Nitrogen isotopes in the solar system

Measurements of the isotopic composition of nitrogen in the solar system are summarized. We show that the 30% change, during the last 3 to 4 billion years, of ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}$ in solar-wind-bearing lunar soils and breccias probably does not reflect changes in this ratio at the solar surface. Such changes, whether by spallation or thermonuclear reactions are ruled out by comparing the yields of ¹⁵N with those of other rare isotopes such as ⁹Be, ¹¹B, ³He or ¹³C, even if an arbitrary degree of solar mixing is introduced. Moreover, we calculate that the solar activity required for producing significant amounts of ¹⁵N by spallation at the solar surface should have resulted in a particle bombardment of the Moon of an intensity that would have produced amounts of spallation isotopes (e.g.¹⁵N, ²¹Ne, ³⁸Ar, ¹³¹Xe) several orders of magnitude in excess of what is actually found in the whole regolith.We argue that accretion of interstellar matter also does not work as a cause for a significant change of the photospheric ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}$ ratio. Evidence is presented that the mixing depth at the solar surface on a time scale of ?10⁹ years is (10^?2 ?10^?1) M_⊙ Mixing to this depth renders accretion of interstellar matter as a source of compositional changes at the solar surface inefficient, even if allowance is made for the expected large difference in the accretion rates of condensed and gaseous matter. A quantitative treatment of several alternatives of solar accretion leads to serious contradictions (e.g. with the low Ne abundances in planetary atmospheres or with the amounts of nitrogen that should have been directly accreted by the Moon), and we conclude that accretion during the main sequence life of the Sun is an unlikely source of changes in ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}$ at the solar surface.A ratio of ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}\text{= (4.0 ± 0.3) × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}$ is our best estimate for average solar system material and for the Sun. We propose that a rare, very light nitrogen component (called LPN) is admixed in varying amounts to planetary matter. Undiluted LPN has not been found in meteorites or planetary atmospheres, but we show that the combined effects of LPN admixture and isotope fractionation can in principle account for the variability of ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}$ observed in the planetary system. Determination of the Jovian ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}\text{N}$ ratio with an accuracy of ~10% would crucially test our interpretation of the nitrogen isotope observations.     

The triggered origin of the solar system

The scenario of the triggered origin of the solar system suggests that the formation of our planetary system was initiated by the impact of an interstellar shock wave on a molecular cloud core. The strength of this scenario lies in its ability to explain the presence of short-lived radionuclides in the early solar system. According to the proposal, the radioactivities were produced in a stellar source, transported into the molecular cloud core by a shock wave and mixed into the collapsing system during the interaction between the shock wave and the core. We examine the viability of the scenario by presenting results from recent numerical simulations. The calculations show that molecular cloud cores can be triggered into collapse by the impact of a shock wave propagating at the velocity of 10–45 km s⁻¹. Some of the shock wave material incident on the core, typically 10–20%, can be injected into the collapsing system. The time scale of the process is ∼10⁴–10⁵ years, sufficiently short for the survival of the short-lived radioactivities. The simulations therefore confirm the viability of the scenario of the triggered origin of the solar system.     

Short-lived nuclides in the early solar system

Isotopic records in meteorites provide evidence for the presence of several short-lived nuclides in the early solar system with half-lives varying from 10⁵ to ∼8x10⁷ years. Most of the nuclides with longer half-life (> 10⁷ years) are considered to be products of stellar nucleosynthesis taking place over long time scales in our galaxy. However, for the relatively shorter-lived nuclides, two possibilities exist; they could be products of energetic particle interactions taking place in a presolar or early solar environment, or, they could have been produced in a stellar source and injected into the protosolar molecular cloud just prior to its collapse. The presently available data appear to support the latter case and put a stringent constraint of less than a million years for the time scale for the collapse of the protosolar molecular cloud to form the Sun and some of the first solar system solids. This short time scale also suggests the possibility of a triggered origin for the solar system with the very process of injection of the short-lived nuclides acting as the trigger for the collapse of the protosolar molecular cloud. Fossil records of the short-lived nuclides in meteorites also provide very useful chronological information on the early solar system processes like the time scale for nebular processing, the time scales for differentiation and for metal/silicate fractionation within planetesimals. The currently available data suggest a time scale of a few million years for nebular processing and a relatively short time scale of about ten million years within which differentiation, melting and recrystallization in some of the planetesimals took place.     

