A criterion of the linear long wave stability of steady magnetohydrodynamic jet flows of an ideal fluid

The problem of the linear stability of steady axisymmetric shear magnetohydrodynamic jet flows of an inviscid ideally conducting incompressible fluid with a free boundary is investigated. It is assumed that the jet is of unlimited length, there is a longitudinal constant electric current along its surface, and it is directed along the axis of a cylindrical shell with infinite conductivity, such that there is a vacuum layer between its free boundary and the inner surfaces of the shell. The necessary and sufficient condition for the stability of such flows with respect to small axisymmetric long-wave perturbations of special form is obtained by Lyapunov's direct method. Bilateral exponential estimates of the growth of small perturbations are constructed in the case when this stability condition breaks down, where the indices in their exponents are calculated from the parameters of the steady flows and the initial data for the perturbations. An example of a steady axisymmetric shear magnetohydrodynamic jet flow and of the initial small axisymmetric long-wave perturbations imposed on it is given, which, at the linear stage, will evolve in time and space in accordance with the estimates constructed.