LINE-PROFILE VARIATIONS DUE TO ADIABATIC NONRADIAL PULSATIONS IN ROTATING STARS .1. OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPHEROIDAL MODES

We present a useful formulation of the surface velocity field of a rot ating, adiabatically pulsating star, which accounts for the effects of the Coriolis force. We use this model to investigate the observable s pectroscopic characteristics of non-radial pulsations. We calculate ti me series of absorption line profiles in a carefully chosen domain of parameter space. Only mono-periodic spheroidal modes are investigated; atmospheric changes due to the pulsation are neglected. The line-prof ile variations, as well as their behavior inferred from two well-defin ed diagnostics, are presented in two-dimensional parameter grids. We s how that the intensity variations in time series of theoretical spectr a, at each position in the line profile, cannot be described by a sing le sinusoid: at least one harmonic sinusoid needs to be included. Acro ss the line profile the relative amplitudes and phases of these sinuso ids vary independently. The blue-to-red phase difference found at the main pulsation frequency turns out to be an indicator of the degree l, rather than the azimuthal order \m\; the phase difference of the vari ations with the first harmonic frequency is an indicator of \m\ Hence, the evaluation of the variability at the harmonic frequency can impro ve the results derived from an analysis of observed line profiles. We find, that if line-profile variations at the line center dominate over the variations in the line wings, this does not give conclusive infor mation on the ratio of the horizontal to the vertical pulsational surf ace motions. Tesseral modes, when observed at not too high inclination s, are as much capable of producing considerable line-profile variatio ns as sectoral modes. We find that, within the limits of our model, th e effects of rotation on the appearance of the line-profile variations are important for low-degree sectoral modes, and for the sub-class of the tesseral modes with l - m an even number.