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Radiocarbon Production by the Gamma-Ray Component of Supernova Explosions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Paul E. Damon ,
Dai Kaimei ,
Grant E. Kocharov ,
Irina B. Mikheeva  and
Alexei N. Peristykh
Paul E. Damon
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Dai Kaimei
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008 China
Grant E. Kocharov
Affiliation:
A. F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg 194021 Russia Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Irina B. Mikheeva
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA A. F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg 194021 Russia
Alexei N. Peristykh
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA A. F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg 194021 Russia
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Abstract

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We selected SN1006, the brightest and closest to Earth of all supernovas historically observed, for a study of 14C production by e−,e+-bremsstrahlung cascades initiated by hard γ rays (>10 MeV) from that event. During the cascade, bremsstrahlung energies eventually fall within a giant (n,γ), (n,2γ) cross-section, peaking at 23 MeV and approaching effectively zero below 10 MeV and above 40 MeV. The neutrons are absorbed primarily in the reaction 14N(n,p)14C. Cellulose from single-year tree rings from ad 1003 to ad 1020 was measured to determine ∆14C. Three years after the first visual observation of SN1006, ∆14C rose and remained above pre-ad 1009 values until ad 1018. Comparison of the 7 years before ad 1009 with the 9 years following show an average increase of 6.1 ± 1.6 (s.d.)‰ (significant at the 99.6% confidence level). Such a pulse of 14C requires a total production of neutrons of 17.1 × 107n cm−2e, implying an input of 11.3 × 104 ergs cm−2e γ-ray energy. This requires the total supernova γ-ray energy (>10 MeV) to have been 1 × 1050 ergs.

Type
IV. 14C as a Tracer of the Dynamic Carbon Cycle in the Current Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , 1995 , pp. 599 - 604
Copyright
Copyright © the Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona 

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