Mass dependence of convective envelope overshooting in pre-main-sequence stars

Improving stellar structure and evolution models is key to interpreting the high-quality stellar data produced by space missions like Kepler, TESS, and PLATO. We use the multi-dimensional, time implicit, fully compressible, hydrodynamic large eddy simulation code MUSIC (Multi-dimensional Stellar Implicit Code) to study how a star's mass affects the properties of stellar convection and overshooting. Stellar evolution models typically set the amount of overshooting using a fixed percentage of the pressure scale height. By comparing global simulations of convection in stars that have different masses, but identical evolutionary stages, we demonstrate that overshooting beneath a convective envelope is dependent on mass. This result extends the findings of recent observational (Claret and Torres 2018) and numerical (Baraffe et al 2023) studies that overshooting above a convective core is mass dependent. We also establish the mass dependence of other parameters that describe stellar convection, including the filling factor and the plume interaction parameter.

Theme: New Insights into Star Formation and Evolution