Stability of Poiseuille flow in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field

The stability of the plane flow of an electrically conducting fluid with respect to small perturbations was studied at large Reynolds numbers in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. The dependence of the critical Reynolds number on the electrical conductivity is investigated. At large Reynolds numbers, a new branch of instability and a sudden change in the critical Reynolds numbers is found. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 45–53, May–June, 2008.