• DOI:10.1126/science.1253338
• Corpus ID: 1532052

Stellar origin of the 182Hf cosmochronometer and the presolar history of solar system matter

@article{Lugaro2014StellarOO,
  title={Stellar origin of the 182Hf cosmochronometer and the presolar history of solar system matter},
  author={Maria Lugaro and Alexander Heger and Dean Osrin and Stephane Goriely and Kai Zuber and Amanda I. Karakas and Brad K. Gibson and C. L. Doherty and John C. Lattanzio and Ulrich Ott},
  journal={Science},
  year={2014},
  volume={345},
  pages={650 - 653}
}

• M. Lugaro, A. Heger, +7 authors U. Ott
• Published 8 August 2014
• Physics
• Science

Relocating a heavy-metal factory We can learn about the solar system's past by measuring heavy radioactive isotopes in meteorites—the extraterrestrial equivalent of carbon dating on Earth. Elements heavier than iron are mainly synthesized in supernovae or asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Knowing exactly which element is produced where, is key to dating the solar system. Lugaro et al. found that AGB stars generated more of a nuclide called 182Hf than previously thought (see the Perspective by Bizzarro). Its abundance indicates that it was produced about 30 million years before the Sun's formation. Science, this issue p. 650; see also p. 620 Revised estimates of nucleosynthesis in AGB stars allow a consistent timeline for the last presolar enrichment events. [Also see Perspective by Bizzarro] Among the short-lived radioactive nuclei inferred to be present in the early solar system via meteoritic analyses, there are several heavier than iron whose stellar origin has been poorly understood. In particular, the abundances inferred for 182Hf (half-life = 8.9 million years) and 129I (half-life = 15.7 million years) are in disagreement with each other if both nuclei are produced by the rapid neutron-capture process. Here, we demonstrate that contrary to previous assumption, the slow neutron-capture process in asymptotic giant branch stars produces 182Hf. This has allowed us to date the last rapid and slow neutron-capture events that contaminated the solar system material at ∼100 million years and ∼30 million years, respectively, before the formation of the Sun.