Distribution of Radioactive Potassium-40 Isotope (40K) Produced During Supernovae Explosions
Start Date
August 2024
End Date
August 2024
Location
ALT 208
Abstract
The radioactive isotope Potassium-40 (40K) is a long-lived particle that decays with a half-life of over one billion years. The decay of this isotope plays a crucial role in driving plate tectonics, which in turn plays a pivotal role in the planet’s habitability. An outstanding question is how planets such as ours obtain the levels of 40K needed to drive plate tectonics. One viable possibility is that such levels are achieved through enhancements due to local supernova explosions. Most stars form within large embedded clusters, with the most massive members producing supernovae. These events, in turn, provide the radioactive isotopes and enrich the discs of nearby forming stars in which planets eventually form. Thus, it is this energetic dispersion of particles after the stellar explosions is that which dispurses enhanced radiation levels to surrounding stars within these embedded clusters. We simulate this scenario through the process of building stellar clusters via a random selection of stellar mass and positions. Then we monitor the amount of 40K produced and subsequently captured by the circumstellar discs of surrounding stars and analyze the results.
Key Words: Star Formation, Embedded Clusters, Long-Lived Radioactive Isotopes
Distribution of Radioactive Potassium-40 Isotope (40K) Produced During Supernovae Explosions
ALT 208
The radioactive isotope Potassium-40 (40K) is a long-lived particle that decays with a half-life of over one billion years. The decay of this isotope plays a crucial role in driving plate tectonics, which in turn plays a pivotal role in the planet’s habitability. An outstanding question is how planets such as ours obtain the levels of 40K needed to drive plate tectonics. One viable possibility is that such levels are achieved through enhancements due to local supernova explosions. Most stars form within large embedded clusters, with the most massive members producing supernovae. These events, in turn, provide the radioactive isotopes and enrich the discs of nearby forming stars in which planets eventually form. Thus, it is this energetic dispersion of particles after the stellar explosions is that which dispurses enhanced radiation levels to surrounding stars within these embedded clusters. We simulate this scenario through the process of building stellar clusters via a random selection of stellar mass and positions. Then we monitor the amount of 40K produced and subsequently captured by the circumstellar discs of surrounding stars and analyze the results.
Key Words: Star Formation, Embedded Clusters, Long-Lived Radioactive Isotopes
