1996A&A...306..417B

Observations of the line broadening during the cycle of pulsation are analysed for 41 Cepheids. The main components of this line broadening are the stellar atmospheric turbulence and the velocity fields due to pulsation and to axial rotation. The variation of the broadening due to pulsation is calculated for each star by using the observed radial velocity curve. The residual broadening at maximum radius allows to show that the value of the equatorial rotational velocity is smaller than ∼10 km/s for the large majority of classical Cepheids. It will be shown that turbulence is the major effect that can explain the variation of the lines widths during the cycle of pulsation. We show that the behaviours of classical and s-Cepheids are different with respect to turbulence and a new method is proposed to separate these classes. This leads to the discovery of a few new s-Cepheids. The second overtone Cepheid V473 Lyr does not follow the sequence of s-Cepheids, that are highly suspected to be overtone pulsators. It is also shown that the turbulence is in phase with the acceleration and, particularly, that the maximum turbulence is attained near minimum radius, where the acceleration is also at its maximum.