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Geminga and the 160-min solar oscillation

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Abstract

The idea that solar oscillations might have been stimulated by gravitational radiation from a nearby binary system1,2 has recently been explored by Delache and co-workers3,4. They have announced that the γ-ray source CG195+4, known as Geminga, varies in intensity with a period of 159.96min (ref. 3), and therefore has a frequency just (1 yr)−1 greater than the 160.01-min solar oscillation5–7. From this coincidence they have inferred a gravitational connection between the two oscillations. We show here that if the generally accepted ideas of gravitational radiation are correct, the 160-min solar oscillation could not have been driven to its observed amplitude by any binary system of stellar mass. Only if there were a sustained resonance between the incident radiation and a solar mode of oscillation could there be any chance of an observable response. However, gravitational radiation causes the binary system to spin up, prohibiting it from remaining in resonance with a 160-min mode for long enough to have a perceptible effect It is just possible that 5-min oscillations in the Sun could be excited to an observable amplitude by a binary system having an orbital period of ∼10 min at 1,000 AU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK

    A. C. Fabian & D. O. Gough

  2. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK

    D. O. Gough

Authors
  1. A. C. Fabian
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  2. D. O. Gough
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Fabian, A., Gough, D. Geminga and the 160-min solar oscillation. Nature 308, 160–162 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308160a0

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