Angular momentum transport by internal gravity waves

I - Pop I main sequence stars

¹ CERCA, 5160, boul. Décarie, suite 400, Montréal PQ H3X 2H9, Canada
² Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal PQ H3C 3J7, Canada
³ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse, CNRS UMR 5572, OMP, 14, Av. E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
⁴ Observatoire de Genève, 51 ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland

Corresponding author: S. Talon, Suzanne.Talon@cerca.umontreal.ca

Received: 28 January 2003
Accepted: 16 April 2003

Abstract

We examine the generation of gravity waves by the surface convection zone of low-mass main sequence stars with solar metallicity. It is found that the total momentum luminosity in waves rises with stellar mass, up to the quasi-disappearance of the convection zone around 6500 K (corresponding to a mass of ~1.4  for solar metallicity) where the luminosity drastically drops. We calculate the net momentum extraction associated with these waves and explain how the calculated mass dependence helps resolve the enigma of the Li dip in terms of rotational mixing, forming a coherent picture of mixing in all main sequence stars.