Is Betelgeuse Really Rotating? Synthetic ALMA Observations of Large-scale Convection in 3D Simulations of Red Supergiants

TL;DR

This study uses synthetic ALMA observations of 3D simulations to show that large-scale convection in red supergiants can mimic rotation signals, challenging previous interpretations of Betelgeuse's rotation.

Contribution

It demonstrates that convective motions can produce apparent rotation signatures in ALMA data, questioning the need for binary merger explanations for Betelgeuse.

Findings

Synthetic velocity maps can falsely suggest rotation rates of 2 km/s or higher.

At least one more ALMA observation is needed to confirm Betelgeuse's rotation.

Convection can significantly influence the interpretation of stellar surface dynamics.

Abstract

The evolved stages of massive stars are poorly understood, but invaluable constraints can be derived from spatially resolved observations of nearby red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse. Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of Betelgeuse showing a dipolar velocity field have been interpreted as evidence for a projected rotation rate of about $5\, \mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$. This is 2 orders of magnitude larger than predicted by single-star evolution, which led to suggestions that Betelgeuse is a binary merger. We propose instead that large-scale convective motions can mimic rotation, especially if they are only partially resolved. We support this claim with 3D CO5BOLD simulations of nonrotating red supergiants that we postprocessed to predict ALMA images and SiO spectra. We show that our synthetic radial velocity maps have a 90% chance of being falsely interpreted as evidence for a projected rotation rate of $\mathrm{2\, km\, s^{-1}}$ or larger for our fiducial simulation. We conclude that we need at least another ALMA observation to firmly establish whether Betelgeuse is indeed rapidly rotating. Such observations would also provide insight into the role of angular momentum and binary interaction in the late evolutionary stages. The data will further probe the structure and complex physical processes in the atmospheres of red supergiants, which are immediate progenitors of supernovae and are believed to be essential in the formation of gravitational-wave sources.