1. Proposed Lunar Measurements of r -Process Radioisotopes to Distinguish the Origin of Deep-sea 244 Pu.
- Author
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Wang, Xilu, Clark, Adam M., Ellis, John, Ertel, Adrienne F., Fields, Brian D., Fry, Brian J., Liu, Zhenghai, Miller, Jesse A., and Surman, Rebecca
- Subjects
MARINE sediments ,LUNAR soil ,INTERSTELLAR medium ,RADIOISOTOPES ,NUCLEOSYNTHESIS ,SUPERNOVAE - Abstract
244 Pu has recently been discovered in deep-sea deposits spanning the past 10 Myr, a period that includes two60 Fe pulses from nearby supernovae.244 Pu is among the heaviest r -process products, and we consider whether it was created in supernovae, which is disfavored by nucleosynthesis simulations, or in an earlier kilonova event that seeded the nearby interstellar medium with244 Pu that was subsequently swept up by the supernova debris. We discuss how these possibilities can be probed by measuring244 Pu and other r -process radioisotopes such as129 I and182 Hf, both in lunar regolith samples returned to Earth by missions such as Chang'e and Artemis, and in deep-sea deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2023
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