[Mesa-users] Lithium and berylium evolution track

[Josiah Schwab]

Hi Aishah,

> I want to know if there is a way I could produce li-7 and Be-8
> evolution tracks using MESA?  Please advise because I notice I can
> only display only certain abundances in the pgstar control.

You can display any abundances that are included in the MESA stellar
model in pgstar.  If you want to study these isotopes you should make
sure they are a part of your nuclear network.

You can change the nuclear network with the control

  http://mesa.sourceforge.net/star_job_defaults.html#change_net

and there is information about the nuclear networks in the files

  $MESA_DIR/data/net_data/nets/README
  $MESA_DIR/data/net_data/NET_NOTES

The network pp_extras.net extends the basic network by adding h2, li7,
be7, b8, so that seems like what you might want.

Given its short lifetime, nets essentially never explicitly include
Be-8, though it is implicitly included in relevant reaction chains
(i.e. triple alpha, PP III).

Hope that helps,
Josiah