A new measure of the solar rotation

It is suggested that the fluctuations in the Princeton solar oblateness data, recently reanalysed by Dicke, may result from rotational splitting of non-axisymmetrical oscillations. If this hypothesis is correct, the splitting frequency provides an integral measure of the internal rotation of the Sun. Upper and lower bounds to the solar gravitational quadrupole moment are computed under the assumption that a single mode of oscillation predominates. The results depend on the nature of that mode; if it is a p mode the upper bound may be greater than the direct estimates obtained from the value of the oblateness of the solar image; but if it is a g mode, the upper bound is considerably lower than the value Dicke and Goldenberg have claimed. (author)