Influence of the convective mixing-length parameterαon the chemical abundances in the case of metal-poor giant HD 122563

One-dimensional(1 D)model atmospheres are still the most commonly used tool for the determination of stellar chemical composition.Convection in the model is usually treated by mixing-length theory(MLT).The mixing-length parameterαis generally calibrated from the Sun and applied to all other stars.The metal-poor giant,HD 122563,is an important benchmark star to test stellar atmosphere and interior physics.We investigate the influence of the convection mixing-length parameterαon the determination of chemical abundances of Na,Mg,Al,Si,Ca,Sc,Ti,Cr,Mn,Co,Ni,Sr,Y,Zr and Ba in the case of HD 122563,taking advantage of a high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio HARPS spectrum.The abundance discrepanciesΔ[X/H]that occur due toαvariation rarely exceed 0.05 dex and most are less than 0.03 dex.We calculate the discrepancyΔ[X/H]using a line-by-line differential analysis.The abundance discrepancies do not have direct relation with either line strength or the excitation potential.For 1 D stellar atmospheric analysis of HD 122563,the accuracy of abundance determination does not strongly depend on the choice of mixing-length parameterα(causing average discrepancies of<0.03 dex),while the uncertainties in the effective temperature and surface gravity play a more important role.