2011/04/18 by X. Che, John D. Monnier, J. D. Monnier +14 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Light curve #Limb darkening #Optics #Physics #Radiative transfer #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar physics #Stellar rotation #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Surface gravity #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/732/2/68
published as 2011, ApJ, 732, 68C · 34 pages, 11 figures
openalex publication_date 2011/04/18 · arxiv created 2011/05/04 · arxiv updated 2015/05/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Near-infrared interferometers have recently imaged a number of rapidly rotating A-type stars, finding levels of gravity darkening inconsistent with theoretical expectations. Here, we present new imaging of both a cooler star β Cas (F2IV) and a hotter one α Leo (B7V) using the CHARA array and the MIRC instrument at the H band. Adopting a solid-body rotation model with a simple gravity darkening prescription, we modeled the stellar geometric properties and surface temperature distributions, confirming that both stars are rapidly rotating and show gravity darkening anomalies. We estimate the masses and ages of these rapid rotators on L – R pol and H-R diagrams constructed for non-rotating stars by tracking their non-rotating equivalents. The unexpected fast rotation of the evolved sub-giant β Cas offers a unique test of the stellar core–envelope coupling, revealing quite efficient coupling over the past ∼0.5 Gyr. Lastly, we summarize all our interferometric determinations of the gravity darkening coefficient for rapid rotators, finding that none match the expectations from the widely used von Zeipel gravity darkening laws. Since the conditions of the von Zeipel law are known to be violated for rapidly rotating stars, we recommend using the empirically derived β = 0.19 for such stars with radiation-dominated envelopes. Furthermore, we note that no paradigm exists for self-consistently modeling heavily gravity-darkened stars that show hot radiative poles with cool convective equators.