Asteroseismic Diagnostics for Semi-Convection in B Stars in the Era of K2

Abstract

Semi-convection is a slow mixing process in chemically-inhomogeneous radiative interiors of stars. In massive OB stars, it is important during the main sequence. However, the efficiency of this mixing mechanism is not properly gauged yet. Here, we argue that asteroseismology of $\beta$ Cep pulsators is capable of distinguishing between models of varying semi-convection efficiencies. We address this in the light of upcoming high-precision space photometry to be obtained with the Kepler two-wheel mission for massive stars along the ecliptic.

Contributed paper to appear in Proc. IAU307: New windows on massive stars: asteroseismology, interferometry, and spectropolarimetry, Editors: G. Meynet, C. Georgy, J.H. Groh & Ph. Stee, 6 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• The K2 Mission: Characterization and Early results
• Probing the properties of convective cores through g modes: high-order g modes in SPB and gamma Doradus stars
• An asteroseismic study of the beta Cephei star theta Ophiuchi: constraints on global stellar parameters and core overshooting