Abstract
Element settling inside the Sun now becomes detectable from the comparison of the observed oscillation modes with the results of the theoretical models. This settling is due, not only to gravitation, but also to thermal diffusion and radiative acceleration (although this last effect is small compared to the two others). It leads to abundance variations of helium and heavy elements of ≅ 10% below the convective zone. Although not observable from spectroscopy, such variations lead to non-negligible modifications of the solar internal structure and evolution. Helioseismology is a powerful tool to detect such effects, and its positive results represent a great success for the theory of stellar evolution. Meanwhile, evidences are obtained that the element settling is slightly smoothed down, probably due to mild macroscopic motions below the convective zone. Additional observations of the abundances of both 7Li and 3He lead to specific constraints on these particular motions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antia, H.M., and Chitre, S.M.: 1997, A&A 000, 000.
Bahcall, J.N., and Locb, A.: 1990, ApJ 360, 267.
Bahcall, J.N., and Pinsonneault, M.H.: 1992, Reviews of Modern Physics 64, 885.
Balachandran, S., and Bell, R.A.: 1998, preprint.
Basu, S.: 1997, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 288, 572.
Burgers, J.M.: 1969, Flow Equations for Composite Gases, New York: Academic Press.
Charbonnel, C., Vauclair, S., and Zahn, J.P.: 1992, A&A 255, 191.
Chapman, S., and Cowling, T.G.: 1970, The Mathematical Theory of Non-Uniform Gases, Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed.
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Proffitt, C.R., and Thompson, M.J.: 1993, ApJ 408, L75.
Cox, A.N., Guzik, J.A., and Kidman, R.B.: 1989, ApJ 342, 1187.
Dziembowski, W.A., Goode, P.R., Pamyatnikh, A.A., and Sienkiewicz, R.: 1994, ApJ 432, 417.
Geiss, J.: 1993, Origin and Evolution of the Elements, Prantzos, Vangioni-Flam, and Cassé (eds.), Cambridge Univ. Press, 90.
Gloecker, G., and Geiss, J.: 1996, Nature 381, 210.
Geiss, J., and Gloecker, G.: 1998, Space Sci. Rev., this volume.
Gough, D.O., Kosovichev, A.G., Toomre, J., Anderson, E., Antia, H.M., Basu, S., Chaboyer, B., Chitrc, S.M., Christensen Dalsgaard, J., Dziembowski, W.A., Eff-Darwich, A., Elliott, J.R., Giles, P.M., Goode, P.R., Guzik, J.A., Harvey, J.W., Hill, F., Leibacher, J.W., Monteiro, M.J.P.F.G., Richard, O., Sekii, T., Shibahashi; H., Takata, M., Thompson, M.J., Vauclair, S., and Vorontosov, S.V.: 1996, Science 272, 1296.
Michaud, G.: 1970, ApJ 160, 641.
Michaud, G., and Proffitt, C.R.: 1992, in Inside the Stars, W.W. Weiss and A. Baglin (eds.), vol. 371, IAU, San Francisco: PASPC, pp. 246-259.
Michaud, G., and Vauclair, S.: 1991, in Solar Interior and Atmosphere, A.N. Cox, W.C. Livingston, and M.S. Matthews (eds.), The University of Arizona Press, p. 304.
Paquette, C., Pelleticr, C., Fontaine, G., and Michaud, G.: 1986, ApJS 61, 177.
Proffitt, C.R.: 1994, ApJ 425, 849.
Proffitt, C.R., and Michaud, G.: 1991, ApJ 380, 238.
Proffitt, C.R., and VandenBerg, D.A.: 1991, ApJS 77, 473.
Richard, O., Vauclair, S., and Charbonnel, C.: 1998, preprint.
Richard, O., Vauclair, S., Charbonnel, C., and Dziembowski, W.A.: 1996, A&A 312, 1000.
Richer, J., and Michaud, G.: 1993, ApJ 416, 312.
Thoul, A.A., Bahcall, J.N., and Loeb, A.: 1994, ApJ 421, 828.
Turcotte, S., Richer, J., Michaud, G., Iglesias, C.A., and Rogers, F.J.: 1998, ApJ 000, 000.
Vauclair, S.: 1998, Space Sci. Rev., in press.
Vauclair, S., and Vauclair, G.: 1982, ARA&A 20, 37.
Vauclair, S., and Richard, O.: 1998, preprint.
Zahn, J.P.: 1992, A&A 265, 115.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vauclair, S. Element Settling in the Solar Interior. Space Science Reviews 85, 71–78 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005136702891
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005136702891