On the seismic age and heavy-element abundance of the Sun

We estimate the main-sequence age and heavy-element abundance of the Sun by means of an asteroseismic calibration of theoretical solar models using only low-degree acoustic modes from the BiSON. The method can therefore be applied also to other solar-type stars, such as those observed by the NASA satellite Kepler and the planned ground-based Danish-led Stellar Observations Network Group (SONG). The age, 4.60 0.04 Gyr, obtained with this new seismic method, is similar to, although somewhat greater than, today's commonly adopted values, and the surface heavy-element abundance by mass, Z s = 0.0142 0.0005, lies between the values quoted recently by Asplund et al. and by Caffau et al. We stress that our best-fitting model is not a seismic model, but a theoretically evolved model of the Sun constructed with 'standard' physics and calibrated against helioseismic data.