Award Abstract #0502034
International Research Fellowship Program: Search for Isotopes from Recent Nearby Supernova with Nearby Accelerator Mass

NSF Org:	OISE Office of International Science and Engineering
Initial Amendment Date:	June 22, 2005
Latest Amendment Date:	September 22, 2005
Award Number:	0502034
Award Instrument:	Fellowship
Program Manager:	Susan Parris OISE Office of International Science and Engineering O/D OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
Start Date:	June 15, 2005
Expires:	May 31, 2006 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$15608
Investigator(s):	Jonathan Levine jlevine@socrates.berkeley.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Levine Jonathan Berkeley, CA 94704 / -
NSF Program(s):	EAPSI
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 5977, 5956, 5911, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	7316

ABSTRACT

0502034

Levine

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.

This award will support a three-month research fellowship by Dr. Jonathan Levine to work with Drs. Jorge O. Fernandez-Niello and Andres Arazi at Laboratorio TANDAR, Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica Phycics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Most meteorites that reach the Earth survive for a few thousands years, at most, before they are destroyed by erosion and weathering. The so-called "terrestrial ages" of particular meteorites, or the duration of time since a meteorite has fallen to Earth, can be calculated from the measured abundance of radioactive isotopes. Carbon-14 is used extensively for this purpose. However, some meteorites are old enough that no detectable carbon-14 remains. These rare meteorites are especially interesting for questions about how the fall-rate of different types of meteorites has changed over the last several tens of thousands of years, as well as for geological studies of the slowly-eroding regions where they are found. The investigators are attempting to determine the terrestrial ages of such old meteorites from the abundance of radioactive nickel-59 (half-life 76,000 years). They search for nickel-59 by accelerator mass spectrometry, which allows them to detect nickel-59 abundances lower than one part per trillion of the total nickel endowment of a specimen. They are working to further improve the sensitivity, by improving chemical separation, mass resolution, and ionic detection techniques. Nickel-59 offers greatest promise for dating meteorites collected from geological settings of extraordinary preservation, such as Antarctica, where meteorites are eroded much more slowly than elsewhere because of the dry climate.

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.