A New Generation of Standard Solar Models Vinyoles, Núria; Serenelli, Aldo M.; Villante, Francesco L. ...
The Astrophysical journal,
02/2017, Letnik:
835, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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We compute a new generation of standard solar models (SSMs) that includes recent updates on some important nuclear reaction rates and a more consistent treatment of the equation of state. Models also ...include a novel and flexible treatment of opacity uncertainties based on opacity kernels, required in light of recent theoretical and experimental works on radiative opacity. Two large sets of SSMs, each based on a different canonical set of solar abundances with high and low metallicity (Z), are computed to determine model uncertainties and correlations among different observables. We present detailed comparisons of high- and low-Z models against different ensembles of solar observables, including solar neutrinos, surface helium abundance, depth of the convective envelope, and sound speed profile. A global comparison, including all observables, yields a p-value of 2.7 for the high-Z model and 4.7 for the low-Z one. When the sound speed differences in the narrow region of are excluded from the analysis, results are 0.9 and 3.0 for high- and low-Z models respectively. These results show that high-Z models agree well with solar data but have a systematic problem right below the bottom of the convective envelope linked to steepness of molecular weight and temperature gradients, and that low-Z models lead to a much more general disagreement with solar data. We also show that, while simple parametrizations of opacity uncertainties can strongly alleviate the solar abundance problem, they are insufficient to substantially improve the agreement of SSMs with helioseismic data beyond that obtained for high-Z models due to the intrinsic correlations of theoretical predictions.
We construct updated solar models with different sets of solar abundances, including the most recent determinations by Asplund et al. The latter work predicts a larger (approx10%) solar metallicity ...compared to previous measurements by the same authors but significantly lower (approx25%) than the recommended value from a decade ago by Grevesse and Sauval. We compare the results of our models with determinations of the solar structure inferred through helioseismology measurements. The model that uses the most recent solar abundance determinations predicts the base of the solar convective envelope to be located at R {sub CZ} = 0.724 R{sub sun} and a surface helium mass fraction of Y{sub surf} = 0.231. These results are in conflict with helioseismology data (R{sub CZ} = 0.713 +- 0.001 R{sub sun} and Y{sub surf} = 0.2485 +- 0.0035) at 5sigma and 11sigma levels, respectively. Using the new solar abundances, we calculate the magnitude by which radiative opacities should be modified in order to restore agreement with helioseismology. We find that a maximum change of approx15% at the base of the convective zone is required with a smooth decrease toward the core, where the change needed is approx5%. The required change at the base of the convective envelope is about half the value estimated previously. We also present the solar neutrino fluxes predicted by the new models. The most important changes brought about by the new solar abundances are the increase by approx10% in the predicted {sup 13}N and {sup 15}O fluxes that arise mostly due to the increase in the C and N abundances in the newly determined solar composition.
We perform a quantitative analysis of the solar composition problem by using a statistical approach that allows us to combine the information provided by helioseismic and solar neutrino data in an ...effective way. We include in our analysis the helioseismic determinations of the surface helium abundance and of the depth of the convective envelope, the measurements of the super(7)Be and super(8)B neutrino fluxes, and the sound speed profile inferred from helioseismic frequencies. Our result is that the opacity profile of the Sun is well constrained by the solar observational properties. As an additional result of our analysis, we show that the best fit to the observational data is obtained with values of input parameters of the standard solar models (radiative opacities, gravitational settling rate, and the astrophysical factors S sub(34) and S sub(17)) that differ at the ~ 1sigma level from those presently adopted.
A
bstract
We determine the solar neutrino fluxes from the global analysis of the most up-to-date terrestrial and solar neutrino data including the final results of the three phases of Borexino. The ...analysis are performed in the framework of three-neutrino mixing with and without accounting for the solar luminosity constraint. We discuss the independence of the results on the input from the Gallium experiments. The determined fluxes are then compared with the predictions provided by the latest Standard Solar Models. We quantify the dependence of the model comparison with the assumptions about the normalization of the solar neutrino fluxes produced in the CNO-cycle as well as on the particular set of fluxes employed for the model testing.
We determine the dependence of the initial helium abundance and the present-day helium abundance in the convective envelope of solar models (Y {sub ini} and Y {sub surf}, respectively) on the ...parameters that are used to construct the models. We do so by using reference standard solar models (SSMs) to compute the power-law coefficients of the dependence of Y {sub ini} and Y {sub surf} on the input parameters. We use these dependencies to determine the correlation between Y {sub ini} and Y {sub surf} and use this correlation to eliminate uncertainties in Y {sub ini} from all solar model input parameters except the microscopic diffusion rate. We find an expression for Y {sub ini} that depends only on Y {sub surf} and the diffusion rate. By adopting the helioseismic determination of solar surface helium abundance, Y {sup surf} {sub sun} = 0.2485 {+-} 0.0035, and an uncertainty of 20% for the diffusion rate, we find that the initial solar helium abundance, Y {sup ini} {sub sun}, is 0.278 {+-} 0.006 independently of the reference SSMs (and particularly on the adopted solar abundances) used in the derivation of the correlation between Y {sub ini} and Y {sub surf}. When non-SSMs with extra mixing are used, then we derive Y {sup ini} {sub sun} = 0.273 {+-} 0.006. In both cases, the derived Y {sup ini} {sub sun} value is higher than that directly derived from solar model calibrations when the low-metallicity solar abundances (e.g., by Asplund et al.) are adopted in the models.
