Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: One of the last problems that John Bahcall considered was the solar abundance problem, the conflict between helioseismology, which indicates a high-metallicity solar core, and improved analyses of photospheric absorption lines, which favor a low surface metallicity. I will present some qualitative arguments to show that the metal segregation accompanying planetary formation is sufficient to account for both results, and some quantitative ones that suggest that it may be difficult to identify a specific low-metallicity accretion scenario capable of accommodating all of the data. I will describe a solar neutrino experiment that could help us make progress, allowing us to directly determine components of the Sun's core metallicity.