A Reappraisal of the Solar Photospheric C/O Ratio

Allende Prieto, Carlos; Lambert, David L.; Asplund, Martin
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 573, Issue 2, pp. L137-L140.

Advertised on:
7
2002
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
377
Refereed citations
332
Description
An accurate determination of photospheric solar abundances requires detailed modeling of the solar granulation and accounting for departures from local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE). We argue that the forbidden C I line at 8727 Å is largely immune to departures from LTE and can be realistically modeled using LTE radiative transfer in a time-dependent three-dimensional simulation of solar surface convection. We analyze the [C I] line in the solar flux spectrum to derive the abundance logɛ(C)=8.39+/-0.04 dex. Combining this result with our parallel analysis of [O I] λ6300, we find C/O=0.50+/-0.07, in agreement with the ratios measured in the solar corona from gamma-ray spectroscopy and solar energetic particles.
Type