Dust from Supernovae in the Solar Nebula: An Integrated Nano- and Microanalytical Approach

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Our Solar System formed from the collapse of an interstellar gas and dust cloud some 4.57 Gyr ago. Only a small fraction of the solid matter that went into the making of the Solar System survived the earliest stages of Solar System formation. Among this are so-called presolar grains, refractory, nanometer- to micrometer-sized high-temperature minerals, that are found in small quantities (up to several 100 ppm) in primitive Solar System materials. Presolar grains can be distinguished from solids that formed in the Solar System by their highly anomalous isotopic compositions. These relict grains formed in the winds of evolved stars or in the ejecta of nova and supernova (SN) explosions, i.e, they represent samples of stardust, captured by the forming planetary bodies in the early Solar System, that can be analyzed in great detail in the laboratory. Of particular importance are SiC and silicate dust grains from supernovae, the targets of this proposal. A comprehensive characterization of this Si-rich dust component, with detailed, simultaneous information on the isotopic compositions from light to heavy elements, and of the mineralogy will be important to better understand one of the building blocks from which our Solar System formed. Here, we aim to characterize this pristine dust component of the solar nebula in unrivaled detail at a scale of down to 50 nm (isotopes) and, respectively, of a few nm (mineralogy, subgrains). This will be achieved by the coordinated application of several nano- and microanalysis techniques to single SN dust grains.