Theoretical Aspects of g-mode Pulsations in gamma Doradus Stars

gamma Dor stars are main sequence variable A-F stars whose long periods (between 0.35 and 3 days) correspond to high-order gravity modes pulsation. Most of them are multiperiodic. We will concentrate here on two theoretical aspects of these stars. First, an analysis of the driving mechanism of the gamma Dor g-modes is presented, using the linear Time-Dependent Convection (TDC) treatment of Gabriel \cite{Gabriel1996} and Grigahcène et al. \cite{Grigahcene}. This driving is due to a periodic flux blocking mechanism at the base of their convective envelope. The location of the blue and red edges of their instability strip as well as the periods range of their observed modes is explained by the balance between this driving mechanism and radiative damping in the g-mode cavity. Secondly, the multi-color photometric amplitude ratios and the phase differences between the light and velocity curves are considered. It is shown that the agreement between theory and observations obtained with TDC models is much better than with Frozen Convection (FC) models. The theoretical analysis of these observables makes the photometric identification of the degree l of the modes possible and gives constraints on the characteristics of the convective envelope of these stars. Finally, the attractive potential of gamma Dor stars as targets for asteroseismology is considered