On Thermohaline Mixing in Accreting White Dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the role of thermohaline mixing in accreting white dwarfs, arguing that previous claims of its significance are unsubstantiated and that current flux estimation methods remain valid.

Contribution

The paper provides a counter-argument to recent claims about thermohaline mixing's impact, reaffirming the correctness of existing accretion flux estimation techniques.

Findings

Thermohaline mixing does not significantly increase accretion flux estimates in steady state.

Current methods for estimating accretion fluxes in white dwarfs are validated.

The alternative view challenges recent claims about the importance of thermohaline instability.

Abstract

We discuss the recent claim that the thermohaline ("fingering") instability is important in accreting white dwarfs, increasing the derived accretion fluxes potentially by orders of magnitude. We present an alternative view and conclude that at least in the steady state this is not the case and the current method of estimating accretion fluxes is correct.