2011A&A...527A.112B

The O9V star HD46202, which is a member of the young open cluster NGC 2244, was observed by the CoRoT satellite in October/November 2008 during a short run of 34 days. From the very high-precision light curve, we clearly detect β Cep-like pulsation frequencies with amplitudes of ∼0.1mmag and below. A comparison with stellar models was performed using a χ² as a measure for the goodness-of-fit between the observed and theoretically computed frequencies. The physical parameters of our best-fitting models are compatible with the ones deduced spectroscopically. A core overshooting parameter α_ov=0.10±0.05 pressure scale height is required. None of the observed frequencies are theoretically excited with the input physics used in our study. More theoretical work is thus needed to overcome this shortcoming in how we understand the excitation mechanism of pulsation modes in such a massive star. A similar excitation problem has also been encountered for certain pulsation modes in β Cep stars recently modelled asteroseismically.