Lithium Observations in the Sun

Extract

The determination of the lithium abundance in the solar atmosphere is essentially based on the LiI resonance doublet at λ 6707·761 and 6707·912 Å. These two lines form a very faint absorption feature, the central depth of the stronger component being of the order of 1% of the continuum. The violet component, which is also the stronger of the two, occurs near the red wing of a faint solar line of unknown origin, and the lines appear to be blended with other faint lines including possibly the doublet of the Li⁶ isotope (the isotopic shift being 0·160 Å). No other line of LiI has been detected in the Fraunhofer spectum of the undisturbed solar disk. This is nothing surprising, because practically all lithium is expected to be ionized in the photosphere on account of its low ionization potential (Xion = 5·37 e.v.). In sunspot spectra the lower temperature reduces the degree of ionization of lithium and causes a strengthening of the LiI lines. In fact, the LiI resonance lines which appear as a very faint absorption feature on disk spectra are about 50 times stronger in spot spectra. Furthermore, the very weak feature at λ 6103·6 Å was identified by Dubov (1964) and by Schmahl and Schröter (1965) as due to the 2s ²S–3d ²D transition of LiI. Both the resonance doublet and the faint feature at 6103·6 Å have been used by the above-mentioned authors to derive the lithium abundance in spots.