The Impact of Rotation on the Evolution of Low-Mass Stars

Abstract

High precision photometry and spectroscopy of low-mass stars reveal a variety of properties standard stellar evolution cannot predict. Rotation, an essential ingredient of stellar evolution, is a step towards resolving the discrepancy between model predictions and observations. The first rotating stellar model, continuously tracing a low-mass star from the pre-main sequence onto the horizontal branch, is presented. The predicted luminosity functions of globular clusters and surface rotation velocities on the horizontal branch are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the Conference 'Unsolved Problems in Stellar Physics', Cambridge, 2-6 July 200