Issues relating to observables of rapidly rotating stars

Abstract

I discuss several ways in which rapid rotation can make the interpretation of what is observed complex and outline computational tools which are being brought to bear on the problem. The first requirement is to develop the capability for computing the fully two dimensional stellar structure. Once this is available the pulsation periods and the spectral energy distribution of the models must be calculated without resorting to commonly used approximate methods which are adequate if the rotation is a relatively small perturbation to the nonrotating model. A family of computational tools which perform these tasks is presented along with results on the structure of two dimensional rotating stellar models, the effects of rapid rotation on the low order p modes, and on the spectral energy distribution. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.