A Note on the Mixing Length Theory and Massive Star Evolution

In this paper, we investigate the problem of supersonic convection caused by the application of the usual Mixing Length Theory (MLT), and give a modification to the original expression of the MLT. In the case of the usual MLT, a zone of supersonic convection exists when the stellar model goes into yellow–red supergiant phase. When the modification is applied, the models of late type supergiants possess shallower convective envelopes for a given temperature compared with the normal formalism of the MLT. Therefore the stellar models made with our new formalism move to lower effective temperature by 100–400K depending on the luminosity of the star. Such a modification does not affect the convective envelope structure of lower luminosity late type stars, as both expressions of the MLT give the same results in these stars.