The Extinct Radionuclide Timescale of the Early Solar System

The tendency of iodine to be mobilised during secondary processing is reflected both in the presence of ¹²⁹Xe_XS in secondary minerals and in the bulk ¹²⁹Xe_XS/I ratios in meteorites. Comparison of absolute ages derived through calibration of chronometers based on ¹²⁹Xe, ⁵³Mn and ²⁶Al against the Pb-Pb system yields a plausible timescale for the early solar system. In this system, the earliest chondrule ages are most readily interpreted as representing formation after the beginning of parent body processing. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Short-Lived Radionuclides in Meteorites: Constraints on Nebular Timescales for the Production of Solids

Variations in the abundances of short-lived radionuclides such as ²⁶Al (τ_1/2 ≈ 0.74 Ma) and ⁵³Mn (τ_1/2 ≈ 3.7 Ma) in meteoritic solids may be used to infer relative formation intervals of these solids in the nebula at precisions of less than 1 Ma. In a strict chronometric interpretation of the isotopic variations, whereby criteria such as spatial and temporal isotopic homogeneity and closed system isotopic evolution are met, solid formation occurred in the nebula for at least several million years. This is longer than some theoretical and astronomical estimates for the duration of the active nebula. The evidence for live ⁴¹Ca (τ_1/2 ≈ 0.10 Ma) in meteoritic inclusions further indicates that the onset of solid formation occurred quite early, perhaps within a few hundred thousand years after the onset of the collapse of the sun's parent molecular cloud. Failure of the chronometric interpretation may arise for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, the late, inhomogeneous injection of material from a nearby stellar source or the local production of short-lived radionuclides by an energetic particle irradiation, e. g., from T Tauri (X-wind) or galactic cosmic ray sources. Although some isotopic evidence exists that the criteria required for a strict chronometric interpretation are not met by each of the short-lived chronometers, there is no compelling reason to shorten the interval of solid formation in the nebula to less than 1 Ma. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Protostellar Winds and Chondritic Meteorites

We discuss the interaction between the magnetosphere of a young star and its surrounding accretion disk. We consider how an X-wind can be driven magnetocentrifugally from the inner edge of the disk where accreting gas is diverted onto stellar field lines either to flow onto the Sun or to be flung outwards with the wind. The X-wind satisfies many observational tests concerning optical jets, Herbig-Haro objects, and molecular outflows. Connections may exist between primitive solar system materials and X-winds. Chondrules and calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) experienced short melting events uncharacteristic of the asteroid belt where meteorites originate. The inner edge of the solar nebula has the shortest orbital timescale available to the system, a few days. Protosolar flares introduce another timescale, tens of minutes to hours. CAIs may form when solids are lifted from shaded portions of the disk close to the Sun and are exposed to its intense light for a day or so before they are flung by the X-wind to much larger distances. Chondrules were melted, perhaps many times, by flares at larger distances from the Sun before being launched and annealed, but not remelted, in the X-wind. Aerodynamic sorting explains the narrow range of sizes with which CAIs and chondrules are found in chondritic meteorites. Flare-generated cosmic-rays may induce spallation reactions that produce some of the short-lived radioactivities associated with primitive solar system rocks. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.