Turbulent Convection in the Classical Variable Stars

Abstract

We give a status report of convective Cepheid and RR Lyrae model pulsations. Some striking successes can be reported, despite the use of a rather simple treatment of turbulent convection with a 1D time-dependent diffusion equation for the turbulent energy. It is now possible to obtain stable double-mode (beat) pulsations in both Cepheid and RR Lyrae models with astrophysical parameters, i.e. periods and amplitude ratios, that are in agreement with observations. The turbulent convective models, however, have difficulties giving global agreement with the observations. In particular, the Magellanic Cloud Cepheids, that have been observed in connection with the microlensing projects have imposed novel observational constraints because of the low metallicity of the MCs.