The chemical composition of the Sun

TL;DR

This paper reviews and updates the solar chemical composition using advanced 3D models, revealing significantly lower abundances of key elements and highlighting discrepancies with solar interior models.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive re-determination of solar elemental abundances with a new 3D hydrodynamical model, improving accuracy and consistency.

Findings

Lower abundances of C, N, O, and Ne compared to previous estimates.

High internal consistency among abundance indicators.

Discrepancy with standard solar interior models remains unresolved.

Abstract

The solar chemical composition is an important ingredient in our understanding of the formation, structure and evolution of both the Sun and our solar system. Furthermore, it is an essential reference standard against which the elemental contents of other astronomical objects are compared. In this review we evaluate the current understanding of the solar photospheric composition. In particular, we present a re-determination of the abundances of nearly all available elements, using a realistic new 3-dimensional (3D), time-dependent hydrodynamical model of the solar atmosphere. We have carefully considered the atomic input data and selection of spectral lines, and accounted for departures from LTE whenever possible. The end result is a comprehensive and homogeneous compilation of the solar elemental abundances. Particularly noteworthy findings are significantly lower abundances of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon compared with the widely-used values of a decade ago. The new solar chemical composition is supported by a high degree of internal consistency between available abundance indicators, and by agreement with values obtained in the solar neighborhood and from the most pristine meteorites. There is, however, a stark conflict with standard models of the solar interior according to helioseismology, a discrepancy that has yet to find a satisfactory resolution.