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arXiv · 2605.03810

Unifying Transport Models of Thermohaline Convection in Stars

Valentin A. Skoutnev
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Abstract

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, $D_\mu$, 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 $D_\mu$ 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 $D_\mu$ and determine how the modes dominating the transport change across parameter space.

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Valentin A. Skoutnev. 2026-05-05. Unifying Transport Models of Thermohaline Convection in Stars. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213%2Fae8e75

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