On the solar abundance of indium

TL;DR

This study reevaluates the solar indium abundance by detailed spectral synthesis, suggesting it aligns with meteoritic values and identifying potential causes for previous discrepancies.

Contribution

It provides a refined analysis of the solar indium abundance using spectral synthesis and considers hyperfine and Zeeman effects, challenging prior overestimations.

Findings

Solar indium abundance is close to meteoritic value.

Unidentified ion line likely causes the 451.13 nm feature.

Previous higher abundance estimates are probably due to spectral line misinterpretation.

Abstract

The generally adopted value for the solar abundance of indium is over six times higher than the meteoritic value. We address this discrepancy through numerical synthesis of the 451.13 nm line on which all indium abundance studies are based, both for the quiet-sun and the sunspot umbra spectrum, employing standard atmosphere models and accounting for hyperfine structure and Zeeman splitting in detail. The results, as well as a re-appraisal of indium nucleosynthesis, suggest that the solar indium abundance is close to the meteoritic value, and that some unidentified ion line causes the 451.13 nm feature in the quiet-sun spectrum.