Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@idiom.com) Wed, 24 Nov 1999 writes:
>How do current elemental abundances observed in the interstellar
>medium of the galaxy compare to these pristine Solar system
>abundances? Has the interstellar medium been significantly enriched in
>the 4.6 Gyrs since the formation of the Sun? Where are the extra
>metals coming from if our models of stellar evolution and observations
>of actual stars cannot account for them?
I've had some more time to think about this.
I think the direction of research is that, the picture for what we _used to think_ (say 10 years ago) for dust producing stars/etc is changing. For example, Supernovae used to _not_ be thought of as a heavy dust producer, but it looks like they produce a lot more dust than we thought. (At least that's what I got out of the lecture a couple of days ago.)
Also, there is plenty of evidence now that supernovae had an important role in the formation of our solar system because of the physical properties (shock fronts etc.) of the "bubbles" in our local interstellar cloud that surround our solar system, and also because of measurements of minerals in presolar grains of meterorites that could only be formed by r,s,p processes in late-evolution stars.
>Have there been other
>processes of metal formation going on, or are our models of stellar
>evolution going to require considerably more adjustment before they
>synch up with the cosmochemical details we observe?
The models of stellar evolution are probably OK, maybe some tweaking in the concepts of grain formation..
And we know that dust cannot simply condense out of the gas in the interstellar medium because the density and temperatures are not right.
The other observations that are off by a factor 10, may not be so worrisome, because the discrepancy is possibly in the error bars, and a factor of 10 off in astronomy is sometimes OK ;-)
I should direct you to a newly-published paper (1 Nov 1999, ApJ) that gives a large overview of this topic. "
"Dust in the Local Interstellar Wind" by P. Frisch and a large list of authors. She is an expert on our local interstellar medium and the relationships between our local bubble and our Solar System.
In particular, look at:
Section 6.2: "Isotopic Compositions and Stellar Sources"
Section 6.4: "Presolar Silicates and GEMS"
And this Table 4: (I hope that this table doesn't get too mangled in the email translation)
Table 4 Types of Presolar Grains in Primitive Meteorites
Abundance Size Isotopic
Mineral (PPM) (micron) Signature Stellar Sources
Diamond... 1400 0.002 Xe-HL Type II supernovae
SiC 14 0.1-20 Enhancementsa C-rich AGB stars
mainstream... in 13C, 14N, 22Ne,
heavy trace elements
Graphite... 10 0.8-12 Enhancements Type II supernovae,
in 12C, 18O, (Wolf-Rayet stars)
extinct 44Ti
Corundum... 0.3 0.3-5 Enhancements Red giant, AGB stars
in 17O, Depletion
in 18O
SiC X 0.1 0.5-10 Enhancements Type II supernovae
grains... in 12C, 15N, 28Si
Extinct 26Al, 44Ti
Silicon 0.002 ~1 Enhancements Type II supernovae
nitride... in 12C, 15N, 28Si
Extinct 26Al
a Enhancement values are given relative to the solar system isotopic composition.
(I just discovered this paper this morning, and it's a long and detailed paper, so I won't summarize it here.)
The abstract follows.
Amara
http://ads.springer.de/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999ApJ...525..492F&db_key=AST&high=383d4bc7f213158
Title:
Dust in the Local Interstellar Wind
Priscilla C. Frisch
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago,
Chicago, IL 60637
Johann M. Dorschner
Astrophysikalisches Institut und Universitäts-Sternwarte,
Schillergaesschen 3, D-07745 Jena, Germany
Johannes Geiss
International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland
J. Mayo Greenberg
Leiden Observatory Laboratory, Postbus 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The
Netherlands
Eberhard Grün and Markus Landgraf 1
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
Peter Hoppe
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemistry, Cosmochemistry Department,
P.O. Box 3060, D-55020 Mainz, Germany
Anthony P. Jones
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris XI, Bâtiment
121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Wolfgang Krätschmer
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
Timur J. Linde 2
University of Michigan, Aerospace Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Gregor E. Morfill
Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, 85740 Garching,
Germany
William Reach
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of
Technology, Mail Stop 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125
Jonathan D. Slavin 3
Eureka Scientific Inc., 2452 Delmer Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA
94602-3017
Jiri Svestka
Prague Observatory, Prague, 11846 Czech Republic
Adolf N. Witt
Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH
43606
and
Gary P. Zank
Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
Received 1998 October 9; accepted 1999 May 7
Journal: The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 525, Issue 1, pp.
