Open AccessHelioseismic determination of the solar gravitational quadrupole moment
Author(s) -
Pijpers Frank P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01801.x
Subject(s) - physics , quadrupole , solar radius , astrophysics , gravitation , general relativity , tests of general relativity , astronomy , classical mechanics , gravitational redshift , solar wind , coronal mass ejection , quantum mechanics , magnetic field
One of the most well‐known tests of general relativity (GR) results from combining measurements of the anomalous precession of the orbit of Mercury with a determination of the gravitational quadrupole moment of the Sun J 2 . The latter can be done by inference from an integral relation between J 2 and the solar internal rotation. New observational data of high quality obtained from the Solar Heliospheric Satellite ( SoHO ) and from the Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) allow the determination of the internal rotation velocity of the Sun as a function of radius and latitude with unprecedented spatial resolution and accuracy. As a consequence, a number of global properties of the Sun can also be determined with much higher accuracy, notably the gravitational quadrupole moment of the Sun. The anomalous precession of the orbit of Mercury is primarily due to GR effects, but there are classical corrections, the largest of which is that due to J 2 . It is shown here that the data are currently consistent with the predictions of GR.