Issue |
A&A
Volume 469, Number 3, July III 2007
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 1005 - 1012 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20066982 | |
Published online | 10 May 2007 |
SPI observations of the diffuse 60Fe emission in the Galaxy
1
Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1603, 85740 Garching, Germany e-mail: wwang@mpe.mpg.de
2
AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris, France
3
DSM/DAPNIA/SAp, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
4
Centre d'tude Spatiale des Rayonnements, BP 4346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
5
Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Received:
20
December
2006
Accepted:
26
April
2007
Aims.Gamma-ray line emission from radioactive decay of 60Fe provides constraints on nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae.
Methods.spectrometer SPI on board INTEGRAL has accumulated nearly three years of data on gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane. We have analyzed these data with suitable instrumental-background models and sky distributions to produce high-resolution spectra of Galactic emission.
Results.We detect the γ-ray lines from 60Fe
decay at 1173 and 1333 keV, obtaining an improvement over our
earlier measurement of both lines with now 4.9σ significance for the combination of the two lines. The average flux per line is (4.4 ± 0.9) 10-5 ph cm-2 s-1 rad-1 for the inner
Galaxy region. Deriving the Galactic 26Al gamma-ray line flux
with using the same set of observations and analysis method, we
determine the flux ratio of 60Fe/26Al
gamma-rays as 0.148 ± 0.06.
Conclusions.The current theoretical predictions are consistent with our result. We discuss the implications of these results for the widely-held hypothesis that 60Fe is synthesized in core-collapse supernovae, and also for the closely-related question of the precise origin of 26Al in massive stars.
Key words: ISM: abundances / nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances / gamma rays: observations
© ESO, 2007
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