Numerical methods for eighth-, tenth- and twelfth-order eigenvalue problems arising in thermal instability

Second-order finite-difference methods are developed for the numerical solutions of the eighth-, tenth- and twelfth-order eigenvalue problems arising in the study of the effect of rotation on a horizontal layer of fluid heated from below. Instability setting-in as overstability may be modelled by an eighth-order ordinary differential equation. When a uniform magnetic field also acts across the fluid in the same direction as gravity, instability setting-in as ordinary convection may be modelled by a tenth-order differential equation, while instability setting-in as overstability may be modelled by a twelfth-order differential equation. The numerical methods are developed by making direct replacements of the derivatives in the differential equations and then by computing the eigenvalues, which may incorporate Rayleigh number, horizontal wave speed and a time constant, from the resulting algebraic eigenvalue problem. The eigenvalues are also computed by writing the differential equations as systems of second-order differential equations and then using second- and fourth-order methods to obtain the eigenvalues. Numerical results obtained using the two approaches are compared with estimates appearing in the literature.