The discovery of global solar 5-min oscillations has prompted the search for such oscillations in other stars. The main problem in detecting these variations is their expected small amplitude (in the sun it is less than 1 m/s in velocity and 10−6 in integrated light). Two recent studies by Fossat et al. (1984) and Noyes et al. (1984) have suggested that the 5-min oscillations in α Cen and ε Eri may have been detected.

We attempted to detect these oscillations by means of conventional broad-band photometry in the components of three double star systems (α Cen, HR4677 and HR5568). We selected these stars because they cover a wide range of spectral types (F2V to M2V). It was hoped that there may be a region where the pulsation amplitudes are particularly large. By using one component of a double star system to correct for transparency variations in the other, we also expected to obtain a larger signal-to-noise ratio.