I report on preliminary results from an ongoing project that explores angular momentum transport by unstable pulsation modes in massive stars. After briefly reviewing the underlying formalism for this transport, and describing a numerical code that implements it, I present an example simulation for a model star. I show that prograde modes, unstable due to the iron‐bump κ mechanism, can spin down the surface layers of the star by 25% over a short (∼100‐year) timescale. The resulting shear layer separating the surface from interior acts to switch off the κ‐mechanism instability, providing a natural way of limiting mode amplitudes. This process may have a role to play in the mode selection mechanism of pulsating massive stars.
Topics
Transition metals
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© 2009 American Institute of Physics.
2009
American Institute of Physics
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