Rotation and macroturbulence in bright giants

Abstract

Spectral line profiles of 35 F, G, and K bright giants were analyzed to obtain rotation rates, v sin i, and macroturbulence dispersion. This sample indicates that rotation rates of cool class II giants is less than 11 km/s, in contrast with some recent periodicity measurements. Macroturbulence dispersion generally increases with effective temperature, but the range of values at a given effective temperature is much larger than seen for lower luminosity classes; this is interpreted in terms of red-giant and blue-loop evolution. No evidence is found for angular momentum dissipation on the first crossing of the H-R diagram.