Papers › New Solar Composition: The Problem With Solar Models Revisited
New Solar Composition: The Problem With Solar Models Revisited
Aldo Serenelli, Sarbani Basu, Jason W. Ferguson, Martin Asplund
The archive published only this paper's code-link row. Authors, date and abstract are from arXiv's metadata (CC0), read from the Kaggle arXiv metadata snapshot of 2026-09-12 where its title matched the archive's; the title is the archive's.
We construct updated solar models with different sets of solar abundances, including the most recent determinations by Asplund et al. (2009). The latter work predicts a larger (∼10) solar metallicity compared to previous measurements by the same authors but significantly lower (∼25) than the recommended value from a decade ago by Grevesse & Sauval (1998). 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_(CZ)= 0.724R_⊙ and a surface helium mass fraction of Y_(surf)=0.231. These results are in conflict with helioseismology data (R_(CZ)= 0.713±0.001R_⊙ and Y_(surf)=0.2485±0.0035) at 5$-\sigma$ and 11$-\sigma$ 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 ∼15 at the base of the convective zone is required with a smooth decrease towards the core, where the change needed is ∼5. 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 ∼10 in the predicted ¹³N and ¹⁵O fluxes that arise mostly due to the increase in the C and N abundances in the newly determined solar composition.
Code
Repository list and official/mentioned flags are the archive's, frozen 2025-07-28. Reachability, where shown, is from one Syntology probe window (2026-09-16 to 2026-09-18); repositories not probed show nothing. GitHub stars are not tracked.
Code Syntology ran Syntology
Not run by Syntology. Nothing on this page verifies that the listed code works.
Results from the paper archive 2025-07-28
No leaderboard rows for this paper in the archive.
Report a problem or propose a change · a person checks every report against the paper or source before anything changes; decisions are listed on /corrections