On the seismic age and heavy-element abundance of the Sun

Abstract

We estimate the main-sequence age and heavy-element abundance of the Sun by means of an asteroseismic calibration of theoretical solar models using only low-degree acoustic modes from the BiSON. The method can therefore be applied also to other solar-type stars, such as those observed by the NASA satellite Kepler and the planned ground-based Danish-led Stellar Observations Network Group (SONG). The age, 4.60 ± 0.04 Gyr, obtained with this new seismic method, is similar to, although somewhat greater than, today's commonly adopted values, and the surface heavy-element abundance by mass, Zs= 0.0142 ± 0.0005, lies between the values quoted recently by Asplund et al. and by Caffau et al. We stress that our best-fitting model is not a seismic model, but a theoretically evolved model of the Sun constructed with 'standard' physics and calibrated against helioseismic data. © 2011 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS.