A runaway Wolf-Rayet star as the origin of 26-Al in the early solar system

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the short-lived radionuclide 26-Al found in the early solar system originated from a runaway Wolf-Rayet star that interacted with a molecular cloud, triggering solar system formation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scenario where a runaway Wolf-Rayet star, not a cluster, supplied 26-Al to the protosolar nebula, explaining its homogeneous distribution.

Findings

Runaway Wolf-Rayet star likely source of 26-Al in solar system

Supernova explosion of the runaway star probably triggered solar system formation

Scenario accounts for meteoritic abundance of 41-Ca

Abstract

Establishing the origin of the short-lived radionuclide (SLR) 26-Al, which was present in refractory inclusions in primitive meteorites, has profound implications for the astrophysical context of solar system formation. Recent observations that 26-Al was homogeneously distributed in the inner solar system prove that this SLR has a stellar origin. In this Letter, we address the issue of the incorporation of hot 26-Al-rich stellar ejecta into the cold protosolar nebula. We first show that the 26-Al atoms produced by a population of massive stars in an OB association cannot be injected into protostellar cores with enough efficiency. We then show that this SLR likely originated in a Wolf-Rayet star that escaped from its parent cluster and interacted with a neighboring molecular cloud. The explosion of this runaway star as a supernova probably triggered the formation of the solar system. This scenario also accounts for the meteoritic abundance of 41-Ca.