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Theoretical physical-chemical models for the formation of planetary systems depend on data quality for the Sun’s composition, that of stars in the solar neighbourhood, and of the estimated ’pristine’ compositions for stellar systems. The effective scatter and the observational uncertainties of elements within a few hundred parsecs from the Sun, even for the most abundant metals like carbon, oxygen and silicon, are still controversial. Here we analyse the stellar production and the chemical evolution of key elements that underpin the formation of rocky (C, O, Mg, Si) and gas/ice giant planets (C, N, O, S). We calculate 198 galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models of the solar neighbourhood to analyse the impact of different sets of stellar yields, of the upper mass limit for massive stars contributing to GCE (Mup) and of supernovae from massive-star progenitors which do not eject the bulk of the iron-peak elements (faint supernovae). Even considering the GCE variation produced via different sets of stellar yields, the observed dispersion of elements reported for stars in the Milky Way (MW) disc is not reproduced. Among others, the observed range of super-solar [Mg/Si] ratios, sub-solar [S/N], and the dispersion of up to 0.5 dex for [S/Si] challenge our models. The impact of varying Mup depends on the adopted supernova yields. Thus, observations do not provide a constraint on the Mup parametrization. When including the impact of faint supernova models in GCE calculations, elemental ratios vary by up to 0.1–0.2 dex in the MW disc; this modification better reproduces observations.

 

While modeling the galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of stable elements provides insights to the formation history of the Galaxy and the relative contributions of nucleosynthesis sites, modeling the evolution of short-lived radioisotopes (SLRs) can provide supplementary timing information on recent nucleosynthesis. To study the evolution of SLRs, we need to understand their spatial distribution. Using a three-dimensional GCE model, we investigated the evolution of four SLRs:⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe,¹⁸²Hf, and²⁴⁴Pu with the aim of explaining detections of recent (within the last ≈1–20 Myr) deposition of live⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe, and²⁴⁴Pu of extrasolar origin into deep-sea reservoirs. We find that core-collapse supernovae are the dominant propagation mechanism of SLRs in the Galaxy. This results in the simultaneous arrival of these four SLRs on Earth, although they could have been produced in different astrophysical sites, which can explain why live extrasolar⁵³Mn,⁶⁰Fe, and²⁴⁴Pu are found within the same, or similar, layers of deep-sea sediments. We predict that¹⁸²Hf should also be found in such sediments at similar depths.

 

Fluorine has many different potential sites and channels of production, making narrowing down a dominant site of fluorine production particularly challenging. In this work, we investigate which sources are the dominant contributors to the galactic fluorine by comparing chemical evolution models to observations of fluorine abundances in Milky Way stars covering a metallicity range of −2 < [Fe/H] < 0.4 and upper limits in the range of −3.4 < [Fe/H] < −2.3. In our models, we use a variety of stellar yield sets in order to explore the impact of varying both asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and massive star yields on the chemical evolution of fluorine. In particular, we investigate different prescriptions for initial rotational velocity in massive stars as well as a metallicity-dependent mix of rotational velocities. We find that the observed [F/O] and [F/Fe] abundance ratios at low metallicity and the increasing trend of [F/Ba] at [Fe/H] ≳ −1 can only be reproduced by chemical evolution models assuming, at all metallicities, a contribution from rapidly rotating massive stars with initial rotational velocities as high as 300 km s−1. A mix of rotational velocities may provide a more physical solution than the sole use of massive stars with vrot  =  300 km s−1, which are predicted to overestimate the fluorine and average s-process elemental abundances at [Fe/H] ≳ −1. The contribution from AGB stars is predicted to start at [Fe/H] ≈ −1 and becomes increasingly important at high metallicity, being strictly coupled to the evolution of the nitrogen abundance. Finally, by using modern yield sets, we investigate the fluorine abundances of Wolf–Rayet winds, ruling them out as dominant contributors to the galactic fluorine.

 

We investigate the origin in the early Solar System of the short-lived radionuclide 244Pu (with a half life of 80 Myr) produced by the rapid (r) neutron-capture process. We consider two large sets of r-process nucleosynthesis models and analyse if the origin of 244Pu in the ESS is consistent with that of the other r and slow (s) neutron-capture process radioactive nuclei. Uncertainties on the r-process models come from both the nuclear physics input and the astrophysical site. The former strongly affects the ratios of isotopes of close mass (129I/127I, 244Pu/238U, and 247Pu/235U). The 129I/247Cm ratio, instead, which involves isotopes of a very different mass, is much more variable than those listed above and is more affected by the physics of the astrophysical site. We consider possible scenarios for the evolution of the abundances of these radioactive nuclei in the galactic interstellar medium and verify under which scenarios and conditions solutions can be found for the origin of 244Pu that are consistent with the origin of the other isotopes. Solutions are generally found for all the possible different regimes controlled by the interval (δ) between additions from the source to the parcel of interstellar medium gas that ended up in the Solar System, relative to decay timescales. If r-process ejecta in interstellar medium are mixed within a relatively small area (leading to a long δ), we derive that the last event that explains the 129I and 247Cm abundances in the early Solar System can also account for the abundance of 244Pu. Due to its longer half life, however, 244Pu may have originated from a few events instead of one only. If r-process ejecta in interstellar medium are mixed within a relatively large area (leading to a short δ), we derive that the time elapsed from the formation of the molecular cloud to the formation of the Sun was 9-16 Myr. 

