Abstract
The chemical composition of the Sun is among the most important quantities in astrophysics. Solar abundances are needed for modelling stellar atmospheres, stellar structure and evolution, population synthesis, and galaxies as a whole. The solar abundance problem refers to the conflict of observed data from helioseismology and the predictions made by stellar interior models for the Sun, if these models use the newest solar chemical composition obtained with 3-D and NLTE models of radiative transfer. Here we take a close look at the problem from observational and theoretical perspective. We also provide a list of possible solutions, which have yet to be tested.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Note, however, another very common definition of metallicity in stellar astrophysics, which is the relative abundance of iron in a star relative to the Sun, [Fe/H] \(=\) \(\log (n_\mathrm{Fe}/n_\mathrm{H})_\mathrm{star} - \log (n_\mathrm{Fe}/n_\mathrm{H})_\mathrm{Sun}\). Both definitions are used interchangeably, and there are transformation relations between \(Z\) and [Fe/H].
- 2.
We follow the definition of refractory versus volatile elements used in planetary sciences (not in industry), as e.g. in Taylor (2001). In this definition, a material which has relatively high condensation temperature is refractory.
- 3.
Note that the given \(\left( Z/X \right) \) were computed using photospheric abundances for the volatile elements and meteoritic abundances for all other elements. Therefore, it is slightly different from the present-day photospheric value, as e.g. given by (Asplund et al. (2009), Table 4), \(\left( Z/X \right) = 0.0181\).
References
Antia HM, Basu S (2005) Astrophys J Lett 620:L129
Asplund M, Grevesse N, Sauval AJ, Scott P (2009) Ann Rev A&A 47:481
Bahcall JN, Basu S, Serenelli AM (2005) Astrophys J 631:1281
Bahcall JN, Serenelli AM, Pinsonneault M (2004) Astrophys J 614:464
Basu S, Antia HM (2004) Astrophys J 606:L85
Basu S, Antia HM (2008) Phys Rep 457:217
Beeck B, Collet R, Steffen M et al (2012) A&A 539:A121
Blancard C, Cossé P, Faussurier G (2012) Astrophys J 745:10
Caffau E, Ludwig H-G, Steffen M, Freytag B, Bonifacio P (2011) Solar Phys 268:255
Castro M, Vauclair S, Richard O (2007) A&A 463:755
Christensen-Dalsgaard J (2002) Rev Mod Phys 74:1073
Christensen-Dalsgaard J, di Mauro MP, Houdek G, Pijpers F (2009) A&A 494:205
Delahaye F, Pinsonneault MH (2006) Astrophys J 649:529
Drake JJ, Testa P (2005) Nature 436:525
Feltzing S, Chiba M (2013) New Astron Rev 57:80
Gehren T, Shi JR, Zhang HW, Zhao G, Korn AJ (2006) A&A 451:1065
Grevesse N, Asplund M, Sauval AJ, Scott P (2011) Can J Phys 89:327
Grevesse N, Asplund M, Sauval AJ, Scott P (2012) In: Progress in solar/stellar physics with helio- and asteroseismology. ASP conference series, vol 462, p41
Grevesse N, Sauval AJ (1998) Solar composition and its evolution—from core to corona, p 161
Guzik JA, Mussack K (2010) Astrophys J 713:1108
Lodders K, Palme H, Gail H-P (2009) Landolt Börnstein, p 44
Meléndez J, Bergemann M, Cohen JG et al (2012) A&A 543:A29
Montalbán J, Miglio A, Noels A, Grevesse N, di Mauro MP (2004) In: SOHO 14 helio- and asteroseismology: towards a golden future, danesy D (ed) ESA special publication, vol 559, p 574
Nordlund Å, Stein RF, Asplund M (2009) Living Rev Sol Phys 6:2
Robrade J, Schmitt JHMM, Favata F (2008) A&A 486:995
Rogers FJ, Iglesias CA (1992) Astrophys J 401:361
Russell HN (1929) Astrophys J 70:11
Schlattl H, Weiss A, Raffelt G (1999) Astropart Phys 10:353
Serenelli AM, Basu S, Ferguson JW, Asplund M (2009) Astrophys J 705:L123
Serenelli AM, Haxton WC, Peña-Garay C (2011) Astrophys J 743:24
Serenelli A, Peña-Garay C, Haxton WC (2013) Phys Rev D 87:043001
Taylor SR, Solar system evolution: a new perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2001)
Turck-Chièze S, Palacios A, Marques JP, Nghiem PAP (2010) Astrophys J 715:1539
Turcotte S, Richer J, Michaud G, Iglesias CA, Rogers FJ (1998) Astrophys J 504:539
Villante FL (2010) Astrophys J 724:98
Villante FL, Serenelli AM, Delahaye F, Pinsonneault MH (2013) arXiv:1312.3885
Williams JP, Cieza LA (2011) Ann Rev A&A 49:67
Acknowledgments
AMS is supported by the MICINN grant AYA2011-24704. This work was partly supported by the European Union FP7 programme through ERC grant number 320360. Figure 3 reproduced by permission of the AAS: Serenelli et al. (2011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bergemann, M., Serenelli, A. (2014). Solar Abundance Problem. In: Niemczura, E., Smalley, B., Pych, W. (eds) Determination of Atmospheric Parameters of B-, A-, F- and G-Type Stars. GeoPlanet: Earth and Planetary Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06956-2_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06956-2_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06955-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06956-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)