Beam-laser lifetime measurements for the z 5Po and z 7Po levels in Mn II and their implications for a revised solar manganese abundance

Laser-induced fluorescence of a fast beam of Mn+ ions has yielded lifetimes of the z 5Po1,2,3 levels with a precision of about 2.4% and of the z 7Po2,3,4 levels with a precision of about 1.4%. The ratios of those results to be lifetimes obtained from Kurucz's (1988) calculated gf values are consistent with the trend found previously for low-lying levels in Fe II. Analysis of solar photospheric data (in combination with the Kurucz gf values renormalized by the new lifetime results) yields a solar manganese abundance that is given by log Mn=5.55+or-0.09, in close agreement with the meteoritic value.