Related papers: The Early Solar System - Chapter 6
Imaging and resolved spectroscopy reveal varying environmental conditions in our dynamic solar system. Many key advances have focused on how these conditions change over time. Observatory-level commitments to conduct annual observations of…
Solar neutrinos coming from different nuclear reactions are now detected with a high statistics. Consequently, an accurate spectroscopic analysis of the neutrino fluxes arriving on the Earth's detectors become available, in the context of…
Unexplained annual variations in nuclear decay rates have been reported in recent years by a number of groups. We show that data from these experiments exhibit not only variations in time related to Earth-Sun distance, but also…
The presence and abundance of the short-lived radioisotopes (SLRs) $^{26}$Al and $^{60}$Fe during the formation of the Solar System is difficult to explain unless the Sun formed in the vicinity of one or more massive star(s) that exploded…
The knowledge of isotopic and elemental abundances of the pristine solar system material provides a fundamental test of galactic chemical evolution models, while the composition of the solar photosphere is a reference pattern to understand…
Small bodies are time-capsules of different eras of solar system history from the most primitive materials within the solar system to evolved pieces of larger bodies. A small body sample return program is an essential component of small…
In the late nineteenth century, Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity and thus the physics of weak interactions, well before atomic and quantum physics was known. The different types of radioactive decay, alpha, beta, and gamma…
Solar X-ray and UV radiation (0.1-320 nm) received at Earth's surface is an important aspect of the circumstances under which life formed on Earth. The quantity that is received depends on two main variables: the emission of radiation by…
We carry out 3-D numerical simulations to assess the penetration and bombardment effects of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), i.e. high-energy particle bursts during large flares and superflares, on ancient and current Mars. We demonstrate…
Asteroids and other Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs) are of high general and scientific interest in many aspects. The origin, formation, and evolution of our Solar System (and other planetary systems) can be better understood by analysing…
This chapter of the Planetary Exploration Horizon 2061 Report reviews the way the six key questions about planetary systems, from their origins to the way they work and their habitability, identified in chapter 1, can be addressed by means…
During the last century, with the development of modern physics in such diverse fields as thermodynamics, statistical physics, and nuclear and particle physics, the basic principles of the evolution of stars have been successfully well…
Isotopic abundances of short-lived radionuclides such as 26Al provide the most precise chronometers of events in the early solar system, provided that they were initially homogeneously distributed. On the other hand, the abundances of the…
The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain our existence. While the Sun provides for us, it is also capable of taking away. The weather and climatic scales of solar evolution and the Sun-Earth connection are not well understood. There…
Meteorites trace planet formation in the Sun's protoplanetary disk, but they also record the influence of the Sun's birth environment. Whether the Sun formed in a region like Taurus-Auriga with ~10^2 stars, or a region like the Carina…
Solar models through evolutionary phases of gravitational contraction, pre-main sequence and MS phases, up to current age 4.5E9 yr. and 4.57E9 yr., were studied adopting different prescriptions for the equation of state (EOS) and different…
We address the question how accurately stellar ages can be determined by stellar evolution theory. We select the star with the best observational material available - our Sun. We determine the solar age by fitting solar evolution models to…
This talk provides a basic introduction for students interested in the responses of detectors to solar, supernova, and other low-energy neutrino sources. Some of the nuclear physics is then applied in a discussion of nucleosynthesis within…
Chondritic meteorites constitute the most ancient rock record available in the laboratory to study the formation of the solar system and its planets. Detailed investigations of their mineralogy, petrography, chemistry and isotopic…
We construct a simple model for radioisotopic enrichment of the protosolar nebula by injection from a nearby supernova, based on the inverse square law for ejecta dispersion. We find that the presolar radioisotopes abundances (i.e., in…