TL;DR
This study detects gamma-ray emissions from radioactive 60Fe decay in the Galaxy, providing insights into nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae, and comparing it with 26Al production.
Contribution
First detection of 60Fe gamma-ray lines using INTEGRAL/SPI data, and analysis of its flux ratio with 26Al to inform stellar nucleosynthesis models.
Findings
Detected 60Fe gamma-ray lines at 1173 and 1333 keV.
Measured flux ratio of 60Fe to 26Al as 0.15 ± 0.05.
Supports core-collapse supernovae as a source of 60Fe.
Abstract
Gamma-ray line emission from radioactive decay of 60Fe provides constraints on nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae. We detect the gamma-ray lines from 60Fe decay at 1173 and 1333 keV using three years of data from the spectrometer SPI on board INTEGRAL. The average flux per line is (4.4 \pm 0.9) \times 10^{-5} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} rad^{-1} for the inner Galaxy region. Deriving the Galactic 26Al gamma-ray line flux with using the same set of observations and analysis method, we determine the flux ratio of 60Fe/26Al gamma-rays as 0.15 \pm 0.05. We discuss the implications of these results for the widely-held hypothesis that 60Fe is synthesized in core-collapse supernovae, and also for the closely-related question of the precise origin of 26Al in massive stars.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.