LiBeB Production by Nuclei and Neutrinos

Abstract

The production of LiBeB isotopes by nuclear and neutrino spallation are compared in the framework of galactic evolutionary models. As motivated by $\gamma$-ray observations of Orion, different possible sources of low-energy C and O nuclei are considered, such as supernovae of various masses and WC stars. We confirm that the low energy nuclei (LEN), injected in molecular clouds by stellar winds and type II supernovae originating from the most massive progenitors, can very naturally reproduce the observed Be and B evolution in the early galaxy (halo phase). Assuming the global importance of the LEN component, we compute upper and lower bounds to the neutrino process contribution corresponding to limiting cases of LEN particle spectra. A consistent solution is found with a spectrum of the kind proposed by Ramaty \etal (1995a,b), e.g. flat up to $E_c=30$ MeV/n and decreasing abruptly above. This solution fulfills the challenge of explaining at the same time the general Be and B evolution, and their solar system abundances without overproducing \li7 at very low metallicities, and the meteoritic \b11/\b10 ratio. In this case, neutrino spallation is constrained to play a limited role in the genesis of the solar system \b11. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) become operative late in the evolution of the disk ([Fe/H]$>$-1), but their contribution to the solar abundances of \be9, \b10 and \b11 is not dominant (35\%, 30\% and 20\% respectively). Thus, with this LEN spectrum, GCR are {\it not}\ the main source of \be9 and B in the Galaxy. The most favorable case for neutrinos, (adopting the same kind of spectrum) has $E_c=20$ MeV/n. Even in this case, the neutrino yields of Woosley and Weaver (1995) must to be reduced by a factor of 5 to avoid \b11 overproduction. Furthermore, this solution leads to a high B/Be