Issue |
A&A
Volume 656, December 2021
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A113 | |
Number of page(s) | 11 | |
Section | The Sun and the Heliosphere | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141384 | |
Published online | 09 December 2021 |
The solar carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen abundances from a 3D LTE analysis of molecular lines⋆
1
Theoretical Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
e-mail: anish.amarsi@physics.uu.se
2
Centre Spatial de Liège, Université de Liège, Avenue Pré Aily, 4031 Angleur-Liège, Belgium
3
Space Sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août, 17, B5C, 4000 Liège, Belgium
4
Australian Academy of Science, Box 783 Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
5
Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Received:
26
May
2021
Accepted:
9
September
2021
Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are the fourth, sixth, and third most abundant elements in the Sun. Their abundances remain hotly debated due to the so-called solar modelling problem that has persisted for almost 20 years. We revisit this issue by presenting a homogeneous analysis of 408 molecular lines across 12 diagnostic groups, observed in the solar intensity spectrum. Using a realistic 3D radiative-hydrodynamic model solar photosphere and local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) line formation, we find log ϵC = 8.47 ± 0.02, log ϵN = 7.89 ± 0.04, and log ϵO = 8.70 ± 0.04. The stipulated uncertainties mainly reflect the sensitivity of the results to the model atmosphere; this sensitivity is correlated between the different diagnostic groups, which all agree with the mean result to within 0.03 dex. For carbon and oxygen, the molecular results are in excellent agreement with our 3D non-LTE analyses of atomic lines. For nitrogen, however, the molecular indicators give a 0.12 dex larger abundance than the atomic indicators, and our best estimate of the solar nitrogen abundance is given by the mean: 7.83 dex. The solar oxygen abundance advocated here is close to our earlier determination of 8.69 dex, and so the present results do not significantly alleviate the solar modelling problem.
Key words: radiative transfer / line: formation / Sun: abundances / Sun: photosphere / Sun: atmosphere
Full Table 2 is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/656/A113
© ESO 2021
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