Massive Star Evolution: What we do (not) know

TL;DR

This paper discusses the uncertainties in modeling convection and rotation in massive star evolution, highlighting the challenges in accurately simulating these processes and comparing models with observations.

Contribution

It provides a critical review of the current uncertainties in modeling convection and rotation in massive stars, emphasizing their impact on evolutionary predictions.

Findings

Convection modeling remains highly uncertain in massive stars.

Rotation significantly influences stellar evolution but is difficult to constrain.

Binary fraction complicates observational comparisons.

Abstract

The modelling of massive star evolution is a complex task, and is very sensitive to the way physical processes (such as convection, rotation, mass loss, etc.) are included in stellar evolution code. Moreover, the very high observed fraction of binary systems among massive stars makes the comparison with observations difficult. In this paper, we focus on discussing the uncertainties linked to the modelling of convection and rotation in single massive stars.