Helium Abundance of the Sun: A Spectroscopic Analysis

Abstract

Determining the He/H ratio in cool stars presents a fundamental astrophysical challenge. While this ratio is established for hot O and B stars, its extrapolation to cool stars remains uncertain due to the absence of helium lines in their observed spectra. We address this knowledge gap by focusing on the Sun as a representative cool star. We conduct spectroscopic analyses of the observed solar photospheric lines by utilizing a combination of MgH molecular lines and neutral Mg atomic lines including yet another combination of CH and C2 molecular lines with neutral C atomic lines. Our spectroscopic analyses were further exploited by adopting solar model atmospheres constructed for distinct He/H ratios to determine the solar photospheric helium abundance. The helium abundance is determined by enforcing the fact that for an adopted model atmosphere with an appropriate He/H ratio, the derived Mg abundance from the neutral Mg atomic lines and that from the MgH molecular lines must be the same. The same holds for the C abundance derived from neutral C atomic lines and that from CH lines of the CH molecular band and C2 lines from the C2 Swan band. The estimated He/H ratio for the Sun is discussed based on the one-dimensional local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmosphere. The helium abundance (He/H = - + 0.091 0.014 0.019) obtained for the Sun serves as a critical reference point to characterize the He/H ratio of cool stars across the range in their effective temperature.