Chronology of meteorites and the early solar system

Understanding the chronology of the chondritic and differentiated meteorites can potentially important constraints on the accretion and origin of the solar system planets, life-time of our protoplanetary disk and circumstellar disks around solar mass stars, and astrophysical setting of the solar system formation. The special issue of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta consists of invited and contributed papers presented at the Workshop on The Chronology of Meteorites and the Early Solar System, Kauai, 2007 and is honoring the outstanding contributions of C.J. Allégre, G.W. Lugmair, L.E. Nyquist, D.A. Papanastassiou, and G.J. Wasserburg to our understanding of the chronology of the early Solar System.     

Predicting solar radiation fluxes for solar energy system applications

The mean daily global solar radiation flux is influenced by astronomical, climatological, geographical, geometrical, meteorological, and physical parameters. This paper deals with the study of the effects of influencing parameters on the mean daily global solar radiation flux, and also with the computation of the solar radiation flux at the surface of the earth in locations without solar radiation measurements. The reference–real data were borrowed from the Iranian Meteorological Organization. The analysis of data showed that the mean daily solar radiation flux on a horizontal surface is related to parameters such as: mean daily extraterrestrial solar radiation, average daily ratio of sunshine duration, mean daily relative humidity, mean daily maximum air temperature, mean daily maximum dew point temperature, mean daily atmospheric pressure, and sine of the solar declination angle. Multiple regression and correlation analysis were applied to predict the mean daily global solar radiation flux on a horizontal surface. The models were validated when compared with the reference–measured data of global solar radiation flux. The results showed that the models estimate the global solar radiation flux within a narrow relative error band. The values of mean bias errors and root mean square errors were within acceptable margins. The predicted values of global solar radiation flux by this approach can be used for the design and performance estimation in solar applications. The model can be used in areas where meteorological stations do not exist and information on solar radiation flux cannot be obtained experimentally.     

Cosmic ray effects in the solar system objects

Long term characteristics of solar and galactic cosmic rays, as revealed by the study of their nuclear effects in lunar, meteoritic and terrestrial samples are summarised. The data so far available on radioisotopes, noble gases and tracks, though limited, are consistent with nearly constant fluxes and composition during different epochs over billions of years; one exception is¹⁴C activity in the earths atmosphere over the past few hundred years, suggesting a variation in the solar activity. Other small or brief variations, which cannot be ruled out as yet, require better estimation of depth and size dependence of nuclear effects in rocks before they can be attributed to cosmic rays.     

Space petrology and the planetary evolution of the solar system

This paper shows that ferrous silicate meteorites (chondrites), which are conventionally regarded as direct condensates of the primordial solar nebula, are actually igneous and evolved in two stages that were contrasting in their physical and chemical parameters. The origin and early evolution of chondrites went on under enormous fluid pressure, which produced diamond embryos oversaturated with fluid inclusions, and gave rise to isotope abnormality and chondrite structure due to tear-shaped segregation of silicate melt in a Fe-rich diamond-bearing matrix melt. Chondrite crystallization mostly occurred during the second stage, which occurred under low pressure and was characterized by normal fractionation of isotopes and formation of structure opposite to chondrite (containing metal droplets in a silicate matrix), and which involved the formation of volcanic glass.     

