Rotational mixing in massive binaries : detached short-period systems

Abstract

Models of rotating single stars can successfully account for a wide variety of observed stellar phenomena, such as the surface enhancements of N and He observed in massive main-sequence stars. However, recent observations have questioned the idea that rotational mixing is the main process responsible for the surface enhancements, emphasizing the need for a strong and conclusive test for rotational mixing. We investigate the consequences of rotational mixing for massive main-sequence stars in short-period binaries. In these systems the tides are thought to spin up the stars to rapid rotation, synchronous with their orbital revolution. We use a state-of-the-art stellar evolution code including the effect of rotational mixing, tides, and magnetic fields. We adopt a rotational mixing efficiency that has been calibrated against observations of rotating stars under the assumption that rotational mixing is the main process responsible for the observed surface abundances.