Unifying Transport Models of Thermohaline Convection in Stars
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917462242492416 |
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| author | Skoutnev, Valentin A. |
| author_facet | Skoutnev, Valentin A. |
| contents | Thermohaline convection is a standard chemical mixing process in stellar interiors, yet its mixing efficiency is not fully settled. Competing theories predict turbulent diffusion coefficients, $D_μ$, that can differ by orders of magnitude, leading to uncertainties in stellar models and interpretations of observations. This paper explores a potential resolution to existing discrepancies. We first complete the linear stability theory and identify two types of unstable modes: slow growing modes at large length scales and fast growing modes at small length scales. We then reevaluate $D_μ$ considering the full spectrum of unstable modes and find that it can self-consistently interpolate between previously proposed theoretical scalings across the instability parameter space. The question of thermohaline mixing efficiency in stars may be settled by future simulations that quantify the scale-dependent contributions of fast and slow modes to $D_μ$ and determine how the modes dominating the transport change across parameter space. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_03810 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Unifying Transport Models of Thermohaline Convection in Stars Skoutnev, Valentin A. Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Fluid Dynamics Thermohaline convection is a standard chemical mixing process in stellar interiors, yet its mixing efficiency is not fully settled. Competing theories predict turbulent diffusion coefficients, $D_μ$, that can differ by orders of magnitude, leading to uncertainties in stellar models and interpretations of observations. This paper explores a potential resolution to existing discrepancies. We first complete the linear stability theory and identify two types of unstable modes: slow growing modes at large length scales and fast growing modes at small length scales. We then reevaluate $D_μ$ considering the full spectrum of unstable modes and find that it can self-consistently interpolate between previously proposed theoretical scalings across the instability parameter space. The question of thermohaline mixing efficiency in stars may be settled by future simulations that quantify the scale-dependent contributions of fast and slow modes to $D_μ$ and determine how the modes dominating the transport change across parameter space. |
| title | Unifying Transport Models of Thermohaline Convection in Stars |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Fluid Dynamics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.03810 |