%0 Journal Article
%T A Reappraisal of the Solar Photospheric C/O Ratio
%A Carlos Allende Prieto
%A David L. Lambert
%A Martin Asplund
%J Physics
%D 2002
%I arXiv
%R 10.1086/342095
%X Accurate determination of photospheric solar abundances requires detailed modeling of the solar granulation and accounting for departures from local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE). We argue that the forbidden C I line at 8727 A is largely immune to departures from LTE, and can be realistically modeled using LTE radiative transfer in a time-dependent three-dimensional simulation of solar surface convection. We analyze the [C I] line in the solar flux spectrum to derive the abundance log epsilon(C)= 8.39 +/- 0.04 dex. Combining this result with our parallel analysis of the [O I] 6300 A line, we find C/O=0.50 +/- 0.07, in agreement with the ratios measured in the solar corona from gamma-ray spectroscopy and solar energetic particles.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0206089v1