Description
The treatment of convection in one dimension is a drastic simplification of an inherently three-dimensional process based on the bulk motion of fluids. However, one-dimensional parameterizations of convection remain necessary and useful in a number of applications, including the construction of stellar tracks, isochrones, and population synthesis models, and they perform reasonably well in these contexts. In this review, I will discuss the applications of one-dimensional treatments of convection, especially the Mixing Length Theory, in stellar interiors and stellar evolution. I will summarize the history of MLT and discuss its interactions with other modeling physics, including demonstrating the impact of variations in the convective mixing length on stellar models. I will review the successes and shortcomings of this formalism, as well as attempts to improve and extend it, including the Full Spectrum Turbulence model. I will discuss situations in which the use of time-dependent convection is worthwhile and the ways in which three-dimensional convective simulations might inform and improve one-dimensional treatments of convection in the future.