Radioactive nuclei are the key to understanding the circumstances of the birth of our Sun because meteoritic analysis has proven that many of them were present at that time. Their origin, however, has been so far elusive. The ERC-CoG-2016 RADIOSTAR project is dedicated to investigating the production of radioactive nuclei by nuclear reactions inside stars, their evolution in the Milky Way Galaxy, and their presence in molecular clouds. So far, we have discovered that: (i) radioactive nuclei produced by slow (107Pd and 182Hf) and rapid (129I and 247Cm) neutron captures originated from stellar sources —asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and compact binary mergers, respectively—within the galactic environment that predated the formation of the molecular cloud where the Sun was born; (ii) the time that elapsed from the birth of the cloud to the birth of the Sun was of the order of 107 years, and (iii) the abundances of the very short-lived nuclei 26Al, 36Cl, and 41Ca can be explained by massive star winds in single or binary systems, if these winds directly polluted the early Solar System. Our current and future work, as required to finalise the picture of the origin of radioactive nuclei in the Solar System, involves studying the possible origin of radioactive nuclei in the early Solar System from core-collapse supernovae, investigating the production of 107Pd in massive star winds, modelling the transport and mixing of radioactive nuclei in the galactic and molecular cloud medium, and calculating the galactic chemical evolution of 53Mn and 60Fe and of the p-process isotopes 92Nb and 146Sm. 

Analysis of inclusions in primitive meteorites reveals that several short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) with half-lives of 0.1–100 Myr existed in the early solar system (ESS). We investigate the ESS origin of¹⁰⁷Pd,¹³⁵Cs, and¹⁸²Hf, which are produced byslowneutron captures (thes-process) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We modeled the Galactic abundances of these SLRs using theOMEGA+galactic chemical evolution (GCE) code and two sets of mass- and metallicity-dependent AGB nucleosynthesis yields (Monash and FRUITY). Depending on the ratio of the mean-lifeτof the SLR to the average length of time between the formations of AGB progenitorsγ, we calculate timescales relevant for the birth of the Sun. Ifτ/γ≳ 2, we predict self-consistent isolation times between 9 and 26 Myr by decaying the GCE predicted¹⁰⁷Pd/¹⁰⁸Pd,¹³⁵Cs/¹³³Cs, and¹⁸²Hf/¹⁸⁰Hf ratios to their respective ESS ratios. The predicted¹⁰⁷Pd/¹⁸²Hf ratio indicates that our GCE models are missing 9%–73% of¹⁰⁷Pd and¹⁰⁸Pd in the ESS. This missing component may have come from AGB stars of higher metallicity than those that contributed to the ESS in our GCE code. Ifτ/γ≲ 0.3, we calculate instead the time (T_LE) from the last nucleosynthesis event that added the SLRs into the presolar matter to the formation of the oldest solids in the ESS. For the 2M_⊙,Z= 0.01 Monash model we find a self-consistent solution ofT_LE= 25.5 Myr.

 

The composition of the early Solar System can be inferred from meteorites. Many elements heavier than iron were formed by the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), but the astrophysical sources where this occurred remain poorly understood. We demonstrate that the near-identical half-lives ( ≃ 15.6  million years ) of the radioactive r-process nuclei iodine-129 and curium-247 preserve their ratio, irrespective of the time between production and incorporation into the Solar System. We constrain the last r-process source by comparing the measured meteoritic ratio 129 I/ 247 Cm = 438 ± 184 with nucleosynthesis calculations based on neutron star merger and magneto-rotational supernova simulations. Moderately neutron-rich conditions, often found in merger disk ejecta simulations, are most consistent with the meteoritic value. Uncertain nuclear physics data limit our confidence in this conclusion. 

We present our outreach program, theThailand–UK Python+Astronomy Summer School(ThaiPASS), a collaborative project comprising UK and Thai institutions and assess its impact and possible application to schools in the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2018, the annual ThaiPASS has trained around 60 Thai high-school students in basic data handling skills using Python in the context of various astronomy topics, using current research from the teaching team. Our impact assessment of the 5 day summer schools shows an overwhelmingly positive response from students in both years, with over 80% of students scoring the activities above average in all activities but one. We use this data to suggest possible future improvements. We also discuss how ThaiPASS may inspire further outreach and engagement activities within the UK and beyond.