Can pulsational instabilities impact a massive star's rotational evolution?


Rich Townsend
Jim MacDonald

Department of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Delaware,
Newark, DE 19716,
USA

We investigate whether angular momentum transport due to unstable pulsation modes can play a significant role in the rotational evolution of massive stars. We find that these modes can redistribute appreciable angular momentum, and moreover trigger shear-instability mixing in the molecular weight gradient zone adjacent to stellar cores, with significant evolutionary impact.

Reference: To appear in Proc. IAU Symposium 250: "Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines", Hawaii, Dec 2007
Status: Conference proceedings

Weblink: http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.0347

Comments:

Email: rhdt@bartol.udel.edu