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Register a new userTesting Rotational Mixing Predictions with New Boron Abundances in Main Sequence B-type Stars
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(Abridged) New boron abundances for seven main-sequence B-type stars are determined from HST STIS spectroscopy around the BIII 2066A line. Boron abundances provide a unique and critical test of stellar evolution models that include rotational mixing since boron is destroyed in the surface layers of stars through shallow mixing long before other elements are mixed from the stellar interior through deep mixing. Boron abundances range from 12+log(B/H) = 1.0 to 2.2. The boron abundances are compared to the published values of their stellar nitrogen abundances (all have 12+log(N/H) < 7.8, i.e., they do not show significant CNO-mixing) and to their host cluster ages (4 to 16 Myr) to investigate the predictions from models of massive star evolution with rotational mixing effects (Heger & Langer 2000). Only three stars (out of 34) deviate from the model predictions, including HD36591, HD205021, and HD30836. These three stars suggest that rotational mixing could be more efficient than currently modelled at the highest rotation rates.
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Rotational mixing in massive stars is a widely applied concept, with far reaching consequences for stellar evolution. Nitrogen surface abundances for a large and homogeneous sample of massive B-type stars in the LMC were obtained by the VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars. This sample is the first covering a broad range of projected stellar rotational velocities, with a large enough sample of high quality data to allow for a statistically significant analysis. We use the sample to provide the first rigorous test of the theory of rotational mixing in massive stars. We calculated a grid of stellar evolution models, using the FLAMES sample to calibrate some of the uncertain mixing processes. We developed a new population-synthesis code, which uses this grid to simulate a large population of stars with masses, ages and rotational velocity distributions consistent with those from the FLAMES sample. The synthesized population is then filtered by the selection effects in the observed sample, to enable a direct comparison between the empirical results and theoretical predictions. Our simulations reproduce the fraction of stars without significant nitrogen enrichment. The predicted number of rapid rotators with enhanced nitrogen is about twice as large as found observationally. Furthermore, a group of stars consisting of slowly rotating, nitrogen-enriched objects and another consisting of rapidly rotating un-enriched objects can not be reproduced by our single-star population synthesis. Additional physical processes appear to be required to understand the population of massive main-sequence stars from the FLAMES sample.We discuss the possible role of binary stars and magnetic fields in the interpretation of our results. We find that the population of slowly rotating nitrogen-enriched stars is unlikely produced via mass transfer and subsequent tidal spin-down in close binary systems
Magnetic confinement of stellar winds leads to the formation of magnetospheres, which can be sculpted into Centrifugal Magnetospheres (CMs) by rotational support of the corotating plasma. The conditions required for the CMs of magnetic early B-type stars to yield detectable emission in H$alpha$ -- the principal diagnostic of these structures -- are poorly constrained. A key reason is that no detailed study of the magnetic and rotational evolution of this population has yet been performed. Using newly determined rotational periods, modern magnetic measurements, and atmospheric parameters determined via spectroscopic modelling, we have derived fundamental parameters, dipolar oblique rotator models, and magnetospheric parameters for 56 early B-type stars. Comparison to magnetic A- and O-type stars shows that the range of surface magnetic field strength is essentially constant with stellar mass, but that the unsigned surface magnetic flux increases with mass. Both the surface magnetic dipole strength and the total magnetic flux decrease with stellar age, with the rate of flux decay apparently increasing with stellar mass. We find tentative evidence that multipolar magnetic fields may decay more rapidly than dipoles. Rotational periods increase with stellar age, as expected for a magnetic braking scenario. Without exception, all stars with H$alpha$ emission originating in a CM are 1) rapid rotators, 2) strongly magnetic, and 3) young, with the latter property consistent with the observation that magnetic fields and rotation both decrease over time.
We present new UVES spectra of a sample of 15 cool unevolved stars with and without detected planetary companions. Together with previous determinations, we study Be depletion and possible differences in Be abundances between both groups of stars. We obtain a final sample of 89 and 40 stars with and without planets, respectively, which covers a wide range of effective temperatures, from 4700 K to 6400 K, and includes several cool dwarf stars for the first time. We determine Be abundances for these stars and find that for most of them (the coolest ones) the BeII resonance lines are often undetectable, implying significant Be depletion. While for hot stars Be abundances are aproximately constant, with a slight fall as Teff decreases and the Li-Be gap around 6300 K, we find a steep drop of Be content as Teff decreases for Teff < 5500 K, confirming the results of previous papers. Therefore, for these stars there is an unknown mechanism destroying Be that is not reflected in current models of Be depletion. Moreover, this strong Be depletion in cool objects takes place for all the stars regardless of the presence of planets, thus, the effect of extra Li depletion in solar-type stars with planets when compared with stars without detected planets does not seem to be present for Be, although the number of stars at those temperatures is still small to reach a final conclusion.
One of the main uncertainties in evolutionary calculations of massive stars is the efficiency of internal mixing. It changes the chemical profile inside the star and can therefore affect the structure and further evolution. We demonstrate that eclipsing binaries, in which the tides synchronize the rotation period of the stars and the orbital period, constitute a potentially strong test for the efficiency of rotational mixing. We present detailed stellar evolutionary models of massive binaries assuming the composition of the Small Magellanic Cloud. In these models we find enhancements in the surface nitrogen abundance of up to 0.6 dex.
Context: OB stars are important in the chemistry and evolution of the Universe, but the sample of targets well understood from an asteroseismological point of view is still too limited to provide feedback on the current evolutionary models. Our study extends this sample with two spectroscopic binary systems. AIMS. Our goal is to provide orbital solutions, fundamental parameters and abundances from disentangled high-resolution high signal-to-noise spectra, as well as to analyse and interpret the variations in the Kepler light curve of these carefully selected targets. This way we continue our efforts to map the instability strips of beta Cep and SPB stars using the combination of high-resolution ground-based spectroscopy and uninterrupted space-based photometry. Methods: We fit Keplerian orbits to radial velocities measured from selected absorption lines of high-resolution spectroscopy using synthetic composite spectra to obtain orbital solutions. We use revised masks to obtain optimal light curves from the original pixel-data from the Kepler satellite, which provided better long term stability compared to the pipeline processed light curves. We use various time-series analysis tools to explore and describe the nature of variations present in the light curve. Results: We find two eccentric double-lined spectroscopic binary systems containing a total of three main sequence B-type stars (and one F-type component) of which at least one in each system exhibits light variations. The light curve analysis (combined with spectroscopy) of the system of two B stars points towards the presence of tidally excited g modes in the primary component. We interpret the variations seen in the second system as classical g mode pulsations driven by the kappa mechanism in the B type primary, and explain the unexpected power in the p mode region as a result of nonlinear resonant mode excitation.
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