Clarify the interaction between pulsation and convection in long-period variables

Characterize how interactions between pulsation and convection in the predominantly convective envelopes of asymptotic giant branch long-period variable stars affect their observed variability and pulsation behavior.

Background

Long-period variables have largely convective envelopes during the asymptotic giant branch phase. The paper identifies the interaction between convection and radial pulsation as a fundamental source of uncertainty in understanding these stars.

This unresolved interaction is also relevant to the reliability of the MESA and GYRE models used in the paper, because different treatments of convection and pulsation may produce different pulsation-period ratios and therefore different assessments of cross-harmonic explanations for long or extra-long secondary periods.