Rotational velocities of OB stars

The HeI lines at 4026, 4388, and 4471{AA} were analyzed in order to define a calibration of the synthetic HeI full widths at half-maximum (FWHMs) versus stellar vsini. A grid of synthetic spectra of HeI line profiles was calculated in non-LTE using an extensive helium model atom and updated atomic data.

The vsini values for all stars were derived using the HeI FWHM calibrations, but also, for those target stars with relatively sharp lines, vsini values were obtained from best-fit synthetic spectra of up to 40 lines of CII, NII, OII, AlIII, MgII, SiIII, and SIII. This calibration is a useful and efficient tool for estimating the projected rotational velocities of O9-B5 main-sequence stars. The distribution of vsini for an unbiased sample of early B stars in the unbound association Cep OB2 is consistent with the distribution reported elsewhere for other unbound associations.