Asteroseismology of δ Scuti-type stars

Asteroseismology is the study of the interiors of stars by means of their pulsations, and offers the possibility to test the theory of stellar evolution. delta Scuti-type stars are particularly attractive for studying convective phenomena in the deep interior and rotation. Ground-based networks have greatly improved the data, had space missions are elaborated such as COROT. One of the main problems is the identification of the observed modes effects rotation, which is ambiguous and is complicated by the effects of rotation. Nonlinear and nonadiabatic effects are also important, and must be taken into account for the undestanding of the mechanisms of the selection of modes and of the saturation of their amplitudes. Asteroseismology is a powerful tool for the study of processes which regulate the stellar evolution, and space missions open a new area in that field. (C) Academie des Sciences/Elsevier, Paris.