Blue Stragglers as Stellar Collision Products: the Angular Momentum Question
Abstract
We investigate the structure and evolution of blue stragglers stars which
were formed from direct stellar collisions between main sequence stars in
globular clusters. In particular, we look at the rotational evolution of the
products of off-axis collisions. As found in previous work, such blue
stragglers initially have too high an angular momentum to contract down to the
main sequence. We consider angular momentum loss through either disc locking or
locking to an outflowing wind and show that both methods allow the merged
object to shed sufficient angular momentum to contract down to the main
sequence.