The Search for Supernova Signatures in an Ice Core

We searched for potential core-collapse SN condensate grains corundum (Al2O3), hibonite (CaAl12O19) and spinel (MgAl2O4) (see [D.S. Ebel and L. Grossman, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 65 (2001) 469]) in Guliya grain samples from the following time periods: ∼2−10 ky, ∼25−27 ky, ∼34−36 ky, ∼53−57 ky, ∼59−62 ky and ∼68−72 ky. These minerals are rare among terrestrial rocks and fine-grained atmospheric dust of terrestrial origin. Furthermore, they are insoluble in the acids employed in the sample preparation process and therefore separable from other minerals, such as silicates, that have high terrestrial abundances. Candidate SN condensate grains were identified among their terrestrial diluents employing a procedure developed at the University of Chicago for detecting presolar grains in meteoritic samples [S. Amari, R.S. Lewis and E. Anders, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58 (1994) 459]. A set of 37 grains from the ∼34−36 ky, ∼53−57 ky and ∼59−62 ky samples were analyzed with the NanoSIMS at Washington University to measure their oxygen isotopic ratios. The preliminary results indicate that the analyzed grains, representing < 15% of those identified, do not possess the extreme O isotopic ratios expected to characterize a SN source [S. Amari and E. Zinner, Nucl. Phys. A 621 (1997) 99c], [T. Rauscher, A. Heger, R.D. Hoffman and S.E. Woosley, Astrophys. J. 576 (2002) 323].