The role of abundances in the solar interior models

Abstract

I would like to show, in this review, what we have learned on the detailed determination of the element abundances, from the observables of the solar interior. I shall separate the discussion in two parts, the knowledge of the heavy elements and the knowledge of the helium content. The heavy elements determination is necessary to perform a complete calculation of solar evolution for the nuclear energy production (about 1–1.5%) and the transfer of energy in the radiative regions. On the contrary, there is no assumption on the helium content in a solar model (because it is not measured in the photosphere) and I would like to comment on the two ways to adjust it: the total solar evolution calculation which is constrained by the present knowledge of the solar luminosity and age and the extraction of the acoustic frequency phases of high degree which are sensitive to the helium ionization zone.