Effects of diffusion and settling on solar modelling and helioseismology

Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Abstract. Diffusion and settling of helium and heavier elements have been part of the `standard solar model' since around 1990, with substantial support from helioseismic analyses. I give a brief overview of the methods used and the results. In the solar case it seems that a relatively simple treatment of the heavy-element behaviour, representing all elements by, say, oxygen, is adequate, and that selective radiative effects play a minor role. Recently serious questions have been raised on the reliability of the solar models, as a result of a revision of the measures solar atmospheric abundances of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon.

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