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Science 26 May 1967:
Vol. 156. no. 3778, pp. 1101 - 1102
DOI: 10.1126/science.156.3778.1101
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Articles

Rotation of the Sun

Peter Goldreich 1 and Gerald Schubert 2

1 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
2 University of California, Los Angeles

Dicke has interpreted his recent measurement of the sun's oblateness as implying a fast (1.8-day period) rotation of the solar radiative interior. We find that differentially rotating solar models, such as the one proposed by Dicke, are unstable. The rate of turbulent diffusion in the unstable regions of these models is so rapid that it appears to preclude a fast spinning solar interior. As a corollary of the stability analysis, we conclude that the loss of a significant fraction of a star's angular momentum must be accomnpanied by the mixing of material below its convective zone. Such mixing inevitably leads to the depletion of lithium in the star's photosphere.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Solar Differential Rotation and Oblateness.
A. Clark Jr., J. H. Thomas, and P. A. Clark (1969)
Science 164, 290-291
   Abstract »    PDF »
Solar Models.
R. H. Dicke (1967)
Science 157, 960
   PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)