Solar wind H-3 and C-14 abundances and solar surface processesTritium is measured as a function of depth in a Surveyor 3 sample. The upper limit for solar-wind-implanted tritium gives an H-3/H-1 limit for the solar wind of 10 to the -11th power. The temperature-release patterns of C-14 from lunar soils are measured. The C-14 release pattern from surface soils differs from a trench-bottom soil and gives positive evidence for the presence of C-14 in the solar wind with a C-14/H-1 ratio of approximately 6 by 10 to the -11th power. This C-14 content fixes a minimal magnitude for nuclear processes on the solar surface averaged over the past 10,000 yr. The H-3 and C-14 contents combine to require that either the mixing rate above the photosphere be rapid or that the H-3 produced by nuclear reactions be destroyed by secondary nuclear reactions before escaping in the solar wind.
Document ID
19770051832
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Fireman, E. L. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Defelice, J. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Damico, J. (Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, Mass., United States)