P-mode observations on α Cen A

We have made a clear detection of p-mode oscillations in the nearest solar-like G2V star alpha Cen A with the CORALIE spectrograph on the 1.2-m Swiss telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory. We report the 5 nights of observation on this star in May 2001 during which 1260 high precision radial velocity measurements were obtained. The power spectrum clearly shows several identifiable peaks between 1.7 and 3 mHz. The average large splitting of 105.7 mu Hz and the amplitude of about 35 cm s(-1) of these modes are in agreement with theoretical expectations.