Homeastro-ph.HEarXiv:2605.29381

The Impact of the New $^{59}$Fe Decay Rates on $^{60}$Fe and $^{26}$Al Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars

astro-ph.HEastro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR2026-05v1license

Abstract

The diffuse γ\gamma-ray emission from short-lived radioactive 26^{26}Al and 60^{60}Fe provides a direct probe of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy. However, theoretical models have long struggled to reproduce the observed 60^{60}Fe/26^{26}Al flux ratio, typically predicting values significantly higher than constraints derived from INTEGRAL/SPI observations. In this work, we investigate the impact of the recently measured, temperature-dependent stellar β\beta^- decay rate of 59^{59}Fe on the nucleosynthesis of these isotopes. We compute a grid of non-rotating massive star models (1414-8080 M_\odot) at solar metallicity using the MESA code, coupled with a rigorous numerical resolution analysis. We find that the updated rate significantly suppresses the net production of 60^{60}Fe by approximately 0.28 dex (47%\sim 47\%) compared to models using LMP theoretical rates, while leaving 26^{26}Al yields virtually unchanged. This reduction is primarily driven by the enhanced β\beta^- decay during convective carbon shell burning. Integrating these yields over a standard Salpeter Initial Mass Function, we predict a Galactic flux ratio of 0.18\sim 0.18, which is in excellent agreement with the observed value of 0.184±0.0420.184 \pm 0.042. Furthermore, this ratio exhibits a weak dependence on the IMF slope. Our results indicate that the updated nuclear physics input significantly alleviates the long-standing 60^{60}Fe overproduction problem, bringing theoretical predictions into much closer alignment with current Galactic observations.

Comments: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ)

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.29381,
  title  = {The Impact of the New $^{59}$Fe Decay Rates on $^{60}$Fe and $^{26}$Al Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars},
  author = {Bingyang Tan and Wenyu Xin and Ruizheng Jiang and Gang Zhao and Koh Takahashi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.29381},
  year   = {2026}
}