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Register a new userThe photospheric solar oxygen project: II. Non-concordance of the oxygen abundance derived from two forbidden lines
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In the Sun, the two forbidden [OI] lines at 630 and 636 nm were previously found to provide discrepant oxygen abundances. aims: We investigate whether this discrepancy is peculiar to the Sun or whether it is also observed in other stars. method: We make use of high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of four dwarf to turn-off stars, five giant stars, and one sub-giant star observed with THEMIS, HARPS, and UVES to investigate the coherence of the two lines. results: The two lines provide oxygen abundances that are consistent, within observational errors, in all the giant stars examined by us. On the other hand, for the two dwarf stars for which a measurement was possible, for Procyon, and for the sub-giant star Capella, the 636 nm line provides systematically higher oxygen abundances, as already seen for the Sun. conclusions: The only two possible reasons for the discrepancy are a serious error in the oscillator strength of the NiI line blending the 630 nm line or the presence of an unknown blend in the 636 nm line, which makes the feature stronger. The CN lines blending the 636 nm line cannot be responsible for the discrepancy. The CaI autoionisation line, on the red wing of which the 636 nm line is formed, is not well modelled by our synthetic spectra. However, a better reproduction of this line would result in even higher abundances from the 636 nm, thus increasing the discrepancy.
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The solar photospheric oxygen abundance is still widely debated. Adopting the solar chemical composition based on the low oxygen abundance, as determined with the use of three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamical model atmospheres, results in a well-known mismatch between theoretical solar models and helioseismic measurements that is so far unresolved. We carry out an independent redetermination of the solar oxygen abundance by investigating the center-to-limb variation of the OI IR triplet lines at 777 nm in different sets of spectra with the help of detailed synthetic line profiles based on 3D hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model atmospheres and 3D non-LTE line formation calculations with NLTETD. The idea is to simultaneously derive the oxygen abundance,A(O), and the scaling factor SH that describes the cross-sections for inelastic collisions with neutral hydrogen relative the classical Drawin formula. The best fit of the center-to-limb variation of the triplet lines achieved with the CO5BOLD 3D solar model is clearly of superior quality compared to the line profile fits obtained with standard 1D model atmospheres. Our best estimate of the 3D non-LTE solar oxygen abundance is A(O) = 8.76 +/- 0.02, with the scaling factor SH in the range between 1.2 and 1.8. All 1D non-LTE models give much lower oxygen abundances, by up to -0.15 dex. This is mainly a consequence of the assumption of a $mu$-independent microturbulence.
Motivated by the controversy over the surface metallicity of the Sun, we present a re-analysis of the solar photospheric oxygen (O) abundance. New atomic models of O and Ni are used to perform Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) calculations with 1D hydrostatic (MARCS) and 3D hydrodynamical (Stagger and Bifrost) models. The Bifrost 3D MHD simulations are used to quantify the influence of the chromosphere. We compare the 3D NLTE line profiles with new high-resolution, R = 700 000, spatially-resolved spectra of the Sun obtained using the IAG FTS instrument. We find that the O I lines at 777 nm yield the abundance of log A(O) = 8.74 +/- 0.03 dex, which depends on the choice of the H-impact collisional data and oscillator strengths. The forbidden [O I] line at 630 nm is less model-dependent, as it forms nearly in LTE and is only weakly sensitive to convection. However, the oscillator strength for this transition is more uncertain than for the 777 nm lines. Modelled in 3D NLTE with the Ni I blend, the 630 nm line yields an abundance of log A(O) = 8.77 +/- 0.05 dex. We compare our results with previous estimates in the literature and draw a conclusion on the most likely value of the solar photospheric O abundance, which we estimate at log A(O) = 8.75 +/- 0.03 dex.
We present multilevel radiative transfer modeling of the scattering polarization observed in the solar O I infrared triplet around 777 nm. We demonstrate that the scattering polarization pattern observed on the solar disk forms in the chromosphere, far above the photospheric region where the bulk of the emergent intensity profiles originates. We study the sensitivity of the polarization pattern to the thermal structure of the solar atmosphere and to the presence of weak magnetic fields (0.01 - 100 G) through the Hanle effect, showing that the scattering polarization signals of the oxygen infrared triplet encode information on the magnetism of the solar chromosphere.
Context: Recent works with improved model atmospheres, line formation, atomic and molecular data, and detailed treatment of blends, have resulted in a significant downward revision of the solar oxygen abundance. Aims: Considering the importance of the Sun as an astrophysical standard and the current conflict of standard solar models using the new solar abundances with helioseismological observations we have performed a new study of the solar oxygen abundance based on the forbidden [OI] line at 5577.34 A, not previously considered. Methods: High-resolution (R > 500 000), high signal-to-noise (S/N > 1000) solar spectra of the [O I] 5577.34 A line have been analyzed employing both three-dimensional (3D) and a variety of 1D (spatially and temporally averaged 3D, Holweger & Muller, MARCS and Kurucz models with and without convective overshooting) model atmospheres. Results: The oxygen abundance obtained from the [OI] 5577.3 A forbidden line is almost insensitive to the input model atmosphere and has a mean value of A(O) = 8.71 +/- 0.02 (sigma from using the different model atmospheres). The total error (0.07 dex) is dominated by uncertainties in the log gf value (0.03 dex), apparent line variation (0.04 dex) and uncertainties in the continuum and line positions (0.05 dex). Conclusions: The here derived oxygen abundance is close to the 3D-based estimates from the two other [OI] lines at 6300 and 6363 A, the permitted OI lines and vibrational and rotational OH transitions in the infrared. Our study thus supports a low solar oxygen abundance (A(O) ~ 8.7), independent of the adopted model atmosphere.
The use of hydrodynamical simulations, the selection of atomic data, and the computation of deviations from local thermodynamical equilibrium for the analysis of the solar spectra have implied a downward revision of the solar metallicity. We are in the process of using the latest simulations computed with the CO5BOLD code to reassess the solar chemical composition. We determine the solar photospheric carbon abundance by using a radiation-hydrodynamical CO5BOLD model, and compute the departures from local thermodynamical equilibrium by using the Kiel code. We measure equivalent widths of atomic CI lines on high resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio solar atlases. Deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium are computed in 1D with the Kiel code. Our recommended value for the solar carbon abundance, relies on 98 independent measurements of observed lines and is A(C)=8.50+-0.06, the quoted error is the sum of statistical and systematic error. Combined with our recent results for the solar oxygen and nitrogen abundances this implies a solar metallicity of Z=0.0154 and Z/X=0.0211. Our analysis implies a solar carbon abundance which is about 0.1 dex higher than what was found in previous analysis based on different 3D hydrodynamical computations. The difference is partly driven by our equivalent width measurements (we measure, on average, larger equivalent widths with respect to the other work based on a 3D model), in part it is likely due to the different properties of the hydrodynamical simulations and the spectrum synthesis code. The solar metallicity we obtain from the CO5BOLD analyses is in slightly better agreement with the constraints of helioseismology than the previous 3D abundance results. (Abridged)
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