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Session 2 - Everything Else.
Display session, Friday, June 27
Ballroom C, Chair: Richard Canfield

[2.81] On the direction of the rotation axis of the Sun

L. Gizon (Stanford), T. Appourchaux (ESTEC)

It is well known that the axis of rotation of the solar surface is inclined by $7.25^{\circ}$ to the ecliptic normal. However we cannot exclude that the direction of the rotation axis could vary inside the Sun. Indeed, according to Bai and Sturrock, the study of the latitudinal and temporal distributions of solar flares may support the possibility that the Sun's core is rotating about an axis which is strongly tilted with respect to the axis of rotation of the envelope. If such an oblique core is large enough, it could have a signature in low-degree p-mode oscillation spectra. Our approach is simply to test whether the hypothesis of rotation about a unique axis is consistent with the LOI/SOHO data. In other words, are the pulsation axes identical to the axis of rotation of the surface? Because we are searching for a tiny effect over a relatively short observation period, our constraints remain weak.


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