THE EFFECT OF TRANSIENT MOLECULES ON THE BOUND-BOUND CONTRIBUTION TO THE RADIATIVE OPACITY AT THE CENTER OF THE SUN

Although the number fraction of iron ions in stellar material is very low (less than 10(-4)), transitions between bound states of iron ions form the major contribution to the bound-bound opacity at the Sun's ce ntre. In this work we extend the theoretical description of the iron's bound electronic structure to take account of the effect of transient close encounters between protons and iron ions. We estimate that the effect of such transient molecules on the bound-bound contribution to the Rosseland opacity at the centre of the Sun is sufficiently small t hat recalculation of the opacity values currently used is not necessar y.