The elemental composition of the Sun. II. The iron group elements Sc to Ni

We redetermine the abundances of all iron group nuclei in the Sun, based on neutral and singly-ionised lines of Sc, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni in the solar spectrum. We employ a realistic 3D hydrodynamic model solar atmosphere, corrections for departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE), stringent line selection procedures and high quality observational data. We have scoured the literature for the best quality oscillator strengths, hyperfine constants and isotopic separations available for our chosen lines. We find log ɛ_Sc = 3.16 ± 0.04, log ɛ_Ti = 4.93 ± 0.04, log ɛ_V = 3.89 ± 0.08, log ɛ_Cr = 5.62 ± 0.04, log ɛ_Mn = 5.42 ± 0.04, log ɛ_Fe = 7.47 ± 0.04, log ɛ_Co = 4.93 ± 0.05 and log ɛ_Ni = 6.20 ± 0.04. Our uncertainties factor in both statistical and systematic errors (the latter estimated for possible errors in the model atmospheres and NLTE line formation). The new abundances are generally in good agreement with the CI meteoritic abundances but with some notable exceptions. This analysis constitutes both a full exposition and a slight update of the preliminary results we presented in Asplund et al. (2009, ARA&A, 47, 481), including full line lists and details of all input data we employed.

Tables 1-3 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org