Why the Sun may appear oblate |
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| Authors: | Kenneth H Schatten |
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| Institution: | (1) Physics Dept., Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | If the Sun loses angular momentum from its core, due to core contraction, into the solar wind at the observed rate, then an  0.7 day rotational period for the core of the Sun is required for temporal equilibrium. The rotational power released in the core contraction process can equal the observed magnetic energy released in the solar activity cycle if the Sun's core rotates with a period near 1.4 to 4 days. The rotational power released from a rotating object is   , where is the torque on the object and is its angular velocity. Fitting this to the solar wind torque and core rotation rate provides an 0.5 to 5 day rotation period for the Sun's core. A gravitational Pannekoek-Rosseland electric field in the Sun makes the Ferraro theorem inapplicable in such a way that rather than a constant angular velocity with radius, an inverse square radial dependence occurs. This results in a two day rotational period for the region in the Sun where most of the angular momentum resides. The consistency of the above four methods suggests that the Sun's observed oblateness is due to a rapidly rotating solar core. The oblateness of the photosphere is estimated to be near 3.4×10–5. |
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