Free inertial modes in differentially rotating convective envelopes of low-mass stars : numerical exploration

Tidally-excited inertial waves in stellar convective regions are a key mechanism for tidal dissipation in stars and therefore the evolution of close-in binary or planetary systems. As a first step, we explore here the impact of latitudinal differential rotation on the properties of free inertial modes and identify the different families of modes. We show that they differ from the case of solid-body rotation. Using an analytical approach as well as numerical calculations, we conclude that critical layers (where the Doppler-shifted frequency vanishes) could play a very important role for tidal dissipation.