The traditional approximation of rotation for rapidly rotating stars and planets

Abstract

Context. We examine the dynamics of low-frequency gravito-inertial waves (GIWs) in differentially rotating deformed radiation zones in stars and planets by generalising the traditional approximation of rotation (TAR). The TAR treatment was built on the assumptions that the star is spherical (i.e. its centrifugal deformation is neglected) and uniformly rotating. However, it has been generalised in our previous work by including the effects of the centrifugal deformation using a non-perturbative approach. In the meantime, TAR has been generalised in spherical geometry to take the differential rotation into account. Aims. We aim to carry out a new generalisation of the TAR treatment to account for the differential rotation and the strong centrifugal deformation simultaneously. Methods. We generalise our previous work by taking into account the differential rotation in the derivation of our complete analytical formalism that allows the study of the dynamics of GIWs in differentially and rapidly rotating stars. Results. We derived the complete set of equations that generalises the TAR, simultaneously taking the full centrifugal acceleration and the differential rotation into account. Within the validity domain of the TAR, we derived a generalised Laplace tidal equation for the horizontal eigenfunctions and asymptotic wave periods of the GIWs, which can be used to probe the structure and dynamics of differentially rotating deformed stars with asteroseismology. Conclusions. A new generalisation of the TAR, which simultaneously takes into account the differential rotation and the centrifugal acceleration in a non-perturbative way, was derived. This generalisation allowed us to study the detectability and the signature of the differential rotation on GIWs in rapidly rotating deformed stars and planets. We found that the effects of the differential rotation in early-type deformed stars on GIWs is theoretically largely detectable in modern space photometry using observations from Kepler and TESS.