Abstract
Since the first observations of solar oscillations in 1962, helioseismology has probably been one of the most successful fields of astrophysics. Data of unprecedented quality were obtained through the implementation of networks of ground-based observatories such as the GONG project or the BiSON network, coupled with space-based telescopes such as SOHO, Solar Orbiter and SDO missions. Besides the improvement of observational data, solar seismologists developed sophisticated techniques to infer the internal structure of the Sun from its eigenfrequencies. These methods, then already extensively used in the field of Geophysics, are called inversion techniques. They allowed to precisely determine the position of the solar convective envelope, the helium abundance in this region and the internal radial profiles of given thermodynamic quantities. Back in 1990s these comparisons showed a very high agreement between solar models and the Sun. However, the downward revision of the CNO surface abundances in the Sun in 2005, confirmed in 2009, induced a drastic reduction of this agreement leading to the so-called solar modelling problem. More than ten years later, in the era of the space-based photometry missions which have established asteroseismology of solar-like stars as a standard approach to obtain their masses, radii and ages, the solar modelling problem still awaits a solution. In this paper, we will present the results of new helioseismic inversions, discuss the current uncertainties of solar models as well as some possible solutions to the solar modelling problem. We will show how helioseismology can help us grasp what is amiss in our solar models. We will also show that, far from being an argument about details of solar models, the solar problem has significant implications for seismology of solar-like stars, on the main sequence and beyond, impacting asteroseismology as a whole as well as the fields requiring precise and accurate knowledge of stellar masses, radii and ages, such as Galactic archaeology and exoplanetology.
Highlights
For the past decades, helioseismology has been a thriving field, enjoying numerous successes and paving the way for asteroseismology of solar-like oscillators
There is no doubt that the use of such an approach on the targets of the Kepler LEGACY sample in the Gaia era will provide invaluable information for stellar modelers, allowing to test with unprecedented thoroughness our depiction of stellar structure in a much more model-independent way than what is achievable with linear asteroseismic inversions
We presented the current state of the solar modeling problem, with a strong emphasis on helioseismic diagnostics and their capabilities
Summary
Helioseismology has been a thriving field, enjoying numerous successes and paving the way for asteroseismology of solar-like oscillators. Investigations on various possible modifications to the solar models were rapidly performed following the publication of the revised abundances (see e.g., Bahcall et al, 2005a,b,c, 2006; Guzik et al, 2005, 2006; Delahaye and Pinsonneault, 2006; Montalban et al, 2006; Basu and Antia, 2008; Pinsonneault and Delahaye, 2009; Serenelli et al, 2009) These studies showed that a higher opacity could help solving the current discrepancies between solar models and helioseismology.
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