The solar silicon abundance based on 3D non-LTE calculations

Abstract

We present 3D non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative transfer calculations for silicon in the solar photosphere, using an extensive model atom that includes recent, realistic neutral hydrogen collisional cross-sections. We find that photon losses in the Si I lines give rise to slightly negative non-LTE abundance corrections of the order of -0.01 dex. We infer a 3D non-LTE-based solar silicon abundance of lg εSi⊙ = 7.51 dex. With silicon commonly chosen to be the anchor between the photospheric and meteoritic abundances, we find that the meteoritic abundance scale remains unchanged compared with the Asplund et al. and Lodders et al. results Show more