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bstract
We present an update of the determination of the solar neutrino fluxes from a global analysis of the solar and terrestrial neutrino data in the framework of three-neutrino mixing. Using a ...Bayesian analysis we reconstruct the posterior probability distribution function for the eight normalization parameters of the solar neutrino fluxes plus the relevant masses and mixing, with and without imposing the luminosity constraint. We then use these results to compare the description provided by different Standard Solar Models. Our results show that, at present, both models with low and high metallicity can describe the data with equivalent statistical agreement. We also argue that even with the present experimental precision the solar neutrino data have the potential to improve the accuracy of the solar model predictions.
For studies of Galactic evolution, the accurate characterization of stars in terms of their evolutionary stage and population membership is of fundamental importance. A standard approach relies on ...extracting this information from stellar evolution models but requires the effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicity of a star obtained by independent means. In previous work, we determined accurate effective temperatures and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium log g and Fe/H (NLTE-Opt) for a large sample of metal-poor stars, −3 < Fe/H < −0.5, selected from the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey. As a continuation of that work, we derive here their masses, ages and distances using a Bayesian scheme and garstec stellar tracks. For comparison, we also use stellar parameters determined from the widely used 1D LTE excitation-ionization balance of Fe (LTE-Fe). We find that the latter leads to systematically underestimated stellar ages, by 10-30 per cent, but overestimated masses and distances. Metal-poor giants suffer from the largest fractional distance biases of 70 per cent. Furthermore, we compare our results with those released by the RAVE collaboration (DR3) for the stars in common. This reveals −400 to +400 K offsets in effective temperature, −0.5 to 1 dex offsets in surface gravity and 10 to 70 per cent in distances. The systematic trends strongly resemble the correlation we find between the NLTE-Opt and LTE-Fe parameters, indicating that the RAVE DR3 data may be affected by the physical limitations of the 1D LTE synthetic spectra. Our results bear on any study, where spectrophotometric distances underlie stellar kinematics. In particular, they shed new light on the debated controversy about the Galactic halo origin raised by the SDSS/SEGUE observations.
The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), one of the programs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), has now completed its systematic, homogeneous spectroscopic ...survey sampling all major populations of the Milky Way. After a three-year observing campaign on the Sloan 2.5 m Telescope, APOGEE has collected a half million high-resolution (R ∼ 22,500), high signal-to-noise ratio (>100), infrared (1.51-1.70 m) spectra for 146,000 stars, with time series information via repeat visits to most of these stars. This paper describes the motivations for the survey and its overall design-hardware, field placement, target selection, operations-and gives an overview of these aspects as well as the data reduction, analysis, and products. An index is also given to the complement of technical papers that describe various critical survey components in detail. Finally, we discuss the achieved survey performance and illustrate the variety of potential uses of the data products by way of a number of science demonstrations, which span from time series analysis of stellar spectral variations and radial velocity variations from stellar companions, to spatial maps of kinematics, metallicity, and abundance patterns across the Galaxy and as a function of age, to new views of the interstellar medium, the chemistry of star clusters, and the discovery of rare stellar species. As part of SDSS-III Data Release 12 and later releases, all of the APOGEE data products are publicly available.
We generate new standard solar models using newly analyzed nuclear fusion cross sections and present results for helioseismic quantities and solar neutrino fluxes. The status of the solar abundance ...problem is discussed. We investigate whether nonstandard solar models with accretion from the protoplanetary disk might alleviate this problem. We examine a broad range of models, analyzing metal-enriched and metal-depleted accretion and three scenarios for the timing of accretion. Only partial solutions are found. For metal-rich accreted material (Z ac 0.018) there exist combinations of accreted mass and metallicity that bring the depth of the convective zone into agreement with the helioseismic value. For the surface helium abundance, the helioseismic value is reproduced if metal-poor or metal-free accretion is assumed (Z ac 0.09). In both cases a few percent of the solar mass must be accreted. Precise values depend on when accretion takes place. We do not find a simultaneous solution to both problems but speculate that changing the hydrogen-to-helium mass ratio in the accreted material may lead to more satisfactory solutions. We also show that, with current data, solar neutrinos are already a very competitive source of information about the solar core and can help constraining possible accretion histories. Even without helioseismic constraints, solar neutrinos rule out the possibility that more than 0.02 M from the protoplanetary disk were accreted after the Sun settled on the main sequence. Finally, we discuss how measurements of neutrinos from the CN cycle could shed light on the interaction between the early Sun and its protoplanetary disk.
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