
  • Revised 23 May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.072701

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Accelerators & BeamsNuclear PhysicsGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Synopsis

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Seeking Stardust in the Snow  

Published 12 August 2019

Iron-60 found in fresh Antarctic snow was forged in nearby supernovae and could help deduce the structure and origin of interstellar dust clouds.  

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Authors & Affiliations

Dominik Koll1,*, Gunther Korschinek1,2, Thomas Faestermann1,2, J. M. Gómez-Guzmán1, Sepp Kipfstuhl3, Silke Merchel4, and Jan M. Welch5

  • 1Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 2Excellence Cluster Universe, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 3Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
  • 4Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328 Dresden, Germany
  • 5Atominstitut, TU Wien, 1020 Vienna, Austria

  • *Present address: Department of Nuclear Physics, The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. dominik.koll@anu.edu.au

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Issue

Vol. 123, Iss. 7 — 16 August 2019

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