The Supernova Triggered Formation and Enrichment of Our Solar System

TL;DR

This paper proposes that a nearby supernova triggered the collapse of the pre-solar cloud core and enriched it with short-lived radionuclides like 26Al, explaining the formation and composition of our Solar System.

Contribution

It demonstrates through simulations that a supernova at 5pc can both trigger collapse and enrich the cloud with 26Al within 20kyr, supporting a supernova-triggered formation scenario.

Findings

Supernova enrichment and collapse are feasible within 18-20 kyr.

A 10Msun cloud at 5pc can be sufficiently enriched in 26Al.

The scenario aligns with observed homogeneity of 26Al/27Al ratios in meteorites.

Abstract

We investigate the enrichment of the pre-solar cloud core with short lived radionuclides (SLRs), especially 26Al. The homogeneity and the surprisingly small spread in the ratio 26Al/27Al observed in the overwhelming majority of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) in a vast variety of primitive chondritic meteorites places strong constraints on the formation of the the solar system. Freshly synthesized radioactive 26Al has to be included and well mixed within 20kyr. After discussing various scenarios including X-winds, AGB stars and Wolf-Rayet stars, we come to the conclusion that triggering the collapse of a cold cloud core by a nearby supernova is the most promising scenario. We then narrow down the vast parameter space by considering the pre-explosion survivability of such a clump as well as the cross-section necessary for sufficient enrichment. We employ numerical simulations to address the mixing of the radioactively enriched SN gas with the pre-existing gas and the forced collapse within 20kyr. We show that a cold clump of 10Msun at a distance of 5pc can be sufficiently enriched in 26Al and triggered into collapse fast enough - within 18kyr after encountering the supernova shock - for a range of different metallicities and progenitor masses, even if the enriched material is assumed to be distributed homogeneously in the entire supernova bubble. In summary, we envision an environment for the birth place of the Solar System 4.567Gyr ago similar to the situation of the pillars in M16 nowadays, where molecular cloud cores adjacent to an HII region will be hit by a supernova explosion in the future. We show that the triggered collapse and formation of the Solar System as well as the required enrichment with radioactive 26Al are possible in this scenario.