In search of live Cm in the early solar system

The r-process only nuclide ²⁴⁷Cm decays to ²³⁵U with a characteristic half-life of ∼16 million years. ²⁴⁷Cm is presently extinct, but offers considerable potential as a short-lived r-process chronometer, providing constraints on the time interval between the last r-process nucleo-synthetic event and the formation of the solar system. The existence of “live” ²⁴⁷Cm in the early solar system should be manifested today as variations in ²³⁵U/²³⁸U, provided Cm was chemically fractionated from U when solids formed in the early solar system. Using multiple-collector ICPMS and a high-purity mixed ²³³U-²³⁶U spike to monitor instrumental mass fractionation, we are able to resolve variations in ²³⁵U/²³⁸U at the 1-2 epsilon level (2σ_M; 1 epsilon = 1 part in 10,000) on sample sizes consisting of 20 ng of uranium. Data can be acquired on smaller (<10 ng) samples with ±2-3 epsilon 2σ uncertainties. Uranium isotopic measurements and U, Nd and Sm concentrations were acquired on bulk samples of a suite of carbonaceous chondrites, unequilibrated and equilibrated ordinary chondrites and eucrites, for which conflicting results had previously been obtained. Our results show no well-resolved excursions in ²³⁵U/²³⁸U away from the terrestrial value at the ∼2 epsilon level, and constrain the amount of ²⁴⁷Cm-produced excess ²³⁵U atoms to less than ∼1 × 10⁸ atoms per gram of chondritic meteorite, with respect to terrestrial ²³⁵U/²³⁸U. Large (permil- level) anomalies in ²³⁵U/²³⁸U could, however, be artificially generated in the ordinary chondrites during laboratory processing. Therefore, U may be more susceptible to isotopic fractionation during chemical processing than previously recognized, and may reconcile some of the highly conflicting ε²³⁵U results reported by previous workers for chondritic meteorites. Our results indicate that a timescale of ∼1-2 × 10⁸ years between the last actinide producing r-process event and the formation of the solar system may not be unreasonable based on the ²⁴⁷Cm-²³⁵U system. However, this conclusion is far from robust at this stage because the only bulk meteorites analysed that display strong Nd/U fractionation are highly metamorphosed chondrites that may have experienced a protracted history of redistribution and re-equilibration. The search for “live” ²⁴⁷Cm in the early solar system can now be extended to early-formed condensates and mineral phases displaying strong Cm-U fractionations.     

Stellar sources of the short-lived radionuclides in the early solar system

We discuss the possible stellar sources of short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) known to have been present in the early solar system (²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca, ⁵³Mn, ⁶⁰Fe, ¹⁰⁷Pd, ¹²⁹I, ¹⁸²Hf, ²⁴⁴Pu). SLRs produced primarily by irradiation (⁷Be, ¹⁰Be) are not discussed in this paper. We evaluate the role of the galactic background in explaining the inventory of SLRs in the early solar system. We review the nucleosynthetic processes that produce the different SLRs and place the processes in the context of stellar evolution of stars from 1 to 120 M_⊙. The ejection of newly synthesized SLRs from these stars is also discussed. We then examine the extent to which each stellar source can, by itself, explain the relative abundances of the different SLRs in the early solar system, and the probability that each source would have been in the right place at the right time to provide the SLRs. We conclude that intermediate-mass AGB stars and massive stars in the range from ∼20 to ∼60 M_⊙ are the most plausible sources. Low-mass AGB stars fail to produce enough ⁶⁰Fe. Core-collapse Type II supernovae from stars with initial masses of <20 M_⊙ produce too much ⁶⁰Fe and ⁵³Mn. Sources such as novae, Type Ia supernovae, and core-collapse supernovae of O-Ne-Mg white dwarfs do not appear to provide the SLRs in the correct proportions. However, intermediate-mass AGB stars cannot provide ⁵³Mn or the r-process elements, so if an AGB star provided the ⁴¹Ca, ³⁶Cl, ²⁶Al, ⁶⁰Fe, and ¹⁰⁷Pd, and if a late stellar source is required for ⁵³Mn and the r-process elements, then two types of sources would be required. A separate discussion of the production of r-process elements highlights the difficulties in modeling their production. There appear to be two sources of r-process elements, one that produces the heavy r-process elements, including the actinides, and one that produces the elements from N to Ge and the elements ∼110 < A < ∼130. These can be assigned to SNII explosions of stars of ?11 M_⊙ and stars of 12-25 M_⊙, respectively. More-massive stars, which leave black holes as supernova remnants, apparently do not produce r-process elements.     

On laboratory studies of grains from outside the solar system

An overview is given of the identified surviving presolar grains in primitive meteorites. Two of these phases are discussed in more detail: (a) Presolar silicon carbide, with special emphasis on heavy element isotopic compositions which trace the slow neutron capture process (s-process) of nucleosynthesis. It is argued that there are problems either with the grain or neutron capture cross section data or with current basic understanding of heavy element nucleosynthesis, (b) Presolar diamonds, where new developments are discussed concerning the origin of the (supernova) Xenon-HL component thought to be contained within them; in addition, arguments are presented in favor of diverse carrier phases for the various Xe components observed in diamond separates.     

