Context. Understanding the origin and evolution of stellar angular momentum is one of the major challenges of stellar physics. Aims. We present new models for the rotational evolution of solar-like stars between 1 Myr and 10 Gyr with the aim of reproducing the distributions of rotational periods observed for star forming regions and young open clusters within this age range. Methods. The models include a new wind braking law based on recent numerical simulations of magnetized stellar winds and specific dynamo and mass-loss prescriptions are adopted to tie angular momentum loss to angular velocity. The models additionally assume constant angular velocity during the disk accretion phase and allow for decoupling between the radiative core and the convective envelope as soon as the former develops. Results. We have developed rotational evolution models for slow, median, and fast rotators with initial periods of 10, 7, and 1.4 d, respectively. The models reproduce reasonably well the rotational behavior of solar-type stars between 1 Myr and 4.5 Gyr, including pre-main sequence (PMS) to zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) spin up, prompt ZAMS spin down, and the early-main sequence (MS) convergence of surface rotation rates. We find the model parameters accounting for the slow and median rotators are very similar to each other, with a disk lifetime of 5 Myr and a core-envelope coupling timescale of 28−30 Myr. In contrast, fast rotators have both shorter disk lifetimes (2.5 Myr) and core-envelope coupling timescales (12 Myr). We show that a large amount of angular momentum is hidden in the radiative core for as long as 1 Gyr in these models and we discuss the implications for internal differential rotation and lithium depletion. We emphasize that these results are highly dependent on the adopted braking law. We also report a tentative correlation between the initial rotational period and disk lifetime, which suggests that protostellar spin down by massive disks in the embedded phase is at the origin of the initial dispersion of rotation rates in young stars. Conclusions. We conclude that this class of semi-empirical models successfully grasp the main trends of the rotational behavior of solar-type stars as they evolve and make specific predictions that may serve as a guide for further development.

Context. Understanding the physical processes that dictate the angular momentum evolution of solar-type stars from birth to maturity remains a challenge for stellar physics. Aims. We aim to account for the observed rotational evolution of low-mass stars over the age range from 1 Myr to 10 Gyr. Methods. We developed angular momentum evolution models for 0.5 and 0.8 M stars. The parametric models include a new wind braking law based on recent numerical simulations of magnetised stellar winds, specific dynamo and mass-loss rate prescriptions, as well as core-envelope decoupling. We compare model predictions to the distributions of rotational periods measured for low-mass stars belonging to star-forming regions and young open clusters. Furthermore, we explore the mass dependence of model parameters by comparing these new models to the solar-mass models we developed earlier.Results. Rotational evolution models are computed for slow, median, and fast rotators at each stellar mass. The models reproduce reasonably well the rotational behaviour of low-mass stars between 1 Myr and 8−10 Gyr, including pre-main sequence to zero-age main sequence spin up, prompt zero-age main sequence spin down, and early-main sequence convergence of the surface rotation rates. Fast rotators are found to have systematically shorter disk lifetimes than moderate and slow rotators, thus enabling dramatic pre-main sequence spin up. They also have shorter core-envelope coupling timescales, i.e., more uniform internal rotation. As for the mass dependence, lower mass stars require significantly longer core-envelope coupling timescales than solar-type stars, which results in strong differential rotation developing in the stellar interior on the early main sequence. Lower mass stars also require a weaker braking torque to account for their longer spin-down timescale on the early main sequence, while they ultimately converge towards lower rotational velocities than solar-type stars in the longer term because of their reduced moment of inertia. We also find evidence that the mass dependence of the wind braking efficiency may be related to a change in the magnetic topology in lower mass stars. Conclusions. We have included in parametric models the main physical processes that dictate the angular momentum evolution of low-mass stars. The models suggest that these processes are quite sensitive to both mass and instantaneous rotation rate. We have worked out and reported here the main trends of these mass and rotation dependencies, whose origin still have to be addressed through a detailed modelling of magnetised stellar winds, internal angular momentum transport processes, and protoplanetary disk dissipation mechanisms.