The [ITAL]Forbidden[/ITAL] Abundance of Oxygen in the Sun

Abstract

We reexamine closely the solar photospheric line at 6300 A, which is\nattributed to a forbidden line of neutral oxygen, and is widely used in\nanalyses of other late-type stars.\n We use a three-dimensional time-dependent hydrodynamical model solar\natmosphere which has been tested successfully against observed granulation\npatterns and an array of absorption lines. We show that the solar line is a\nblend with a Ni I line, as previously suggested but oftentimes neglected.\nThanks to accurate atomic data on the [O I] and Ni I lines we are able to\nderive an accurate oxygen abundance for the Sun: log epsilon (O) = 8.69 +/-\n0.05 dex, a value at the lower end of the distribution of previously published\nabundances, but in good agreement with estimates for the local interstellar\nmedium and hot stars in the solar neighborhood. We conclude by discussing the\nimplication of the Ni I blend on oxygen abundances derived from the [O I] 6300\nA line in disk and halo stars.\n

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• Geological Survey of Sweden SE
• The University of Texas at Austin US

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