A&A 542, A116 (2012) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201118724 & c ESO 2012 Astrophysics New measurements of rotation and differential rotation in A-F stars: are there two populations of differentially rotating stars? ,, M. Ammler-von Eiff1,2,3 and A. Reiners2 1 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany e-mail:
[email protected] 3 Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Straße 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany Received 22 December 2011 / Accepted 25 March 2012 ABSTRACT Context. The Sun displays differential rotation that is intimately connected to the solar dynamo and hence related to solar activity, the solar cycle, and the solar wind. Considering the detectability and habitability of planets around other stars it is important to understand theroleofdifferential rotation in other stars. Aims. We present projected rotational velocities and new measurements of the rotational profile of some 180 nearby stars with spectral types A-F. The results are consolidated by a homogeneous compilation of basic stellar data from photometry and the identification of multiple stellar systems. New and previous measurements of rotation by line profile analysis are compiled and made available. Methods. The overall broadening profile is derived analysing spectral line shape from hundreds of spectral lines by the method of least-squares deconvolution, reducing spectral noise to a minimum. The effect of differential rotation on the broadening profile is best measured in inverse wavelength space by the first two zeros of its Fourier transform.