1,121 research outputs found
Sub-Inertial Gravity Modes in the B8V Star KIC 7760680 Reveal Moderate Core Overshooting and Low Vertical Diffusive Mixing
KIC 7760680 is so far the richest slowly pulsating B star, by exhibiting 36
consecutive dipole () gravity (g-) modes. The monotonically decreasing
period spacing of the series, in addition to the local dips in the pattern
confirm that KIC 7760680 is a moderate rotator, with clear mode trapping in
chemically inhomogeneous layers. We employ the traditional approximation of
rotation to incorporate rotational effects on g-mode frequencies. Our detailed
forward asteroseismic modelling of this g-mode series reveals that KIC 7760680
is a moderately rotating B star with mass M. By
simultaneously matching the slope of the period spacing, and the number of
modes in the observed frequency range, we deduce that the equatorial rotation
frequency of KIC 7760680 is 0.4805 day, which is 26\% of its Roche break
up frequency. The relative deviation of the model frequencies and those
observed is less than one percent. We succeed to tightly constrain the
exponentially-decaying convective core overshooting parameter to . This means that convective core overshooting can
coexist with moderate rotation. Moreover, models with exponentially-decaying
overshoot from the core outperform those with the classical step-function
overshoot. The best value for extra diffusive mixing in the radiatively stable
envelope is confined to (with in cm sec), which is notably smaller than theoretical
predictions.Comment: 12 Figures, 2 Tables, all data publicly available for download;
accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Centrifugal Breakout of Magnetically Confined Line-Driven Stellar Winds
We present 2D MHD simulations of the radiatively driven outflow from a
rotating hot star with a dipole magnetic field aligned with the star's rotation
axis. We focus primarily on a model with moderately rapid rotation (half the
critical value), and also a large magnetic confinement parameter, . The magnetic field
channels and torques the wind outflow into an equatorial, rigidly rotating disk
extending from near the Kepler corotation radius outwards. Even with
fine-tuning at lower magnetic confinement, none of the MHD models produce a
stable Keplerian disk. Instead, material below the Kepler radius falls back on
to the stellar surface, while the strong centrifugal force on material beyond
the corotation escape radius stretches the magnetic loops outwards, leading to
episodic breakout of mass when the field reconnects. The associated dissipation
of magnetic energy heats material to temperatures of nearly K, high
enough to emit hard (several keV) X-rays. Such \emph{centrifugal mass ejection}
represents a novel mechanism for driving magnetic reconnection, and seems a
very promising basis for modeling X-ray flares recently observed in rotating
magnetic Bp stars like Ori E.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ
Overview and Validation of the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal v2.0
The launch of NASA's Kepler space telescope in 2009 revolutionized the
quality and quantity of observational data available for asteroseismic
analysis. While Kepler was able to detect solar-like oscillations in hundreds
of main-sequence and subgiant stars, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
(TESS) is now making similar observations for thousands of the brightest stars
in the sky. The Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP) is an automated and
objective stellar model-fitting pipeline for asteroseismic data, which was
originally developed to use models from the Aarhus Stellar Evolution Code
(ASTEC). We briefly summarize an updated version of the AMP pipeline that uses
Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), and we present initial
modeling results for the Sun and several solar analogs to validate the
precision and accuracy of the inferred stellar properties.Comment: 3 pages, 1 table, AAS Journals accepted. Software available at
https://github.com/travismetcalfe/amp
An `Analytic Dynamical Magnetosphere' formalism for X-ray and optical emission from slowly rotating magnetic massive stars
Slowly rotating magnetic massive stars develop "dynamical magnetospheres"
(DM's), characterized by trapping of stellar wind outflow in closed magnetic
loops, shock heating from collision of the upflow from opposite loop
footpoints, and subsequent gravitational infall of radiatively cooled material.
In 2D and 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations the interplay among these
three components is spatially complex and temporally variable, making it
difficult to derive observational signatures and discern their overall scaling
trends.Within a simplified, steady-state analysis based on overall conservation
principles, we present here an "analytic dynamical magnetosphere" (ADM) model
that provides explicit formulae for density, temperature and flow speed in each
of these three components -- wind outflow, hot post-shock gas, and cooled
inflow -- as a function of colatitude and radius within the closed (presumed
dipole) field lines of the magnetosphere. We compare these scalings with
time-averaged results from MHD simulations, and provide initial examples of
application of this ADM model for deriving two key observational diagnostics,
namely hydrogen H-alpha emission line profiles from the cooled infall, and
X-ray emission from the hot post-shock gas. We conclude with a discussion of
key issues and advantages in applying this ADM formalism toward derivation of a
broader set of observational diagnostics and scaling trends for massive stars
with such dynamical magnetospheres.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for MNRA
A dynamical magnetosphere model for periodic Halpha emission from the slowly rotating magnetic O star HD191612
The magnetic O-star HD191612 exhibits strongly variable, cyclic Balmer line
emission on a 538-day period. We show here that its variable Halpha emission
can be well reproduced by the rotational phase variation of synthetic spectra
computed directly from full radiation magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of a
magnetically confined wind. In slow rotators such as HD191612, wind material on
closed magnetic field loops falls back to the star, but the transient
suspension of material within the loops leads to a statistically overdense, low
velocity region around the magnetic equator, causing the spectral variations.
We contrast such "dynamical magnetospheres" (DMs) with the more steady-state
"centrifugal magnetospheres" of stars with rapid rotation, and discuss the
prospects of using this DM paradigm to explain periodic line emission from also
other non-rapidly rotating magnetic massive stars.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter
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