OBSERVATIONAL SIGNATURES OF CONVECTIVELY DRIVEN WAVES IN MASSIVE STARS
- Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
We demonstrate observational evidence for the occurrence of convectively driven internal gravity waves (IGWs) in young massive O-type stars observed with high-precision CoRoT space photometry. This evidence results from a comparison between velocity spectra based on two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of IGWs in a differentially rotating massive star and the observed spectra. We also show that the velocity spectra caused by IGWs may lead to detectable line-profile variability and explain the occurrence of macroturbulence in the observed line profiles of OB stars. Our findings provide predictions that can readily be tested by including a sample of bright, slowly and rapidly rotating OB-type stars in the scientific program of the K2 mission accompanied by high-precision spectroscopy and their confrontation with multi-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of IGWs for various masses and ages.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518949
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 806, 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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