Isotopic studies of high-density interstellar graphite from the Murchison meteorite

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Chemical Analysis, Graphite, Interstellar Space, Isotopic Labeling, Meteoritic Composition, Murchison Meteorite, Abundance, Carbon Isotopes, Chemical Composition, Interstellar Chemistry, Nitrogen Isotopes, Trace Elements

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We continue with multielement isotopic analyses of single graphite grains from various density fractions extracted from Murchison. Previous measurements have shown that different density fractions have different isotopic ratios and trace-element contents, suggesting multiple stellar sources for interstellar graphite. One goal is to identify these stellar sources. In this work we report isotopic ratios of graphite grains from the high-density fraction KFC1 (2.15-2.20 g/cu cm, greater than 1 micron) and compare them with results on the low-density fraction KE3 (1.68-1.71 g/cu cm, greater than 3 microns). To be able to obtain multielement isotopic data, we chose larger grains. Forty-five grains were analyzed for their C and N isotopic ratios and the C and N isotopic compositions of KFC1 and KE3 are plotted. As previously observed, most grains in this fraction have isotopically light C. Only three grains have heavy N with N-14/N-15 ratios less than 250 (2 sigma) (solar ratio; 272). The others have normal N. Of 40 grains measured for their O-18/O-16 ratios, all have normal ratios within errors. This is in contrast to graphite grains from KE3, of which two-thirds have O-18 excesses that range up to 100 times solar. Since large O-18 excesses can be generated in massive stars such as Wolf Rayet stars or supernovae, the O-18 excesses in KE3 suggest that a large fraction of low-density graphite grains originate from massive stars, while the contribution from massive stars is small to negligible in the high-density fraction KFC1. This agrees with the conclusions derived from Kr isotopic ratios for these fractions. A striking difference between the density fractions can also be seen for Al-26/Al-27 ratios. The Kr isotopic ratios measured in KFC1 suggest that AGB stars of low metallicity contributed high-density graphite grains.

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