Observational signatures of rapidly rotating, pulsating B stars
Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Abstract
The effects of the geometric distortion of a rapidly rotating star on the relative amplitudes of radial velocity and luminosity variations are modeled. The possibility of determining the inclination angle of the rotation axis of a rapidly rotating star, from observations of its radial velocity and luminosity variations, is then explored and the nature of these effects for a model of an early B main-sequence star are presented. It is found that this approach holds sufficient promise that more detailed calculations should be embarked upon.