Solar models with accretion. I. Application to the solar abundance problem

TL;DR

This paper explores whether nonstandard solar models with accretion can resolve the solar abundance problem, analyzing helioseismic data and neutrino fluxes to assess their effectiveness and implications for solar evolution.

Contribution

It investigates the potential of accretion models to address the solar abundance problem, including detailed analysis of helioseismic and neutrino data, and discusses how neutrino measurements can constrain solar accretion history.

Findings

Partial solutions can match either the convective zone depth or helium abundance, but not both.

Neutrino fluxes provide valuable constraints on solar core conditions.

CN-cycle neutrino measurements could reveal early Sun-protoplanetary disk interactions.

Abstract

We generate new standard solar models using newly analyzed nuclear fusion cross sections and present results for helioseismic quantities and solar neutrino fluxes. We discuss the status of the solar abundance problem and investigate whether nonstandard solar models with accretion from the protoplanetary disk might alleviate the problem. We examine a broad range of possibilities, analyzing both metal-enriched and metal-depleted accretion models and exploring three scenarios for the timing of the accretion. Only partial solutions are found: one can bring either the depth of the convective zone or the surface helium abundance into agreement with helioseismic results, but not both simultaneously. In addition, detailed results for solar neutrino fluxes show that neutrinos are a competitive source of information about the solar core and can help constrain possible accretion histories of the Sun. Finally, we briefly discuss how measurements of solar neutrinos from the CN-cycle could shed light on the interaction between the early Sun and its protoplanetary disk.