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ABSTRACT We performed 3D hydrodynamic simulations of the inner $$\approx 50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ radial extent of a $$25\,\,\mathrm{\mathrm{M}_\odot }$$ star in the early phase of the main sequence and investigate core convection and internal gravity waves in the core-envelope boundary region. Simulations for different grid resolutions and driving luminosities establish scaling relations to constrain models of mixing for 1D applications. As in previous works, the turbulent mass entrainment rate extrapolated to nominal heating is unrealistically high ($$1.58\times 10^{-4}\,\,\mathrm{\mathrm{M}_\odot \, {\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}}$$), which is discussed in terms of the non-equilibrium response of the simulations to the initial stratification. We measure quantitatively the effect of mixing due to internal gravity waves excited by core convection interacting with the boundary in our simulations. The wave power spectral density as a function of frequency and wavelength agrees well with the GYRE eigenmode predictions based on the 1D spherically averaged radial profile. A diffusion coefficient profile that reproduces the spherically averaged abundance distribution evolution is determined for each simulation. Through a combination of eigenmode analysis and scaling relations it is shown that in the N2-peak region, mixing is due to internal gravity waves and follows the scaling relation DIGW-hydro ∝ L4/3 over a $$\gtrapprox 2\,\,\mathrm{\mathrm{dex}}$$ range of heating factors. Different extrapolations of the mixing efficiency down to nominal heating are discussed. If internal gravity wave mixing is due to thermally enhanced shear mixing, an upper limit is $$D_\mathrm{IGW}\lessapprox 2$$ to $$3\times 10^{4}\,\,\mathrm{cm^2\, s^{-1}}$$ at nominal heating in the N2-peak region above the convective core.
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3D hydrodynamic simulations of massive main-sequence stars – II. Convective excitation and spectra of internal gravity waves
ABSTRACT Recent photometric observations of massive stars have identified a low-frequency power excess which appears as stochastic low-frequency variability in light-curve observations. We present the oscillation properties of high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of a $$25\,\,{\rm{M}_\odot }$$ star performed with the PPMstar code. The model star has a convective core mass of $$\approx 12\,\,{\rm{M}_\odot }$$ and approximately half of the envelope simulated. From this simulation, we extract light curves from several directions, average them over each hemisphere, and process them as if they were real photometric observations. We show how core convection excites waves with a similar frequency as the convective time-scale in addition to significant power across a forest of low and high angular degree l modes. We find that the coherence of these modes is relatively low as a result of their stochastic excitation by core convection, with lifetimes of the order of 10s of days. Thanks to the still significant power at higher l and this relatively low coherence, we find that integrating over a hemisphere produces a power spectrum that still contains measurable power up to the Brunt–Väisälä frequency. These power spectra extracted from the stable envelope are qualitatively similar to observations, with the same order of magnitude yet lower characteristic frequency. This work further shows the potential of long-duration, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations for connecting asteroseismic observations to the structure and dynamics of core convection and the convective boundary.
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- PAR ID:
- 10508827
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 531
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 1316-1337
- Size(s):
- p. 1316-1337
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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