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Turbulence in the Atmosphere of B-Type Stars
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Abstract
The stationary turbulent surface layer, whose depth is of the order of the pressure scale height in the subphotospheric layer, was investigated for B-type stars, using the momentum and the continuity equations with the inertia term neglected but the turbulence-viscosity term included. The mean velocity field is dominated by the horizontal component of the meridional circulation, driven by the pressure-density unbalance in the radiative envelope of the rotating star, and the differential rotation induced by the Coriolis force.
The model calculation for a B3IV-V star with the equatorial rotational velocity of 200 km/s led to the conclusions that the velocity field due to the differential rotation is of the order of 0.1-1 km/s, the velocity field of the meridional circulation itself is negligible, the velocity field of the three-dimensional shear turbulence is of the order of 0.1 km/s, and i t s scale is comparable to or less than the pressure scale height, the velocity field of the horizontal two-dimensional turbulence is of the order of 1-10 km/s, and i t s maximum scale ranges from a few times the pressure scale height to one-fiftieth of the stellar radius. If the index of the energy density law is close to 3.5, the turbulent surface layer may be dominated by the large scale (two-dimensional) barotropic eddies whose energy is fed by the small scale (three-dimensional) baroclinic turbulence in a way similar to the planetary atmospheres. In this case we may expect the tangential macroturbulence of the order of 1-10 km/s, though the interaction between this and the small-scale three-dimensional turbulence still remains to be investigated.
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- 2. Observed Properties of Stellar Turbulence
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