Towards a unified model of stellar rotation

Abstract

The effects of rapid rotation on stellar evolution can be profound. We are now beginning to gather enough data to allow a realistic comparison between different physical models. Two key tests for any theory of stellar rotation are first whether it can match observations of the enrichment of nitrogen, and potentially other elements, in clusters containing rapid rotators and secondly whether it can reproduce the observed broadening of the main sequence in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. Models of stellar rotation have been steadily increasing in number and complexity over the past two decades but the lack of data makes it difficult to determine whether such additions actually give a closer reflection of reality. One of the most poorly explored features of stellar rotation models is the treatment of angular momentum transport within convective zones. If we treat the core as having uniform specific angular momentum the angular momentum distribution in the star, for a given surface rotation, is dramatically different from what it is when we assume the star rotates as a solid body. The uniform specific angular momentum also generates strong shears which can drive additional transport of chemical elements close to the boundary of a convection zone. A comparison of different models and their reproduction of observable properties with otherwise identical input physics is essential to properly distinguish between them. We compare detailed grids of stellar evolution tracks of intermediate and high-mass stars produced using several models for rotation generated with our new stellar rotation code.

14 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (33)

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• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• PARSEC V2.0: Stellar tracks and isochrones of low and intermediate mass stars with rotation
• Mixing by overshooting and rotation in intermediate mass stars
• The Evolution and Properties of Rotating Massive Star Populations
• The effects of surface fossil magnetic fields on massive star evolution: I. Magnetic field evolution, mass-loss quenching and magnetic braking
• The effects of surface fossil magnetic fields on massive star evolution: II. Implementation of magnetic braking in MESA and implications for the evolution of surface rotation in OB stars
• Modeling the early evolution of massive OB stars with an experimental wind routine
• Stellar evolution of massive stars with a radiative alpha-omega dynamo
• The excess of cool supergiants from contemporary stellar evolution models defies the metallicity-independent Humphreys-Davidson limit
• Star formation in the outskirts of DDO 154: A top-light IMF in a nearly dormant disc
• A three-dimensional hydrodynamics simulation of oxygen-shell burning in the final evolution of a fast-rotating massive star
• The effects of surface fossil magnetic fields on massive star evolution: IV. Grids of models at Solar, LMC, and SMC metallicities
• ZFIRE: Using H$\alpha$ equivalent widths to investigate the in situ initial mass function at z~2
• Stromlo Stellar Tracks: non-solar scaled abundances for massive stars
• How much mass and angular momentum can the progenitors of carbon-enriched stars accrete?
• Rotation and magnetism in intermediate mass stars
• The spin rates and spin evolution of the O components in WR+O binaries
• Towards a unified model of stellar rotation II: Model-dependent characteristics of stellar populations
• Calibrating angular momentum transport in intermediate-mass stars from gravity-mode asteroseismology
• The binary merger channel for the progenitor of the fastest rotating O-type star VFTS102
• A versatile numerical method for obtaining structures of rapidly rotating baroclinic stars: self-consistent and systematic solutions with shellular-type rotation
• Scenarios to explain extreme Be depletion in solar-like stars: accretion or rotation effects ?
• Rotational mixing in carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars with s-process enrichment
• Period Change Rates of Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheids using MESA
• A two-dimensional mixing length theory of convective transport
• Asteroseismology of the young open cluster NGC 2516 II. Constraining cluster age using gravity-mode pulsators
• Exploring the Stellar Rotation of Early-type Stars in the LAMOST Medium-resolution Survey. III. Evolution
• Rotational equilibria by Lagrangian variational principle: toward multi-dimensional stellar evolutions
• Probing the models: Abundances for high-mass stars in binaries
• Solar models with protosolar accretion and turbulent mixing