Nearby Supernovae and the R-process; Clues from Extraterrestrial Iron-60 and Plutonium-244 in Deep-Sea Archives

Abstract:  The Interstellar Medium (ISM) is continuously fed with new nucleosynthetic products. The solar system moves through the ISM and collects interstellar dust particles that contain such signatures including the radionuclides iron-60 (t1/2=2.6 Myr) and plutonium-244 (81 Myr); both can be measured with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) with high sensitivity. AMS measurements demonstrate indeed a global iron-60 influx and is evidence for exposure of Earth to recent (