Wider pulsation instability regions for β Cephei and SPB stars calculated using new Los Alamos opacities

¹ Instytut Astronomiczny Uniwersytet Wrocławski, 51-622 Wrocław, Poland
e-mail: walczak@astro.uni.wroc.pl
² Computational Physics Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
³ Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
⁴ Theoretical Design Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA

Received: 24 June 2015
Accepted: 19 July 2015

Abstract

Aims. Our goal is to test the newly developed OPLIB opacity tables from Los Alamos National Laboratory and check their influence on the pulsation properties of B-type stars.

Methods. We calculated models using MESA and Dziembowski codes for stellar evolution and linear, nonadiabatic pulsations, respectively. We derived the instability domains of β Cephei and SPB-types for different opacity tables OPLIB, OP, and OPAL.

Results. The new OPLIB opacities have the highest Rosseland mean opacity coefficient near the so-called Z-bump. Therefore, the OPLIB instability domains are wider than in the case of OP and OPAL data.