The photometric effect of rotation in the A stars

Abstract
Previous studies of stellar rotation have been largely confined to the effects on individual stars in rigid rotation. We have extended these studies in two ways; (1) we have used detailed stellar atmosphere models to compute for the first time the photometric effects of differential as well as rigid rotation; results are given for both the Johnson and the Strömgren systems for late B, A and early F stars; (2) we have obtained statistical results for an ensemble of stars in that spectral range, for comparison with the observed properties of galactic clusters. We confirm the well-known qualitative result that differential rotation produces a larger scatter in photometric diagrams than does rigid rotation, but we find a number of quantitative subtleties that significantly complicate any comparison with observations. Photometry alone can only put rather weak constraints on the degree of differential rotation within stars.

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