Asymptotic theory of gravity modes in rotating stars

Abstract

Context. Differential rotation has a strong influence on stellar internal dynamics and evolution, notably by triggering hydrodynamical instabilities, by interacting with the magnetic field, and more generally by inducing transport of angular momentum and chemical elements. Moreover, it modifies the way waves propagate in stellar interiors and thus the frequency spectrum of these waves, the regions they probe, and the transport they generate. Aims. We investigate the impact of a general differential rotation (both in radius and latitude) on the propagation of axisymmetric gravito-inertial waves. Methods. We use a small-wavelength approximation to obtain a local dispersion relation for these waves. We then describe the propagation of waves thanks to a ray model that follows a Hamiltonian formalism. Finally, we numerically probe the properties of these gravito-inertial rays for different regimes of radial and latitudinal differential rotation. Results. We derive a local dispersion relation that includes the effect of a general differential rotation. Subsequently, considering a polytropic stellar model, we observe that differential rotation allows for a large variety of resonant cavities that can be probed by gravito-inertial waves. We identify that for some regimes of frequency and differential rotation, the properties of gravito-inertial rays are similar to those found in the uniformly rotating case. Furthermore, we also find new regimes specific to differential rotation, where the dynamics of rays is chaotic. Conclusions. As a consequence, we expect modes to follow the same trend. Some parts of oscillation spectra corresponding to regimes similar to those of the uniformly rotating case would exhibit regular patterns, while parts corresponding to the new regimes would be mostly constituted of chaotic modes with a spectrum rather characterised by a generic statistical distribution.

Probing the interior physics of stars through asteroseismology

“…4. It concerns the bright blue supergiant ρ Leo (spectral type B1Iab) studied by Aerts et al (2018a) and Pope et al (2019) at different levels of sophistication. The fit to the PD spectrum of ρ Leo shown in Fig.…”

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“…If atomic diffusion can be treated without the radiative effects, which is a good approximation for cool stars with extended convective envelopes such as the Sun, its impact on the computation time required for evolutionary model calculations is modest. As a consequence, the use of such simplified microscopic diffusion computations without levitation in evolutionary models is widespread (Chaboyer, Demarque, and Pinsonneault, 1995;Pinsonneault, 1997). With levitation included, the computation of w i and the solution of the set of equations ( 31) at each step of the evolution is a major challenge.…”

Period spacings of γ Doradus pulsators in the Kepler field: Rossby and gravity modes in 82 stars

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The traditional approximation of rotation, including the centrifugal acceleration for slightly deformed stars

“…As in the uniformly and differentially rotating spherical cases, two classes of waves are identified: those for which D > 0 in the whole spheroidal shell and that propagate at all colatitudes and those for which D vanishes in the spheroidal cavity at a critical colatitude θ c such that D (a, θ c ) = 0, which depends on a. For this second class, waves propagate only within an equatorial belt where θ > θ c (a) (some examples of these waves can be found in Ballot et al 2010;Prat et al 2016Prat et al , 2018, while an approximate value for θ c (a) is derived in Eq. B.35).…”