Mathematics – Probability
Scientific paper
Feb 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apj...421..605k&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 421, no. 2, p. 605-615
Mathematics
Probability
61
Aluminum 26, Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, Molecular Clouds, Solar Neighborhood, Solar System, Stellar Evolution, Stellar Mass, Sun, Abundance, Carbon Dioxide, Star Formation, Stellar Composition
Scientific paper
One hypothesis for the elevated abundance of Al-26 present during the formation of the solar system is that an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star expired within the molecular cloud (MC) containing the protosolar nebula. To test this hypothesis for star-forming clouds at the present epoch, we compared nearly complete lists of rapidly mass-losing AGB stars and MCs in the solar neighborhood and identified those stars which are most likely to encounter a nearby cloud. Roughly 10 stars satisfy our selection criteria. We estimated probabilities of encounter for these stars from the position of each star relative to cloud CO emission and the likely star-cloud distance along the line of sight. Typical encounter probabilities are approximately 1%. The number of potential encounters and the probability for each star-cloud pair to result in an encounter suggests that within 1 kpc of the Sun, there is a approximately 1% chance that a given cloud will be visited by a mass-losing AGB star over the next million years. The estimate is dominated by the possibility of encounters involving the stars IRC +60041 and S Cep. Over a MC lifetime, the probability for AGB encounter may be as high as approximately 70%. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of AL-26 enrichment of processed and unprocessed meteoritic inclusions. If the Al-26 in either type of inclusion arose from AGB-MC interaction, the low probability estimated here seems to require that AGB-MC encounters trigger multiple star formation and/or that the production rate of AGB stars was higher during the epoch of solar system formation than at present. Various lines of evidence suggest only the more massive (5-8 solar mass) AGB stars can produce significant AL-26 enrichment of star-forming clouds.
Kastner Joel H.
Myers Phil C.
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