No Arabic abstract
Rotational splittings are currently measured for several main sequence stars and a large number of red giants with the space mission Kepler. This will provide stringent constraints on rotation profiles. Our aim is to obtain seismic constraints on the internal transport and surface loss of angular momentum of oscillating solar-like stars. To this end, we study the evolution of rotational splittings from the pre-main sequence to the red-giant branch for stochastically excited oscillation modes. We modified the evolutionary code CESAM2K to take rotationally induced transport in radiative zones into account. Linear rotational splittings were computed for a sequence of $1.3 M_{odot}$ models. Rotation profiles were derived from our evolutionary models and eigenfunctions from linear adiabatic oscillation calculations. We find that transport by meridional circulation and shear turbulence yields far too high a core rotation rate for red-giant models compared with recent seismic observations. We discuss several uncertainties in the physical description of stars that could have an impact on the rotation profiles. For instance, we find that the Goldreich-Schubert-Fricke instability does not extract enough angular momentum from the core to account for the discrepancy. In contrast, an increase of the horizontal turbulent viscosity by 2 orders of magnitude is able to significantly decrease the central rotation rate on the red-giant branch. Our results indicate that it is possible that the prescription for the horizontal turbulent viscosity largely underestimates its actual value or else a mechanism not included in current stellar models of low mass stars is needed to slow down the rotation in the radiative core of red-giant stars.
Asteroseismology with the space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler provides a powerful mean of testing the modeling of transport processes in stars. Rotational splittings are currently measured for a large number of red giant stars and can provide stringent constraints on the rotation profiles. The aim of this paper is to obtain a theoretical framework for understanding the properties of the observed rotational splittings of red giant stars with slowly rotating cores. This allows us to establish appropriate seismic diagnostics for rotation of these evolved stars. Rotational splittings for stochastically excited dipolar modes are computed adopting a first-order perturbative approach for two $1.3 M_odot$ benchmark models assuming slowly rotating cores. For red giant stars with slowly rotating cores, we show that the variation of the rotational splittings of $ell=1$ modes with frequency depends only on the large frequency separation, the g-mode period spacing, and the ratio of the average envelope to core rotation rates (${cal R}$). This leds us to propose a way to infer directly ${cal R}$ from the observations. This method is validated using the Kepler red giant star KIC 5356201. Finally, we provide a theoretical support for the use of a Lorentzian profile to measure the observed splittings for red giant stars.
The observations of global stellar oscillations of post main-sequence stars by space-based photometry missions allowed to directly determine their internal rotation. These constraints have pointed towards the existence of angular momentum transport processes unaccounted for in theoretical models. Constraining the properties of their internal rotation thus appears as the golden path to determine the physical nature of these missing dynamical processes. We wish to determine the robustness of a new approach to study the internal rotation of post main-sequence stars, using parametric rotation profiles coupled to a global optimization technique. We test our methodology on Kepler 56, a red giant observed by the Kepler mission. First, we carry out an extensive modelling of the star using global and local minimizations techniques, and seismic
The space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler opened up a new opportunity for better understanding stellar evolution by probing stellar interiors with unrivalled high-precision photometric data. Kepler has observed stellar oscillation for four years, which gave access to excellent frequency resolution that enables deciphering the oscillation spectrum of evolved red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch stars. The internal structure of stars in the upper parts of the red and asymptotic giant branches is poorly constrained, which makes the distinction between red and asymptotic giants difficult. We perform a thorough seismic analysis to address the physical conditions inside these stars and to distinguish them. We studied the oscillation mode properties of about 2.000 evolved giants in a model described by the asymptotic pressure-mode pattern of red giants, which includes the signature of the helium second-ionisation zone. We extracted the mode properties up to the degree l = 3 and investigated their dependence on stellar mass, metallicity, and evolutionary status. We identify a clear difference in the signature of the helium second-ionisation zone between red and asymptotic giants. We also detect a clear shortage of the energy of l = 1 modes after the core-He-burning phase. Furthermore, we note that the mode damping observed on the asymptotic giant branch is similar to that observed on the red giant branch. We highlight that the signature of the helium second-ionisation zone varies with stellar evolution. This provides us with a physical basis for distinguishing red giant branch stars from asymptotic giants. Here, our investigation of stellar oscillations allows us to constrain the physical processes and the key events that occur during the advanced stages of stellar evolution, with emphasis on the ascent along the asymptotic giant branch, including the asymptotic giant branch bump.
Transport of angular momentum is a long-standing problem in stellar physics which recently became more acute thanks to the observations of the space-borne mission emph{Kepler}. Indeed, the need for an efficient mechanism able to explain the rotation profile of low-mass stars has been emphasized by asteroseimology and waves are among the potential candidates to do so. In this article, our objective is not to review all the literature related to the transport of angular momentum by waves but rather to emphasize the way it is to be computed in stellar models. We stress that to model wave transport of angular momentum is a non-trivial issue that requires to properly account for interactions between meridional circulation and waves. Also, while many authors only considered the effect of the wave momentum flux in the mean momentum equation, we show that this is an incomplete picture that prevents from grasping the main physics of the problem. We thus present the Transform Eulerian Formalism (TEM) which enable to properly address the problem.
We present numerical simulations of internal gravity waves (IGW) in a star with a convective core and extended radiative envelope. We report on amplitudes, spectra, dissipation and consequent angular momentum transport by such waves. We find that these waves are generated efficiently and transport angular momentum on short timescales over large distances. We show that, as in the Earths atmosphere, IGW drive equatorial flows which change magnitude and direction on short timescales. These results have profound consequences for the observational inferences of massive stars, as well as their long term angular momentum evolution. We suggest IGW angular momentum transport may explain many observational mysteries, such as: the misalignment of hot Jupiters around hot stars, the Be class of stars, Ni enrichment anomalies in massive stars and the non-synchronous orbits of interacting binaries.