Mass and metallicity distribution of parent AGB stars of presolar SiC

Abstract

The vast majority (≳90%) of presolar SiC grains identified in primitive meteorites are relics of ancient asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, whose ejecta were incorporated into the Solar System during its formation. Detailed characterization of these ancient stardust grains has revealed valuable information on mixing processes in AGB interiors in great detail. However, the mass and metallicity distribution of their parent stars still remains ambiguous, although such information is crucial to investigating the slow neutron-capture process, whose efficiency depends on mass and metallicity. Using a well-known Milky Way chemo-dynamical model, we followed the evolution of the AGB stars that polluted the Solar System at 4.57 Gyr ago and weighted the stars based on their SiC dust productions. We find that presolar SiC in the Solar System predominantly originated from AGB stars with M ∼ 2 M⊙ and Z ∼ Z⊙. Our finding well explains the grain-size distribution of presolar SiC identified in situ in primitive meteorites. Moreover, it provides complementary results to very recent papers that characterized parent stars of presolar SiC.