Nucleosynthesis on the Asymptotic Giant Branch: A comparison between codes Original Research Article

We present calculations of the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase of stellar evolution made with the fully implicit STARS code. These are the first detailed evolution calculations of the AGB phase to be made in this manner. Prelimi- nary results suggest deeper third dredge-up at lower core masses than found in previous calculations without convective overshooting. We present a comparison between results computed with STARS and with the MSSSP code. We examine the physical differences between the models produced and assess their impact on the production of the heavy magnesium isotopes. Possible effects on the isotopic ratios of s-process elements are also discussed.