If I understand the press release correctly, the stellar evolution code your team used is one dimensional, in that it only models radial variations within the star and assumes spherical symmetry.
On the other hand, it says that one of the main things about Betelgeuse that is unusual is that it's spinning pretty rapidly for a giant star.
But stellar rotation is inherently at least a two-dimensional problem, because the star has a rotation axis and is no longer spherically symmetric. How can you model this with a one-dimensional simulation? More generally, how can you model other physics that might be important (convection, magnetic fields, etc) that are inherently 3d?
kennicutt171 karma
If I understand the press release correctly, the stellar evolution code your team used is one dimensional, in that it only models radial variations within the star and assumes spherical symmetry.
On the other hand, it says that one of the main things about Betelgeuse that is unusual is that it's spinning pretty rapidly for a giant star.
But stellar rotation is inherently at least a two-dimensional problem, because the star has a rotation axis and is no longer spherically symmetric. How can you model this with a one-dimensional simulation? More generally, how can you model other physics that might be important (convection, magnetic fields, etc) that are inherently 3d?
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