Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-02-06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
To appear in ApJ Letters, 2 color figures, 1 B/W figure. Correction (3/23/07): An error in the NLTE calculation has been found
Scientific paper
In this work we present support for recent claims that advocate a downward revision of the solar oxygen abundance. Our analysis employs spatially-resolved spectro-polarimetric observations including the \FeI lines at 6302 \AA and the \OI infrared triplet around 7774 \AA in the quiet Sun. We used the \FeI lines to reconstruct the three-dimensional thermal and magnetic structure of the atmosphere. The simultaneous \OI observations were then employed to determine the abundance of oxygen at each pixel, using both LTE and non-LTE (NLTE) approaches to the radiative transfer. In this manner, we obtain values of \lgEO=8.63 (NLTE) and 8.93 (LTE) dex. We find an unsettling fluctuation of the oxygen abundance over the field of view. This is likely an artifact indicating that, even with this relatively refined strategy, important physical ingredients are still missing in the picture. By examining the spatial distribution of the abundance, we estimate realistic confidence limits of approximately 0.1 dex.
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