Massive and intermediate mass stars play a crucial role in astrophysics.
Indeed, massive stars are the main producers of heavy elements, explode in
supernovae at the end of their short lifetimes, and may be the progenitors of
gamma ray bursts. Intermediate mass stars, although not destined to explode in
supernovae, display similar phenomena, are much more numerous, and have some of
the richest pulsation spectra. A key to understanding these stars is
understanding the effects of rapid rotation on their structure and evolution.
These effects include centrifugal deformation and gravity darkening which can
be observed immediately, and long terms effects such as rotational mixing due
to shear turbulence, which prolong stellar lifetime, modify chemical yields,
and impact the stellar remnant at the end of their lifetime. In order to
understand these effects, a number of models have been and are being developed
over the past few years. These models lead to increasingly sophisticated
predictions which need to be tested through observations. A particularly
promising source of constraints is seismic observations as these may
potentially lead to detailed information on their internal structure. However,
before extracting such information, a number of theoretical and observational
hurdles need to be overcome, not least of which is mode identification. The
present proceedings describe recent progress in modelling these stars and show
how an improved understanding of their pulsations, namely frequency patterns,
mode visibilities, line profile variations, and mode excitation, may help with
deciphering seismic observations.Comment: Proceedings for the CoRoT 3/KASC 7 meeting in Toulous