While many intermediate- and high-mass main sequence stars are rapidly and differentially rotating, the effects of rotation on oscillation modes are poorly known. In this communication we present a first study of axisymmetric gravito-inertial modes i
n the radiative zone of a differentially rotating star. We consider a simplified model where the radiative zone of the star is a linearly stratified rotating fluid within a spherical shell, with differential rotation due to baroclinic effects. We solve the eigenvalue problem with high-resolution spectral computations and determine the propagation domain of the waves through the theory of characteristics. We explore the propagation properties of two kinds of modes: those that can propagate in the entire shell and those that are restricted to a subdomain. Some of the modes that we find concentrate kinetic energy around short-period shear layers known as attractors. We describe various geometries for the propagation domains, conditioning the surface visibility of the corresponding modes.
Oscillations have been detected in a variety of stars, including intermediate- and high-mass main sequence stars. While many of these stars are rapidly and differentially rotating, the effects of rotation on oscillation modes are poorly known. In thi
s communication we present a first study on axisymmetric gravito-inertial modes in the radiative zone of a differentially rotating star. These modes probe the deep layers of the star around its convective core. We consider a simplified model where the radiative zone of a star is a linearly stratified rotating fluid within a spherical shell, with differential rotation due to baroclinic effects. We solve the eigenvalue problem with high-resolution spectral simulations and determine the propagation domain of the waves through the theory of characteristics. We explore the propagation properties of two kinds of modes: those that can propagate in the entire shell and those that are restricted to a subdomain. Some of the modes that we find concentrate kinetic energy around short-period shear layers known as attractors. We characterise these attractors by the dependence of their Lyapunov exponent with the BV frequency of the background and the oscillation frequency of the mode. Finally, we note that, as modes associated with short-period attractors form dissipative structures, they could play an important role for tidal interactions but should be dismissed in the interpretation of observed oscillation frequencies.
Many early-type stars have been measured with high angular velocities. In such stars, mode identification is difficult as the effects of fast and differential rotation are not well known. Using fundamental parameters measured by interferometry, the E
STER structure code and the TOP oscillation code, we investigate the oscillation spectrum of Rasalhague (alpha Ophiuchi), for which observations by the MOST satellite found 57 oscillations frequencies. Results do not show a clear identification of the modes and highlight the difficulties of asteroseismology for such stars with a very complex oscillation spectrum.
The process referred to as semi-convection in astrophysics and double-diffusive convection in the diffusive regime in Earth and planetary sciences, occurs in stellar and planetary interiors in regions which are stable according to the Ledoux criterio
n but unstable according to the Schwarzschild criterion. In this series of papers, we analyze the results of an extensive suite of 3D numerical simulations of the process, and ultimately propose a new 1D prescription for heat and compositional transport in this regime which can be used in stellar or planetary structure and evolution models. In a preliminary study of the phenomenon, Rosenblum et al. (2011) showed that, after saturation of the primary instability, a system can evolve in one of two possible ways: the induced turbulence either remains homogeneous, with very weak transport properties, or transitions into a thermo-compositional staircase where the transport rate is much larger (albeit still smaller than in standard convection). In this paper, we show that this dichotomous behavior is a robust property of semi-convection across a wide region of parameter space. We propose a simple semi-analytical criterion to determine whether layer formation is expected or not, and at what rate it proceeds, as a function of the background stratification and of the diffusion parameters (viscosity, thermal diffusivity and compositional diffusivity) only. The theoretical criterion matches the outcome of our numerical simulations very adequately in the numerically accessible planetary parameter regime, and can easily be extrapolated to the stellar parameter regime. Subsequent papers will address more specifically the question of quantifying transport in the layered case and in the non-layered case.
