Context. Over the past 40 years, helioseismology has been enormously successful in the study of the solar interior. A shortcoming has been the lack of a convincing detection of the solar g modes, which are oscillations driven by gravity and are hidden in the deepest part of the solar body-its hydrogen-burning core. The detection of g modes is expected to dramatically improve our ability to model this core, the rotational characteristics of which have, until now, remained unknown.Aims. We present the identification of very low frequency g modes in the asymptotic regime and two important parameters that have long been waited for: the core rotation rate, and the asymptotic equidistant period spacing of these g modes.Methods. The GOLF instrument on board the SOHO space observatory has provided two decades of full-disk helioseismic data. The search for g modes in GOLF measurements has been extremely difficult because of solar and instrumental noise. In the present study, the p modes of the GOLF signal are analyzed differently: we search for possible collective frequency modulations that are produced by periodic changes in the deep solar structure. Such modulations provide access to only very low frequency g modes, thus allowing statistical methods to take advantage of their asymptotic properties.Results. For oscillatory periods in the range between 9 and nearly 48 h, almost 100 g modes of spherical harmonic degree 1 and more than 100 g modes of degree 2 are predicted. They are not observed individually, but when combined, they unambiguously provide their asymptotic period equidistance and rotational splittings, in excellent agreement with the requirements of the asymptotic approximations. When the period equidistance has been measured, all of the individual frequencies of each mode can be determined. Previously, p-mode helioseismology allowed the g-mode period equidistance parameter P-0 to be bracketed inside a narrow range, between approximately 34 and 35 min. Here, P-0 is measured to be 34 min 01 s, with a 1 s uncertainty. The previously unknown g-mode splittings have now been measured from a non-synodic reference with very high accuracy, and they imply a mean weighted rotation of 1277 +/- 10 nHz ( 9-day period) of their kernels, resulting in a rapid rotation frequency of 1644 +/- 23 nHz ( period of one week) of the solar core itself, which is a factor 3.8 +/- 0.1 faster than the rotation of the radiative envelope.Conclusions. The g modes are known to be the keys to a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of the solar core. Their detection with these precise parameters will certainly stimulate a new era of research in this field.

We present the identification of very low frequency g modes, in the asymptotic regime, and two important parameters: the core rotation rate and the asymptotic equidistant period spacing of these g modes. The GOLF instrument on the SOHO space observatory has provided two decades of full disk helioseismic data. The search for g modes in GOLF measurements has been extremely difficult, due to solar and instrumental noise. In the present study, the p modes of the GOLF signal are analyzed differently, searching for possible collective frequency modulations produced by periodic changes in the deep solar structure. Such modulations provide access to only very low frequency g modes, thus allowing statistical methods to take advantage of their asymptotic properties. For oscillatory periods in the range between 9 and nearly 48 hours, almost 100 g modes of spherical harmonic degree 1 and more than 100 g modes of degree 2 are predicted. They are not observed individually, but when combined, they unambiguously provide their asymptotic period equidistance and rotational splittings, in excellent agreement with the requirements of the asymptotic approximations. P0, the g-mode period equidistance parameter, is measured to be 34 min 01 s, with a 1 s uncertainty. The previously unknown g-mode splittings have now been measured from a non synodic reference with a very high accuracy, and they imply a mean weighted rotation of 1277 ± 10 nHz (9-day period) of their kernels, resulting in a rapid rotation frequency of 1644 ± 23 nHz (period of one week) of the solar core itself, which is a factor 3:8 ± 0:1 faster than the rotation of the radiative envelope.

The DynaMICCS mission is designed to probe and understand the dynamics of crucial regions of the Sun that determine solar variability, including the previously unexplored inner core, the radiative/convective zone interface layers, the photosphere/chromosphere layers and the low corona. The mission delivers data and knowledge that no other known mission provides for understanding space weather and space climate and for advancing stellar physics (internal dynamics) and fundamental physics (neutrino properties, atomic physics, gravitational moments...). The science objectives are achieved using Doppler and magnetic measurements of the solar surface, helioseismic and coronographic measurements, solar irradiance at different wavelengths and in-situ measurements of plasma/energetic particles/magnetic fields. The DynaMICCS payload uses an original concept studied by ThalSs Alenia Space in the framework of the CNES call for formation flying missions: an external occultation of the solar light is obtained by putting an occulter spacecraft 150 m (or more) in front of a second spacecraft. The occulter spacecraft, a LEO platform of the mini sat class, e.g. PROTEUS, type carries the helioseismic and irradiance instruments and the formation flying technologies. The latter spacecraft of the same type carries a visible and infrared coronagraph for a unique observation of the solar corona and instrumentation for the study of the solar wind and imagers. This mission must guarantee long (one 11-year solar cycle) and continuous observations (duty cycle > 94%) of signals that can be very weak (the gravity mode detection supposes the measurement of velocity smaller than 1 mm/s). This assumes no interruption in observation and very stable thermal conditions. The preferred orbit therefore is the L1 orbit, which fits these requirements very well and is also an attractive environment for the spacecraft due to its low radiation and low perturbation (solar pressure) environment. This mission is secured by instrumental R and D activities during the present and coming years. Some prototypes of different instruments are already built (GOLFNG, SDM) and the performances will be checked before launch on the ground or in space through planned missions of CNES and PROBA ESA missions (PICARD, LYRA, maybe ASPIICS).