53Mn-53Cr evolution of the early solar system

The model of Cr isotopic evolution presented here, relies on the relative volatility properties of the two elements: Mn-Cr in planetary formation processes. The Mn/Cr ratio of the respective parent bodies correlate in most cases with the K/U ratio. With the exception of Allende inclusions, the ⁵³Mn/⁵⁵Mn and ⁵³Cr/⁵²Cr isotopic ratios were homogeneous in the solar nebula. The Cr isotopic evolution of the bulk solar system corresponds to the C1 carbonaceous chondrites. In this figure the Earth is isolated within a few million years of the C1 formation, from the solar nebula before complete decay of ⁵³Mn. It has a Cr isotopic composition which is depleted in ⁵³Cr with respect to the solar system as a whole. The parent bodies of the different meteorite classes display various behaviour with no case of Mn enrichment relative to Cr when compared to C1. The ⁵³Mn-⁵³Cr isotopic system is a precise tool for the exploration of the early solar sytem history, bringing constraints both on time and processes in this phase of the evolution where the face of the planetary system was changing rapidly. The chronology deduced from Mn-Cr systematics, is generally in good agreement with other chronometers.     

太阳系探测的进展与比较行星学的主要科学问题

回顾了太阳系的探测历程,综合分析了太阳系探测的发展趋势。未来的太阳系探测将以月球与火星探测为主线,适度开展太阳系其他行星及其卫星、小行星和彗星的考察性探测。21世纪将是全面探测太阳系并为人类社会长期可持续发展服务的新时代。随着太阳系探测的进展,通过系统比较地球与类地行星的大气层与水体的形成演化过程、地形地貌与地质构造特征、岩石类型、热历史与内部结构等方面的共性与特性研究,表明行星的质量大小和行星与太阳的距离的相互耦合,制约了行星的形成和演化的复杂过程。比较行星学已成为指导太阳系探测的科学理论体系。     

Presolar grains from meteorites: Remnants from the early times of the solar system

This review provides an introduction to presolar grains - preserved stardust from the interstellar molecular cloud from which our solar system formed - found in primitive meteorites. We describe the search for the presolar components, the currently known presolar mineral populations, and the chemical and isotopic characteristics of the grains and dust-forming stars to identify the grains’ most probable stellar sources.     

Searches for extraterrestrial life in the solar system: Status and perspectives

The results of space studies of the Moon and Mars are considered from the perspective of questions related to the appearance and evolution of life, as presented in the monograph of I.S. Shklovskii “Universe, Life and Razum” (Vselennaya, Zhizn’, Razum [in Russian]).     

Nitrogen isotopes in the recent solar wind from the analysis of Genesis targets: Evidence for large scale isotope heterogeneity in the early solar system

We have analyzed nitrogen, neon and argon abundances and isotopic ratios in target material exposed in space for 27 months to solar wind (SW) irradiation during the Genesis mission. SW ions were extracted by sequential UV (193 nm) laser ablation of gold-plated material, purified separately in a dedicated line, and analyzed by gas source static mass spectrometry. We analyzed gold-covered stainless steel pieces from the Concentrator, a device that concentrated SW ions by a factor of up to 50. Despite extensive terrestrial N contamination, we could identify a non-terrestrial, ¹⁵N-depleted nitrogen end-member that points to a 40% depletion of ¹⁵N in solar-wind N relative to inner planets and meteorites, and define a composition for the present-day Sun (¹⁵N/¹⁴N = [2.26 ± 0.67] × 10⁻³, 2σ), which is indistinguishable from that of Jupiter’s atmosphere. These results indicate that the isotopic composition of nitrogen in the outer convective zone of the Sun has not changed through time, and is representative of the protosolar nebula. Large ¹⁵N enrichments due to e.g., irradiation, low temperature isotopic exchange, or contributions from ¹⁵N-rich presolar components, are therefore required to account for inner planet values.