Nature 298, 334 - 339 (22 July 1982); doi:10.1038/298334a0

Internal rotation and gravitational quadrupole moment of the Sun

D. O. Gough

Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK

The internal angular velocity of the Sun is estimated from observations of apparent rotational splitting of low-order low-degree global oscillations detected in fluctuations in the limb-darkening function. A sidereal rotation of 3 µHz is inferred for the deep interior; this is more than six times greater than the equatorial rotation frequency of the photosphere. The inferred angular velocity distribution does not vary strongly with latitude, and yields a gravitational quadrupole moment J₂3.610^-6. When combined with the results of planetary radar observations to determine (2-+2)/3, a combination of Eddington−Robertson post-newtonian parameters which in general relativity is unity, a value of about 0.994 (0.012) is thus obtained.

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