• DOI:10.1038/nature08864
• Corpus ID: 9172411

Deviations from a uniform period spacing of gravity modes in a massive star

@article{Degroote2010DeviationsFA,
  title={Deviations from a uniform period spacing of gravity modes in a massive star},
  author={Pieter Degroote and Conny Aerts and Annie Baglin and Andrea Miglio and Maryline Briquet and Arlette Noels and Ewa Niemczura and Josefina Montalb{\'a}n and Steven Bloemen and Raquel Oreiro and M. Vu{\vc}kovi{\'c} and Kris Smolders and Michel Auvergne and Frédéric Baudin and Claude Catal{\`a} and Eric Michel},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2010},
  volume={464},
  pages={259-261}
}

• P. Degroote, C. Aerts, +13 authors E. Michel
• Published 11 March 2010
• Physics
• Nature

The life of a star is dominantly determined by the physical processes in the stellar interior. Unfortunately, we still have a poor understanding of how the stellar gas mixes near the stellar core, preventing precise predictions of stellar evolution. The unknown nature of the mixing processes as well as the extent of the central mixed region is particularly problematic for massive stars. Oscillations in stars with masses a few times that of the Sun offer a unique opportunity to disentangle the nature of various mixing processes, through the distinct signature they leave on period spacings in the gravity mode spectrum. Here we report the detection of numerous gravity modes in a young star with a mass of about seven solar masses. The mean period spacing allows us to estimate the extent of the convective core, and the clear periodic deviation from the mean constrains the location of the chemical transition zone to be at about 10 per cent of the radius and rules out a clear-cut profile.