492-516. (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date: 11/1999
Origin: UCP
ApJ Keywords: ATOMIC PROCESSES, ISM: DUST, EXTINCTION,
INTERPLANETARY MEDIUM, ISM: ABUNDANCES, SOLAR SYSTEM:
GENERAL
Abstract
The gas-to-dust mass ratios found for interstellar dust within the solar
system, versus values determined astronomically for the cloud around the
solar system, suggest that large and small interstellar grains have separate
histories and that large interstellar grains preferentially detected by
spacecraft are not formed exclusively by mass exchange with nearby
interstellar gas. Observations by the Ulysses and Galileo satellites of the
mass spectrum and flux rate of interstellar dust within the heliosphere are
combined with information about the density, composition, and relative flow
speed and direction of interstellar gas in the cloud surrounding the solar
system to derive an in situ value for the gas-to-dust mass ratio,
R<SUB>g/d</SUB>=94<SUP>+46</SUP><SUB>-38</SUB>. This ratio is dominated by
the larger near-micron-sized grains. Including an estimate for the mass of
smaller grains, which do not penetrate the heliosphere owing to charged
grain interactions with heliosheath and solar wind plasmas, and including
estimates for the mass of the larger population of interstellar
micrometeorites, the total gas-to-dust mass ratio in the cloud surrounding
the solar system is half this value. Based on in situ data, interstellar
dust grains in the 10<SUP>-14</SUP> to 10<SUP>-13</SUP> g mass range are
underabundant in the solar system, compared to a Mathis, Rumple, & Nordsiek
mass distribution scaled to the local interstellar gas density, because such
small grains do not penetrate the heliosphere. The gas-to-dust mass ratios
are also derived by combining spectroscopic observations of the gas-phase
abundances in the nearest interstellar clouds. Measurements of interstellar
absorption lines formed in the cloud around the solar system, as seen in the
direction of ε CMa, give
R<SUB>g/d</SUB>=427<SUP>+72</SUP><SUB>-207</SUB> for assumed solar reference
abundances and R<SUB>g/d</SUB>=551<SUP>+61</SUP><SUB>-251</SUB> for assumed
B star reference abundances. These values exceed the in situ value
suggesting either that grain mixing or grain histories are not correctly
understood or that sweptup stardust is present. Such high values for diffuse
interstellar clouds are strongly supported by diffuse cloud data seen toward
λ Sco and 23 Ori, provided B star reference abundances apply. If
solar reference abundances prevail, however, the surrounding cloud is seen
to have greater than normal dust destruction compared to higher column
density diffuse clouds. The cloud surrounding the solar system exhibits
enhanced gas-phase abundances of refractory elements such as Fe<SUP>+</SUP>
and Mg<SUP>+</SUP>, indicating the destruction of dust grains by shock
fronts. The good correlation locally between Fe<SUP>+</SUP> and
Mg<SUP>+</SUP> indicates that the gas-phase abundances of these elements are
dominated by grain destruction, while the poor correlation between
Fe<SUP>+</SUP> and H<SUP>0</SUP> indicates either variable gas ionization or
the decoupling of neutral gas and dust over parsec scale lengths. These
abundances, combined with grain destruction models, indicate that the
nearest interstellar material has been shocked with shocks of velocity ~150
km s<SUP>-1</SUP>. If solar reference abundances are correct, the low
R<SUB>g/d</SUB> value toward λ Sco may indicate that at least one
cloud component in this direction contains dust grains that have retained
their silicate mantles and are responsible for the polarization of the light
from nearby stars seen in this general region. Weak frictional coupling
between gas and dust in nearby low density gas permit inhomogeneities to be
present.
--
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Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke