Evolutionary timescales from the AGB to the CSPNe phase

TL;DR

This paper reviews the progress and challenges in modeling the evolutionary timescales of stars transitioning from the asymptotic giant branch to the white dwarf phase, highlighting the impact of new physics on predictions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of 50 years of modeling post-AGB star evolution and discusses how physics updates influence timescale predictions.

Findings

Post-AGB timescales are highly mass-dependent.

Inclusion of new physics alters quantitative timescale predictions.

Uncertainties remain significant in current models.

Abstract

The transition from the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) to the final white dwarf (WD) stage is arguably the least understood phase in the evolution of single low- and intermediate-mass stars ($0.8 \lesssim M_{\rm ZAMS}/M_\odot\lesssim 8...10$). Here we briefly review the progress in the last 50 years of the modeling of stars during the post-AGB phase. We show that although the main features, like the extreme mass dependency of post-AGB timescales were already present in the earliest post-AGB models, the quantitative values of the computed post-AGB timescales changed every time new physics was included in the modeling of post-AGB stars and their progenitors. Then we discuss the predictions and uncertainties of the latest available models regarding the evolutionary timescales of post-AGB stars.