<p>Stellar rotation has long been recognized as important to the evolution of stars, by virtue of the chemical mixing it can induce and how it interacts with binary mass transfer. Binary interaction and rapid rotation are both common in massive stars and involve processes of angular momentum distribution and transport. An important question is how this angular momentum transport leads to the creation of two important classes of rapidly rotating massive stars, Be stars defined by disklike emission lines, and Bn stars defined by rotationally broadened absorption lines. A related question is what limits this rotation places on how conservative the mass transfer can be. Central to addressing these issues is knowledge of how close to rotational break-up stars can get before they produce a disk. Here we calculate diagnostics of this rotational criticality using the continuum polarization arising from a combination of rotational stellar distortion (i.e., oblateness) and redistribution of stellar flux (i.e., gravity darkening), and compare polarizations produced in the von Zeipel approximation with the approach of Espinosa Lara & Rieutord (ELR). Both produce similar photospheric polarizations that rise significantly in the far ultraviolet (FUV) for B stars, with a stronger signal in the von Zeipel case. For early main-sequence and subgiant stars, it reaches a maximum of <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="10509_2025_4508_Article_IEq1.gif" Format="GIF" Height="14" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="28" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mo>∼</mo> <mn>1</mn> </math></EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$\sim 1$</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>% at 140 nm for stars rotating at 98% of critical, when seen edge-on. Rotational rates above 80% critical result in polarizations of several tenths of a percent, at high inclination. Even at a low inclination of <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="10509_2025_4508_Article_IEq2.gif" Format="GIF" Height="14" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="53" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mi>i</mi> <mo>=</mo> <msup> <mn>40</mn> <mo>∘</mo> </msup> </math></EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$i=40^{\circ }$</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>, models at 98% critical show polarization in excess of 0.1% down to 200 nm. These predicted stable signal strengths indicate that determinations of near-critical rotations in B stars could be achieved with future spectropolarimetric instrumentation that can reach deep into the FUV, such as CASSTOR, the <i>Polstar</i> mission concept, or the POLLUX detector design.</p>

Polarization from rapidly rotating massive stars

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发表日期：

2025年10月20日

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J. Patrick Harrington,
Richard Ignace,
Kenneth G. Gayley

摘要

Stellar rotation has long been recognized as important to the evolution of stars, by virtue of the chemical mixing it can induce and how it interacts with binary mass transfer. Binary interaction and rapid rotation are both common in massive stars and involve processes of angular momentum distribution and transport. An important question is how this angular momentum transport leads to the creation of two important classes of rapidly rotating massive stars, Be stars defined by disklike emission lines, and Bn stars defined by rotationally broadened absorption lines. A related question is what limits this rotation places on how conservative the mass transfer can be. Central to addressing these issues is knowledge of how close to rotational break-up stars can get before they produce a disk. Here we calculate diagnostics of this rotational criticality using the continuum polarization arising from a combination of rotational stellar distortion (i.e., oblateness) and redistribution of stellar flux (i.e., gravity darkening), and compare polarizations produced in the von Zeipel approximation with the approach of Espinosa Lara & Rieutord (ELR). Both produce similar photospheric polarizations that rise significantly in the far ultraviolet (FUV) for B stars, with a stronger signal in the von Zeipel case. For early main-sequence and subgiant stars, it reaches a maximum of $\sim 1$ $\sim 1$ % at 140 nm for stars rotating at 98% of critical, when seen edge-on. Rotational rates above 80% critical result in polarizations of several tenths of a percent, at high inclination. Even at a low inclination of $i = 40^{\circ}$ $i=40^{\circ }$ , models at 98% critical show polarization in excess of 0.1% down to 200 nm. These predicted stable signal strengths indicate that determinations of near-critical rotations in B stars could be achieved with future spectropolarimetric instrumentation that can reach deep into the FUV, such as CASSTOR, the Polstar mission concept, or the POLLUX detector design.