An international team of researchers has come up with a new method to investigate the inner workings of supernovae explosions. This novel method uses meteorites- it is unique because it can evaluate the contribution from electron anti-neutrinos, which are enigmatic particles that cannot be tracked through other means. The study was published recently in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Supernovae are important events in the evolution of stars and galaxies, but not a lot is known about the details of how the explosions occur. The new research was led by Takehito Hayakawa, who is a visiting professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Hayakawa discovered a method to investigate the role of electron anti-neutrinos in supernovae. According to the research team, if the amount of 98Ru (an isotope of Ruthenium) is measured in meteorites, it should be possible to predict how much of its progenitor 98Tc (a short-lived isotope of Technetium) was present in the material from which the Solar System formed.
The amount of 98Tc that can be found, in turn, is sensitive to some characteristics, such as the temperature, of electron anti-neutrinos in the supernova process and also on how much time had passed between the supernova and the formation of the Solar System. The traces of 98Tc that had been are only a little below the smallest levels that were currently detected. This gives scientists hope that these levels they will be measured in the near future.
Hayakawa adds, “There are six neutrino species. Previous studies have shown that neutrino-isotopes are predominantly produced by the five neutrino species other than the electron anti-neutrino. By finding a neutrino-isotope synthesized predominantly by the electron anti-neutrino, we can estimate the temperatures of all six neutrino species, which are important for understanding the supernova explosion mechanism.”
When its life ends, a massive star dies in a fiery explosion, which is known as a supernova. This explosion blows up most of the mass of the star out into the outer space. This mass is then recycled into new stars and planets, which leavs distinct chemical signatures which can give information to scientists about the supernova. Meteorites, which are also sometimes called falling stars, were formed from the material left over from the birth of the Solar System, therefore they preserve the original chemical signatures.