There is a great deal of optimism for inverting frequencies of seismic modes to infer with confidence the structure and angular-velocity of at least the inner regions of a great many stars from data to be obtained imminently from various asteroseismological space missions. From those inversions we should be able to assess the state of evolution of the stars, and thereby test the theory of stellar evolution. Reliable inversions can be carried out only if one is sure of the physics that determines the state of the star, and so carry out the forward problem to determine the frequencies of oscillation. I suspect that one of the most important things that we shall learn from our endeavours is that initial inferences will not be as reliable as the so-called optimists hope for, and that matters are therefore much more interesting than they suspect, that we do not understand the forward problem as well as has been presumed, and that there is a great deal more to learn about the physics of even apparently quite ordinary stars. That is a statement of even greater optimism.

 
Print this abstract