Convection in Rotating Stars

Abstract

The influence of rotation on convection in stellar interiors is discussed. It is shown that the character of convective motions can be affected in relatively slowly rotating stars. Although the transport of energy by convection is anisotropic, the requirement that the divergence of total energy flux vanishes means that meridional circulation currents will be set up. These will mix the material of a convective core in a time which is not much different from the time taken by convection in the absence of rotation. Although rotation does not seriously impede mixing processes in a convective core, the circulation transports angular momentum and changes the law of rotation of the star. The final state of rotation cannot be determined until the form of convection in a rotating star is better understood, but it is possible that the asymptotic state is closer to one of uniform angular momentum than uniform angular velocity. (auth)