A comparison study between the AESOPUS Low Temperature Opacity and that of Ferguson, on Standard Stellar Models and Isochrones

A comparison study between two low temperature opacity tables has been conducted. The opacity is the one of the major input physics in stellar model construction. Opacity is generally provided in a tabular form and as a function of 3 parameters, ie, density, temperature and chemical composition. Among available opacity tables, it has been common practice to utilize OPAL opacity table (Iglesias & Rogers, 1996) augmented with Ferguson opacity table (Ferguson et al. 2005) for the low temperature domain. For low temperature domain, another table, AESOPUS (Marigo & Aringer, 2009), has been announced in 2007. Reportedly, this opacity covers even lower temperature region, and is compatible with that of Ferguson in the overlapping temperature domain. To test the compatibility, stellar models and isochrones for various ranges in mass, metallicity and chemical composition, have been constructed. It is confirmed that there is no significant difference in the stellar models and isochrones constructed with the two different low temperature opacities. Therefore, in the construction of stellar models and isochrones, Ferguson low temperature opacity can be replaced with the AESOPUS opacity. The wider range in the temperature and chemical mixtures, and the easier accessibility make AESOPUS favorable in practical purpose.