2009/08/01 by S. Cassisi, Santi Cassisi · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Astrophysics #Computer science #Mixing (physics) #Nuclear physics research studies #Physics #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921310002450
published in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 5(S262), 13-22 (Cambridge University Press) · 10 pages, 3 figures, Keynote review talk at the IAU Symp. 262 "Stellar Populations - Planning the Next Decade" of the XXVIIth IAU General Assembly held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Proceeding eds. G. Bruzual & S. Charlot
openalex publication_date 2009/08/01 · arxiv created 2009/09/25 · arxiv updated 2015/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract During this last decade our knowledge of the evolutionary properties of stars has significantly improved. This result has been achieved thanks to our improved understanding of the physical behavior of stellar matter in the thermal regimes characteristic of the different stellar mass ranges and/or evolutionary stages. This notwithstanding, the current generation of stellar models is still affected by several, not negligible, uncertainties related to our poor knowledge of some thermodynamical processes and nuclear reaction rates, as well as the efficiency of mixing processes. These drawbacks have to be properly taken into account when comparing theory with observations, to derive evolutionary properties of both resolved and unresolved stellar populations. In this paper we review the major sources of uncertainty along the main evolutionary stages, and emphasize their impact on population synthesis techniques.