2019A&A...631L...6E

Context. Asteroseismic observations enable the characterisation of the internal rotation of evolved stars. These measurements reveal that an unknown efficient angular momentum (AM) transport mechanism is needed for subgiant and red giant stars in addition to hydrodynamic transport processes. A revised prescription for AM transport by the magnetic Tayler instability has been recently proposed as a possible candidate for such a missing mechanism.
Aims. We compare the rotational properties predicted by this magnetic AM transport to asteroseismic constraints obtained for evolved stars with a particular focus on the subgiant phase.
Methods. We computed models accounting for the recent prescription for AM transport by the Tayler instability with the Geneva stellar evolution code for subgiant and red giant stars, for which an asteroseismic determination of both core and surface rotation rates is available.
Results. The revised prescription for the transport by the Tayler instability leads to low core rotation rates after the main sequence that are in better global agreement with asteroseismic measurements than those predicted by models with purely hydrodynamic processes or with the original Tayler-Spruit dynamo. A detailed comparison with asteroseismic data shows that the rotational properties of at most two of the six subgiants can be correctly reproduced by models accounting for this revised magnetic transport process. This result is obtained independently of the value adopted for the calibration parameter in this prescription. We also find that this transport by the Tayler instability faces difficulties in simultaneously reproducing asteroseismic measurements available for subgiant and red giant stars. The low values of the calibration parameter needed to correctly reproduce the rotational properties of two of the six subgiants lead to core rotation rates during the red giant phase that are too high. Inversely, the higher values of this parameter needed to reproduce the core rotation rates of red giants lead to a very low degree of radial differential rotation before the red giant phase, which is in contradiction with the internal rotation of subgiant stars.
Conclusions. In its present form, the revised prescription for the transport by the Tayler instability does not provide a complete solution to the missing AM transport revealed by asteroseismology of evolved stars.