The primary challenge of GOLF-NG (Global Oscillations at Low Frequency New Generation) is the detection of the low-frequency solar gravity and acoustic modes, as well as the possibility to measure the high-frequency chromospheric modes. On June 8th 2008, the first sunlight observations with the multichannel resonant GOLF-NG prototype spectrometer were obtained at the Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife). The instrument performs integrated (Sun-as-a-star), Doppler velocity measurements, simultaneously at eight different heights in the D1 sodium line profile, corresponding to photospheric and chromospheric layers of the solar atmosphere. In order to study its performances, to validate the conceived strategy, and to estimate the necessary improvements, this prototype has been running on a daily basis over the whole summer of 2008 at the Observatorio del Teide. We present here the results of the first GOLF-NG observations, clearly showing the characteristics of the 5-minute oscillatory signal at different heights in the solar atmosphere. We compare these signals with simultaneous observations from GOLF/SOHO and from the Mark-I instrument -- a node of the BiSON network, operating at the same site.

Two research paths are described to obtain better understanding of the origin of global solar activity. First, observations with a multichannel resonant spectrometer may reveal the dynamics of the solar core, the tachocline, and the temporal evolution of activity between the photosphere and chromosphere. Such new observations will deliver constraints for 3D simulations of solar activity. Second, we examine the ab-initio introduction of a non-force-free field expressed in spherical harmonics into the solar structure equations and estimate its impact on the inner and subsurface layers, its time evolution, and its role in angular momentum transport.

This article quickly summarizes the performances and results of the GOLF/SoHO resonant spectrometer, thus justifying to go a step further. We then recall the characteristics of the multichannel resonant GOLF-NG spectrometer and present the first successful performances of the laboratory tests on the prototype and also the limitations of this first technological instrument. Scientific questions and an observation strategy are discussed. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The deenition of the model to t to the observed spectra depends on the physics we are assuming is present in the phenomena we are observing. Here we present the results obtained following the t of several models (described in poster GOLF.II, Roca Cort es et al.). Therefore the effects of asymmetrical line shapes, a common background for all modes, xed relative power in the components of a multiplet and a constant splitting between the components of each multiplet on the resonant frequencies (and their errors) of the modes will be evaluated. Finally, a table of frequencies and splittings will be given.

The Global Oscillation at Low Frequencies ( GOLF) experiment is a resonant scattering spectrophotometer on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO) mission, originally designed to measure the disk-integrated solar oscillations of the Sun. This instrument was designed in a relative photometric mode involving both wings of the neutral sodium doublet (D-1 at lambda 5896 and D-2 at lambda 5890 angstrom). However, a "one-wing" photometric mode has been selected to ensure 100% continuity in the measurements after a problem in the polarization mechanisms. Thus the velocity is obtained from only two points on the same wing of the lines. This operating configuration imposes tighter constraints on the stability of the instrument with a higher sensitivity to instrumental variations. In this paper we discuss the evolution of the instrument during the last 8 years in space and the corrections applied to the measured counting rates due to known instrumental effects. We also describe a scaling procedure to obtain the variation of the Doppler velocity based on our knowledge of the sodium profile slope and we compare it to previous velocity estimations.

The solar magnetism is no more considered as a purely superficial phenomenon. The SoHO community has shown that the length of the solar cycle depends on the transition region between radiation and convection. Nevertheless, the internal solar (stellar) magnetism stays poorly known. Starting in 2008, the American instrument HMI/SDO and the European microsatellite PICARD will enrich our view of the Sun-Earth relationship. Thus obtaining a complete MHD solar picture is a clear objective for the next decades and it requires complementary observations of the dynamics of the radiative zone. For that ambitious goal, space prototypes are being developed to improve gravity mode detection. The Sun is unique to progress on the topology of deep internal magnetic fields and to understand the complex mechanisms which provoke photospheric and coronal magnetic changes and possible longer cycles important for human life. We propose the following roadmap in Europe to contribute to this "impressive" revolution in Astronomy and in our Sun-Earth relationship: SoHO (1995-2007), PICARD (2008-2010), DynaMICS (2009-2017) in parallel to SDO (2008-2017) then a world-class mission located at the L1 orbit or above the solar poles.

