Identifying seven activities and activity-carrying properties and nine classes of Active OB Stars, the OB Star Activity Matrix is constructed to map the parameter space. On its basis, the occurrence and appearance of the main activities are described as a function of stellar class. Attention is also paid to selected combinations of activities with classes of Active OB Stars. Current issues are identified and suggestions are developed for future work and strategies.

In the standard description of stellar interiors, O and B stars possess a thoroughly mixed convective core surrounded by a stable radiative envelope in which no mixing occurs. But as is well known, this model disagrees strongly with the spectroscopic diagnostic of these stars, which reveals the presence at their surface of chemical elements that have been synthesized in the core. Hence the radiation zone must be the seat of some mild mixing mechanisms. The most likely to operate there are linked with the rotation: these are the shear instabilites triggered by the differential rotation, and the meridional circulation caused by the changes in the rotation profile accompanying the non-homologous evolution of the star. In addition to these hydrodynamical processes, magnetic stresses may play an important role in active stars, which host a magnetic field. These physical processes will be critically examined, together with some others that have been suggested.

We report on the abundances of helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen in a larger sample of Galactic massive stars of ~7-20 M⊙ near the main sequence, composed of apparently normal objects, pulsators of β-Cephei- and SPB-type, and magnetic stars. High-quality spectra are homogeneously analysed using sophisticated non-LTE line-formation and comprehensive analysis strategies. All the stars follow a previously established tight trend in the N/C-N/O ratio and show normal helium abundances, tracing the nuclear path of the CNO-cycles quantitatively. A correlation of the strength of the mixing signature with the presence of magnetic fields is found. In conjunction with low rotation velocities this implies that magnetic breaking is highly efficient for the spin-down of some massive stars. We suggest several objects for follow-up spectropolarimetry, as the mixing signature indicates a possible magnetic nature of these stars.

During their main sequence evolution, massive stars can develop convective regions very close to their surface. These regions are caused by an opacity peak associated with iron ionization. Cantiello et al. (2009) found a possible connection between the presence of sub-photospheric convective motions and small scale stochastic velocities in the photosphere of early-type stars. This supports a physical mechanism where microturbulence is caused by waves that are triggered by subsurface convection zones. They further suggest that clumping in the inner parts of the winds of OB stars could be related to subsurface convection, and that the convective layers may also be responsible for stochastic excitation of non-radial pulsations. Furthermore, magnetic fields produced in the iron convection zone could appear at the surface of such massive stars. Therefore subsurface convection could be responsible for the occurrence of observable phenomena such as line profile variability and discrete absorption components. These phenomena have been observed for decades, but still evade a clear theoretical explanation. Here we present preliminary results from 3D MHD simulations of such subsurface convection.

We present the results of our survey of the projected rotational velocities of 161 O-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds from archival FUSE observations. The evolved and unevolved samples from each environment are compared through the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to determine if the distribution of equatorial rotational velocities is metallicity dependent for these massive objects. Stellar interior models predict that massive stars with SMC metallicity will have significantly reduced angular momentum loss on the main sequence compared to their Galactic counterparts. Our statistical results find some support for this prediction but also show that even at Galactic metallicity, evolved and unevolved massive stars have fairly similar fractions of stars with large V sin i. What is more compelling are the few evolved objects in the Magellanic Clouds with rotational velocities that approach or even exceed those predicted from the evolutionary models.

Stellar rotation, like stellar mass and metallicity, is a fundamental property of stars. Rapid rotation distorts the stellar photosphere and affects a star's luminosity, abundances and evolution. It is also linked to stellar wind and mass loss. The distortion of the stellar photosphere due to rapid rotation causes the stellar surface brightness and effective temperature to vary with latitude, leading to a bright pole and a dark equator - a phenomenon known as ‘Gravity Darkening’. Thanks to the development of long baseline optical interferometry in recent years, optical interferometers have resolved the elongation of rapidly rotating stars, and have even imaged a few systems for the first time, directly confirming the gravity darkening effect. In this paper, we review the recent interferometric studies of rapid rotators, particularly the imaging results from CHARA-MIRC. These sub-milliarcsecond resolution observations permit the determination of the inclination, the polar and equatorial radius and temperature, as well as the fractional rotation speed of several rapid rotators with unprecedented precision. The modeling also allows the determination of the true effective temperatures and luminosities of these stars, permitting the investigation of their true locations on the HR diagram. Discrepancies from standard models were also found in some measurements, suggesting the requirement of more sophisticated mechanisms such as non-uniform rotation in the model. These observations have demonstrated that optical interferometry is now sufficiently mature to provide valuable constraints and even model-independent images to shed light on the basic physics of stars.

While theoretical studies have long suggested a fast-rotating nature of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs), observational confirmation of fast rotation was not detected until recently. Here I discuss the diagnostics that have allowed us to constrain the rotational velocity of LBVs: broadening of spectral lines and latitude-dependent variations of the wind density structure. While rotational broadening can be directly detected using high-resolution spectroscopy, long-baseline near-infrared interferometry is needed to directly measure the shape of the latitude-dependent photosphere that forms in a fast-rotating star. In addition, complex 2-D radiative transfer models need to be employed if one's goal is to constrain rotational velocities of LBVs. Here I illustrate how the above methods were able to constrain the rotational velocities of the LBVs AG Carinae, HR Carinae, and Eta Carinae.

The Be star phenomenon is related to fast rotation, although the cause of this fast rotation is not yet clearly established. The basic effects of fast rotation on the stellar structure are reviewed: oblateness, mixing, anisotropic winds. The processes governing the evolution of the equatorial velocity of a single star (transport mechanisms and mass loss) are presented, as well as their metallicity dependence. The theoretical results are compared to observations of B and Be stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds.

The effects of rapid rotation on stellar evolution can be profound but we are only now starting to gather the data necessary to adequately determine the validity of the many proposed models of rotating stars. Some aspects of stellar rotation, particularly the treatment of angular momentum transport within convective zones, still remain very poorly explored. Distinguishing between different models is made difficult by the typically large number of free parameters in models compared with the amount of available data. This also makes it difficult to determine whether increasing the complexity of a model actually results in a better reflection of reality. We present a new code to straightforwardly compare different rotating stellar models using otherwise identical input physics. We use it to compare several models with different treatments for the transport of angular momentum within convective zones.

The general discussion following Session 1: Rapid Rotation and Mixing in Active OB Stars is summarized. Topics that focus on observational and theoretical issues are included.

We have incorporated the oblate distortion of the shape of the star due to the stellar rotation, which modifies the finite disk correction factor (fD) in the m-CAK hydrodynamical model. We implement a simplified version for the fD allowing us to solve numerically the non–linear m-CAK momentum equation. We solve this model for a classical Be star in the polar and equatorial directions. The star's oblateness modifies the polar wind, which is now much faster than the spherical one, mainly because the wind receives radiation from a larger (than the spherical) stellar surface. In the equatorial direction we obtain slow solutions, which are even slower and denser than the spherical ones. For the case when the stellar rotational velocity is about the critical velocity, the most remarkable result of our calculations is that the density contrast between the equatorial density and the polar one, is about 100. This result could explain a long-standing problem on Be stars.

Atmospheric parameters and photospheric abundances have been estimated for 60 Be-type stars located in 4 fields over the Magellanic Clouds. Particular attention has been given to the absolute nitrogen abundances to test theories of rotational mixing, an important factor in the evolutionary status of B-type stars, Hunter et al. (2008). The analysis used the non-LTE atmospheric code TLUSTY and required the implementation of a procedure to compensate for possible contamination due to the presence of a circumstellar disc. Through comparison with evolutionary models of fast rotating B-type stars and projected rotational velocity distributions our results support the theory that Be-type stars are typically faster rotators than B stars, but the measured nitrogen enhancements appear to be significantly less than expected for Be stars rotating with velocities greater than 70% of their critical velocity

Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are massive stars, in a transition phase, from being O-type stars and rapidly becoming Wolf-Rayet objects. LBVs possess powerful stellar winds, high luminosities and show photometric and spectroscopic variability. We present the stellar and wind parameters of He3-519 obtained by the modeling of UVES observations with the model atmosphere code CMFGEN. We compare our results to previous studies in order to find mid-time scale variability of the stellar parameters and finally, we use stellar evolution models to determine the evolutionary status of this star.

