Stellar Evolution Models of Young Stars: Progress and Limitations

TL;DR

This paper reviews the progress and limitations of stellar evolution models for young stars, emphasizing recent advances in incorporating magnetic fields and starspots to improve model-observation agreement.

Contribution

It highlights recent progress in modeling young stars with non-standard physics and discusses fundamental limitations in understanding these physical processes.

Findings

Inclusion of magnetic fields and starspots improves model accuracy.

Current models still face fundamental limitations in physics understanding.

Progress opens new avenues for research in stellar physics.

Abstract

Stellar evolution models are a cornerstone of young star astrophysics, which necessitates that they yield accurate and reliable predictions of stellar properties. Here, I review the current performance of stellar evolution models against young astrophysical benchmarks and highlight recent progress incorporating non-standard physics, such as magnetic field and starspots, to explain observed deficiencies. While addition of these physical processes leads to improved agreement between models and observations, there are several fundamental limitations in our understanding about how these physical processes operate. These limitations inhibit our ability to form a coherent picture of the essential physics needed to accurately compute young stellar models, but provide rich avenues for further exploration.