60Fe in core-collapse supernovae and prospects for X-ray and gamma-ray detection in supernova remnants

We investigate ⁶⁰Fe in massive stars and core-collapse supernovae focussing on uncertainties that influence its production in 15, 20, and 25 M_⊙ stars at solar metallicity. We find that the ⁶⁰Fe yield is a monotonic increasing function of the uncertain ⁵⁹Fe(n, γ)⁶⁰Fe cross-section and that a factor of 10 reduction in the reaction rate results in a factor of 8-10 reduction in the ⁶⁰Fe yield, while a factor of 10 increase in the rate increases the yield by a factor of 4-7. We find that none of the 189 simulations we have performed are consistent with a core-collapse supernova triggering the formation of the Solar system, and that only models using ⁵⁹Fe(n, γ)⁶⁰Fe cross-section that is less than or equal to that from NON-SMOKER can reproduce the observed ⁶⁰Fe/²⁶Al line flux ratio in the diffuse interstellar medium. We examine the prospects of detecting old core-collapse supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Milky Way from their gamma-ray emission from the decay of ⁶⁰Fe, finding that the next generation of gamma-ray missions could be able to discover up to ∼100 such old SNRs as well as measure the ⁶⁰Fe yields of a handful of known Galactic SNRs. We also predict the X-ray spectrum that is produced by atomic transitions in ⁶⁰Co following its ionization by internal conversion and give theoretical X-ray line fluxes as a function of remnant age as well as the Doppler and fine-structure line broadening effects. The X-ray emission presents an interesting prospect for addressing the missing SNR problem with future X-ray missions.