Uncertainty Quantification for Opacity-on-NIF

The Solar Problem refers to the disagreement between stellar structure model predictions and helioseismic measurements for the location of the base of the solar convection zone. The disagreement arose after solar abundances were revised in 2005, which affected the Rosseland mean opacity of the solar mixture. One hypothesis is inaccuracies in modeled opacities used in the stellar structure models. Previous Fe opacity measurements collected with the Z machine are higher than predictions. Increasing the opacity to the level measured at Z would ameliorate the Solar Problem disagreement. The NIF opacity platform is an independent configuration that can help further evaluate these findings. It has been used to collect data from AlMg and FeMg samples. Ongoing efforts to rigorously quantify uncertainties in the final measured opacity collected using the NIF will be discussed. Future work required to adequately reduce the uncertainties in the NIF data to validate the measurements performed at Z and help further inform the Solar problem will be outlined.