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The chemical make-up of the Sun: A 2020 vision

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48 Pith papers citing it
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abstract

The chemical composition of the Sun is a fundamental yardstick in astronomy, relative to which essentially all cosmic objects are referenced. We reassess the solar abundances of all 83 long-lived elements, using highly realistic solar modelling and state-of-the-art spectroscopic analysis techniques coupled with the best available atomic data and observations. Our new improved analysis confirms the relatively low solar abundances of C, N, and O obtained in our previous 3D-based studies: $\log\epsilon_{\text{C}}=8.46\pm0.04$, $\log\epsilon_{\text{N}}=7.83\pm0.07$, and $\log\epsilon_{\text{O}}=8.69\pm0.04$. The revised solar abundances for the other elements also typically agree well with our previously recommended values with just Li, F, Ne, Mg, Cl, Kr, Rb, Rh, Ba, W, Ir, and Pb differing by more than $0.05$ dex. The here advocated present-day photospheric metal mass fraction is only slightly higher than our previous value, mainly due to the revised Ne abundance from Genesis solar wind measurements: $X_{\rm surface}=0.7438\pm0.0054$, $Y_{\rm surface}=0.2423\pm 0.0054$, $Z_{\rm surface}=0.0139\pm 0.0006$, and $Z_{\rm surface}/X_{\rm surface}=0.0187\pm 0.0009$. Overall the solar abundances agree well with those of CI chondritic meteorites but we identify a correlation with condensation temperature such that moderately volatile elements are enhanced by $\approx 0.04$ dex in the CI chondrites and refractory elements possibly depleted by $\approx 0.02$ dex, conflicting with conventional wisdom of the past half-century. Instead the solar chemical composition resembles more closely that of the fine-grained matrix of CM chondrites. The so-called solar modelling problem remains intact with our revised solar abundances, suggesting shortcomings with the computed opacities and/or treatment of mixing below the convection zone in existing standard solar models.

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representative citing papers

A Chemical Mismatch Between Young Stars and Their Inner Disks

astro-ph.SR · 2026-04-06 · unverdicted · novelty 8.0

Two young low-mass stars show solar C/O ratios while their inner disks are hydrocarbon-rich with C/O greater than one, providing direct evidence that disk processes enhance inner-disk carbon.

Accretion of Primordial Black Holes in Stellar Interiors

astro-ph.HE · 2026-06-01 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Self-consistent spherical accretion simulations show cooling-enhanced growth of PBHs with radiative efficiency ~10^{-2} in the bremsstrahlung regime, yielding a critical seed mass of ~10^{-16} M_sun to consume a solar-mass star in a Hubble time.

Probing Solar Symmetrons with Direct Detection

hep-ph · 2026-04-10 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Solar tachocline production of symmetrons yields a keV-scale flux at Earth whose absorption in xenon detectors provides new complementary bounds on symmetron parameter space.

SDSS-V LVM: Revealing the Physical and Chemical Structure of the Helix Nebula

astro-ph.GA · 2026-06-09 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

The Helix Nebula is a low-density, stratified object with near-solar oxygen abundance (8.7), a ~1 dex sulfur deficit, and moderate helium/nitrogen enrichment placing it near the Type I boundary, with abundance variations attributed to ionization structure rather than chemical inhomogeneity.

OCCAM X. Neutron Capture Abundances with Keck/HIRES & Magellan/MIKE

astro-ph.GA · 2026-07-01 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

New high-resolution spectra yield abundances for 7 neutron-capture elements in open cluster stars, revealing flat Milky Way gradients for second-peak s- and r-process species and shallower slopes for first-peak s-process.

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