Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Aug 1990
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990a%26a...234l..15s&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 234, no. 1-2, Aug. 1990, p. L15-L18.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
11
Aluminum 26, Cosmochemistry, Supernovae, Wolf-Rayet Stars, Milky Way Galaxy, Nuclear Fusion, Stellar Evolution, Stellar Models, Galaxy (The): General, Gamma Rays: General, Nucleosynthesis, Stars: Wolf-Rayet, Supernovae: General
Scientific paper
We review the nucleosynthesis of 26Al in Type-II supernovae and Wolf-Rayet stars, and analyse their contribution to the galactic production of this species. For this purpose, we use the most recent models of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. We also discuss the hypothesis that the molecular material traces the galactic distribution of these objects, and we take into account the metallicity gradient of the Galaxy and its consequences on their 26Al yields. In particular, we pay special attention to the Galactic Centre, namely, its molecular content, star- formation rate and metallicity, and we establish that a careless treatment of this region may lead to substantially overestimate the relative importance of Wolf-Rayet stars as galactic producers of 26Al.
We find that the 26Al production of Wolf-Rayet stars is very small even with respect to supernovae, and represents 5% of the total 26Al content of the Galaxy in the most favourable case. On the other hand, core-collapse supernovae appear to be major galactic 26Al producers, and our calculations suggest that they account for about 1/5 of the diffuse galactic emission in the 1809 keV gamma-ray line. In summary, massive stars make more 26Al in death than in life. In addition to these objects, other sources appear however necessary to make out the 3 Msun of 26Al detected in the Galaxy by and SMM. To help us determine the nature of these sources, and thus better understand the large-scale nucleosynthesis at play in the Galaxy, the mapping of the galactic emission in the 1809 keV line is required. The launch of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) satellite, at the end of 1990, might contribute to fulfill this goal.
Dupraz Christophe
Signore Michele
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