Oxygen and Aluminum-Magnesium Isotopic Systematics of Presolar Nanospinel Grains from CI Chondrite Orgueil

TL;DR

This study analyzes small presolar oxide grains from Orgueil meteorite, revealing their stellar origins, isotopic compositions, and formation processes, with implications for understanding stellar dust production and nucleosynthesis in low-mass stars.

Contribution

It provides new isotopic data for small presolar grains and links their compositions to specific stellar sources and processes, highlighting differences from larger grains.

Findings

Group 1 and 2 grains originate from low-mass red giant stars.

Certain isotopic ratios indicate different stellar processing conditions.

Higher proportion of Group 4 grains than previously reported.

Abstract

Presolar oxide grains have been previously divided into several groups (Group 1 to 4) based on their isotopic compositions, which can be tied to several stellar sources. Much of available data was acquired on large grains, which may not be fully representative of the presolar grain population present in meteorites. We present here new O isotopic data for 74 small presolar oxide grains (~200 nm in diameter on average) from Orgueil and Al-Mg isotopic systematics for 25 of the grains. Based on data-model comparisons, we show that (i) Group 1 and Group 2 grains more likely originated in low-mass first-ascent (red giant branch; RGB) and/or second-ascent (asymptotic giant branch; AGB) red giant stars and (ii) Group 1 grains with (26Al/27Al)0 >= 5x10^-3 and Group 2 grains with (26Al/27Al)0 <= 1x10^-2 all likely experienced extra circulation processes in their parent low-mass stars but under different conditions, resulting in proton-capture reactions occurring at enhanced temperatures. We do not find any large 25Mg excess in Group 1 oxide grains with large 17O enrichments, which provides evidence that 25Mg is not abundantly produced in low-mass stars. We also find that our samples contain a larger proportion of Group 4 grains than so far suggested in the literature for larger presolar oxide grains (~400 nm). We also discuss our observations in the light of stellar dust production mechanisms.