As a result of an error at the Press, the second panel of Figure 9 was repeated twice in the top row of the printed, black-andwhite version of this figure, and the first panel was omitted. This error appears in the print edition and the PDF and postscript (PS) versions available with the electronic edition of the journal, although the panels of the color figure displayed in the electronic article itself are correct. Please see below for the corrected print version of Figure 9. The Press sincerely regrets the error.

This paper is focused on the search for low-amplitude solar gravity modes between 150 and 400 μHz, corresponding to low-degree, low-order modes. It presents results based on an original strategy that looks for multiplets instead of single peaks, taking into consideration our knowledge of the solar interior from acoustic modes. Five years of quasi-continuous measurements collected with the helioseismic GOLF experiment aboard the SOHO spacecraft are analyzed. We use different power spectrum estimators and calculate confidence levels for the most significant peaks. This approach allows us to look for signals with velocities down to 2 mm s-1, not far from the limit of existing instruments aboard SOHO, amplitudes that have never been investigated up to now. We apply the method to series of 1290 days, beginning in 1996 April, near the solar cycle minimum. An automatic detection algorithm lists those peaks and multiplets that have a probability of more than 90% of not being pure noise. The detected patterns are then followed in time, considering also series of 1768 and 2034 days, partly covering the solar cycle maximum. In the analyzed frequency range, the probability of detection of the multiplets does not increase with time as for very long lifetime modes. This is partly due to the observational conditions after 1998 October and the degradation of these observational conditions near the solar maximum, since these modes have a "mixed" character and probably behave as acoustic modes. Several structures retain our attention because of the presence of persistent peaks along the whole time span. These features may support the idea of an increase of the rotation in the inner core. There are good arguments for thinking that complementary observations up to the solar activity minimum in 2007 will be decisive for drawing conclusions on the presence or absence of gravity modes detected aboard the SOHO satellite.

With over 5 years of GOLF data having some 90% continuity, a new attempt has been made to search for possible solar g modes. Statistical methods are used, based on the minimum of assumptions regarding the solar physics; namely that mode line-widths are small compared with the inverse of the observing time, and that modes are sought in the frequency interval 150 to 400 muHz. A number of simulations are carried out in order to understand the expected behaviour of a system consisting principally of a solar noise continuum overlaid with some weak sharp resonances. The method adopted is based on the FFT analysis of a time series with zero-padding by a factor of 5. One prominent resonance at 284.666 muHz coincides with a previous tentative assignment as one member of an n = 1, l = 1, p-mode multiplet. Components of two multiplets, previously tentatively identified as possible g-mode candidates from the GOLF data in 1998, continue to be found, although their statistical significance is shown to be insufficient, within the present assumption regarding the nature of the signal. An upper limit to the amplitude of any g mode present is calculated using two different statistical approaches, according to either the assumed absence (H0 hypothesis) or the assumed presence (H1 hypothesis) of a signal. The former yields a slightly lower limit of around 6 mm/s.

Four years of GOLF velocity time series have been used to study the low frequency part of the solar spectrum below 1.5 mHz. This paper discusses tile methods already developed for the research of the low-degree low-order acoustic modes by Garcia ct al. (2000a) and for the gravity modes by Turck-Chieze ct al. (2000a). These methods are based on our knowledge of the general theoretical properties of the p and g modes that lead us to determine the statistical significance of the structures (multiplets) present in the GOLF spectrum in terms of p- and g-mode candidates. In addition to the search of single peaks. We try to detect multiplets (l = 1, 2 and 3) which al lows us to lower the detection threshold while keeping the same confidence level. We will concentrate the discussion on the limits of this starch that only takes into account those peaks above a selected statistical threshold giving an estimation of tile possible uncertainties due to the solar noise and the nature of the solar resonances.

The GOLF team pushes a new concept of instrument devoted to the search of gravity modes and low order low frequency p modes in order to improve our knowledge of the deep solar interior. The instrumental concept is to measure the Doppler shift together with the time evolution of the D1 sodium line using a 15 point resonance spectrometer. A sodium vapor resonance cell placed in a static magnetic field varying along the longitudinal axis is used to sample simultaneously 8 points on each wing of the line. New Active Pixel Sensor detectors will be specifically designed for this instrument. A Low spatial resolution of the Sun is also under study in this concept.First ground-based observations with this instrument are scheduled for 2001/2002 at Tenerife. The space concept of this instrument is under study in France as an R&T (Research and Technology) study sponsored by CNES, the French Space Agency. After some determining validation tests, this kind of instrument might be placed onboard either a micro satellite or a satellite dedicated to the study of the Sun.