Fast Rotating Stars: Effect of the Aspect Angle on Line Profiles

Abstract

Fast rotation is expected to flatten the star and to produce non uniform temperature and density distributions (i.e. gravitational darkening). While the flattening mostly increases the absolute flux level of the energy distribution, gravitational darkening makes an equator-on star apparently cooler than a star seen through the pole. Both effects (Collins et al. 1991) influence the colours and the location of the star in the HR diagram but also, in a more subtle way, its spectral line profiles. More particularly, in early B type stars, gravitational darkening tends to privilege at the poles the formation of the ions with the highest ionization potentials and directly affects line formation. Consequently, most spectral line shapes - and especially the weakest ones - become aspect angle dependent which in several cases may play a role in the fundamental parameter determination procedures or even in the determination of stellar chemical abundances.