EVOLUTION OF ROTATIONAL VELOCITIES OF A-TYPE STARS
- Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)
The equatorial velocity of A-type stars undergoes an acceleration in the first third of the main sequence (MS) stage, but the velocity decreases as if the stars were not undergoing any redistribution of angular momentum in the external layers in the last stage of the MS phase. Our calculations show that the acceleration and the decrease of the equatorial velocity can be reproduced by the evolution of the differential rotation zero-age MS model with the angular momentum transport caused by hydrodynamic instabilities during the MS stage. The acceleration results from the fact that the angular momentum stored in the interiors of the stars is transported outward. In the last stage, the core and the radiative envelope are uncoupling, and the rotation of the envelope is a quasi-solid rotation; the uncoupling and the expansion of the envelope indicate that the decrease of the equatorial velocity approximately follows the slope for the change in the equatorial velocity of the model without any redistribution of angular momentum. When the fractional age 0.3 {approx}< t/t{sub MS} {approx}< 0.5, the equatorial velocity remains almost constant for stars whose central density increases with age in the early stage of the MS phase, while the velocity decreases with age for stars whose central density decreases with age in the early stage of the MS phase.
- OSTI ID:
- 22130833
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 765, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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