Grand Theft Astro: Stars' criminal histories could reshape estimates of their internal magnetic fields

Magnetic fields exist in many stars, including the sun. Yet they remain too poorly understood to be reliably included in stellar evolution models, limiting their accuracy. Now, a new study by researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, shows why a star's "criminal" evolutionary history may be crucial for correctly interpreting its…