Linear Solar Models

TL;DR

This paper introduces Linear Solar Models, a new linearized approach to analyze how small variations in solar properties affect the Sun's structure, providing a more efficient alternative to traditional methods.

Contribution

The paper develops a linear system of equations to study the Sun's response to parameter changes, enhancing analysis efficiency and transparency compared to standard models.

Findings

Linear Solar Models accurately reproduce traditional solar model predictions.

The approach efficiently assesses the impact of parameter variations on solar properties.

It offers a transparent framework for exploring solar model assumptions.

Abstract

We present a new approach to study the properties of the sun. We consider small variations of the physical and chemical properties of the sun with respect to Standard Solar Model predictions and we linearize the structure equations to relate them to the properties of the solar plasma. By assuming that the (variation of) the present solar composition can be estimated from the (variation of) the nuclear reaction rates and elemental diffusion efficiency in the present sun, we obtain a linear system of ordinary differential equations which can be used to calculate the response of the sun to an arbitrary modification of the input parameters (opacity, cross sections, etc.). This new approach is intended to be a complement to the traditional methods for solar model calculation and allows to investigate in a more efficient and transparent way the role of parameters and assumptions in solar model construction. We verify that these Linear Solar Models recover the predictions of the traditional solar models with an high level of accuracy.