A Search for r-Modes from 1825 to the Present

Abstract

Global oscillations (r-modes) of the Sun's outer convective envelope with periods approximately 1 month and longer have been detected in several short data strings of several years duration. To test whether r-modes might persist beyond one 11 year cycle, the daily sunspot numbers from 1825 to the present were analyzed. Good evidence, but confidence level less than 3sigma, was found for most of the 14 r-modes with spherical harmonic index lambda less than or equal to 5 that can exist in the presence of solar differential rotation. The characteristic rotation rate of almost every such r-mode was detected, displaced systematically from its expected value by only 0.15%. If this probable detection is real, then most low harmonic r-modes have lifetimes exceeding one century and the rotation of the Sun's outer layers varies by less than 0.05%, except possibly at solar minimum

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