Abstract
Small hydrocarbon grains in the vicinity of a supernova could be annealed by the absorption of several far-ultraviolet photons to produce the tiny diamonds found in meteorites. These freshly-synthesized diamond grains would be bombarded by the heavy ions and neutrals in the supernovae outflow and would thereby acquire the distinctive noble-gas isotopic signature by which they were first isolated. Only diamonds formed relatively close to supernovae would acquire such a signature, since grains formed farther out would be subjected to a much diluted and less energetic plasma environment.
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Nuth, J.A., Allen, J.E. Supernovae as sources of interstellar diamonds. Astrophys Space Sci 196, 117–123 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645245
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645245