Bibcode
DOI
Hunter, I.; Brott, I.; Lennon, D. J.; Langer, N.; Dufton, P. L.; Trundle, C.; Smartt, S. J.; de Koter, A.; Evans, C. J.; Ryans, R. S. I.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 676, Issue 1, pp. L29-L32.
Advertised on:
3
2008
Journal
Citations
190
Refereed citations
140
Description
Rotation has become an important element in evolutionary models of
massive stars, specifically via the prediction of rotational mixing.
Here we study a sample of stars, including rapid rotators, to constrain
such models and use nitrogen enrichments as a probe of the mixing
process. Chemical compositions (C, N, O, Mg, and Si) have been estimated
for 135 early B-type stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud with projected
rotational velocities up to ~300 km s-1 using a non-LTE
TLUSTY model atmosphere grid. Evolutionary models, including rotational
mixing, have been generated attempting to reproduce these observations
by adjusting the overshooting and rotational mixing parameters and
produce reasonable agreement with 60% of our core hydrogen burning
sample. We find (excluding known binaries) a significant population of
highly nitrogen-enriched intrinsic slow rotators (vsini<~50 km
s-1) incompatible with our models (~20% of the sample).
Furthermore, while we find fast rotators with enrichments in agreement
with the models, the observation of evolved (logg<3.7 dex) fast
rotators that are relatively unenriched (a further ~20% of the sample)
challenges the concept of rotational mixing. We also find that 70% of
our blue supergiant sample cannot have evolved directly from the
hydrogen-burning main sequence. We are left with a picture where
invoking binarity and perhaps fossil magnetic fields is required to
understand the surface properties of a population of massive
main-sequence stars.
Related projects
Physical properties and evolution of Massive Stars
This project aims at the searching, observation and analysis of massive stars in nearby galaxies to provide a solid empirical ground to understand their physical properties as a function of those key parameters that gobern their evolution (i.e. mass, spin, metallicity, mass loss, and binary interaction). Massive stars are central objects to
Sergio
Simón Díaz