In an analysis of the rotational properties of more than 1100 B stars (~660 cluster and ~500 field B stars), we determine the projected rotational velocity (V sin i), effective temperature, gravity, mass, and critical rotation speed for each star. The new data provide us a solid observational base to explore many hot topics in this area: Why do field B stars rotate slower than cluster B stars? How fast do B stars rotate when they are just born? How fast can B stars rotate before they become Be stars? How does the rotation rate of B stars change with time? Does the evolutionary change in rotation velocity lead to the Be phenomenon? Here we report the results of our efforts in searching for answers to these questions based on the latest B star census.

The spinup of massive stars induced by evolution of the stellar interior can bring the star to near-critical rotation. In critically rotating stars the decrease of the stellar moment of inertia must be balanced by a net loss of angular momentum through an equatorial decretion disk. We examine the nature and role of mass loss via such disks. In contrast to the usual stellar wind mass loss set by exterior driving from the stellar luminosity, such decretion-disk mass loss stems from the angular momentum loss needed to keep the star near and below critical rotation, given the interior evolution and decline in the star's moment of inertia. Because the specific angular momentum in a Keplerian disk increases with the square root of the radius, the decretion mass loss associated with a required level of angular momentum loss critically depends on the outer radius for viscous coupling of the disk, and can be significantly less than the spherical, wind-like mass loss commonly assumed in evolutionary calculations.

Radiatively driven mass loss is an important factor in the evolution of massive stars. The mass loss rates depend on a number of stellar parameters, including the effective temperature and luminosity. Massive stars are also often rapidly rotating, which affects their structure and evolution. In sufficiently rapidly rotating stars, both the effective temperature and surface flux vary significantly as a function of latitude, and hence mass loss rates can vary appreciably between the poles and the equator. In this work, we discuss the addition of mass loss to a 2D stellar evolution code (ROTORC) and compare evolution sequences with and without mass loss.

Classical Be stars are rapidly rotating, hot stars that possess an equatorial disk formed from gas released by the central star. The mechanism driving the stellar mass loss has yet to be fully explained, but the rapid rotation of the central B star is believed to be crucial. Rapid rotation also produces gravity darkening, and we have now extended our disk models to include these effects. In this contribution, we focus on the effect of gravity darkening on the thermal structure of a circumstellar disk.

Recent observational and theoretical arguments suggest that magnetic OB stars may suffer more mixing than their non magnetic analogs. We present the results of an NLTE abundance study revealing a lack of CN-cycled material at the surface of two magnetic stars discovered by the MiMeS project (NGC2244 #201 and HD 57682). The existence of a strong magnetic field is therefore not a sufficient condition for deep mixing in main-sequence OB stars.

Massive main sequence stars are fast rotators. Stellar rotation affects massive stellar rotation due to rotationally induced mixing processes, the increase of mass loss rates, etc. and also affects the circumstellar medium due to their interaction with the stellar wind. The parameters of stellar winds depends on stellar parameters so the wind parameters change as the star evolves, coupling the evolution of circumstellar medium to the star itself. In this work we used a stellar code to build models of two massive stars (30 and 40 M⊙) and we used their wind parameters to simulate the hydrodynamics of their surrounding gas with the ZEUS-3D code in order to explore the effects of stellar rotation in the pre-supernova environments.

A NLTE abundance analysis of the IUE spectra of 8 Be stars with v sin i < 150km s−1 reveals no evidence for nitrogen enrichment from mixing of core and photospheric material.