Condensation of Carbon in Radioactive Supernova Gas
Donald D. Clayton,
1
Weihong Liu,
2
Alexander Dalgarno
3
Chemistry resulting in the formation of large carbon-bearing
molecules and dust in the interior of an expanding supernova was
explored, and the equations governing their abundances were solved
numerically. Carbon dust condenses from initially gaseous carbon and
oxygen atoms because energetic electrons produced by radioactivity in
the supernova cause dissociation of the carbon monoxide molecules,
which would otherwise form and limit the supply of carbon atoms. The
resulting free carbon atoms enable carbon dust to grow faster by carbon
association than the rate at which the dust can be destroyed by
oxidation. The origin of presolar micrometer-sized carbon solids that
are found in meteorites is thereby altered.
1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson
University, Clemson, SC 29634-1911, USA.
2 Physics
Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6372,
USA, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
3 Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
