Seismic study of the chemical composition of the solar convection zone

Abstract

Recent downward revision of solar heavy-element abundances using three-dimensional atmospheric model has introduced serious discrepancies between standard solar models and helioseismic inferences about solar structure. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of determining the heavy-element abundances using helioseismic inversion techniques with the hope of providing an independent estimate. We use the adiabatic index, Gamma_1 (logarithmic partial derivative of pressure with respect to density at constant entropy) as a probe to examine the effects of the total heavy-element abundance, as well as the effects due to the abundance of individual elements. Our inversion results show that the new, lower, abundance increases the discrepancy between the Sun and the solar models.

Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (3)

• Solar Carbon Monoxide, Thermal Profiling, and the Abundances of C, O, and their Isotopes
• Determining solar abundances using helioseismology
• Solar abundances and helioseismology: fine structure spacings and separation ratios of low-degree p modes

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Helioseismology and Solar Abundances
• A new Generation of Standard Solar Models
• On the opacity change required to compensate for the revised solar composition
• Center-to-Limb Variation of Solar 3-D Hydrodynamical Simulations
• Solar structure and evolution
• The Future of Solar Neutrinos
• Perspectives in Global Helioseismology, and the Road Ahead
• Standard solar models: a perspective from updated solar neutrino fluxes and the gravity-mode period spacing
• Ionization of heavy elements and the adiabatic exponent in the solar plasma