Gauging magnetorotational instability

Previously (Z. Angew. Math. Phys. 57:615–622, 2006), we examined the axisymmetric stability of viscous resistive magnetized Couette flow with emphasis on flows that would be hydrodynamically stable according to Rayleigh’s criterion: opposing gradients of angular velocity and specific angular momentum. A uniform axial magnetic field permeates the fluid. In this regime, magnetorotational instability (MRI) may occur. It was proved that MRI is suppressed, in fact no instability at all occurs, with insulating boundary conditions, when a term multipling the magnetic Prandtl number is neglected. Likewise, in the current work, including this term, when the magnetic resistivity is sufficiently large, MRI is suppressed. This shows conclusively that small magnetic dissipation is a feature of this instability for all magnetic Prandtl numbers. A criterion is provided for the onset of MRI.     

The small magnetic Prandtl number approximation suppresses magnetorotational instability

Axisymmetric stability of viscous resistive magnetized Couette flow is re-examined, with emphasis on flows that would be hydrodynamically stable according Rayleigh’s criterion: opposing gradients of angular velocity and specific angular momentum. In this regime, mag- netorotational instability (MRI) may occur. The governing system in cylindrical coordinates is of tenth order. It is proved, by methods based on those of Synge and Chandrasekhar, that by dropping one term from the system, MRI is suppressed, in fact no instability at all occurs, with insulating boundary conditions. This term is often neglected because it has the magnetic Prandtl number, which is very small, as a factor; nevertheless it is crucially important. (Received: August 11, 2005; revised: January 3, 2006)     

Standard and Helical Magnetorotational Instability

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) triggers turbulence and enables outward transport of angular momentum in hydrodynamically stable rotating shear flows, e.g., in accretion disks. What laws of differential rotation are susceptible to the destabilization by axial, azimuthal, or helical magnetic field? The answer to this question, which is vital for astrophysical and experimental applications, inevitably leads to the study of spectral and geometrical singularities on the instability threshold. The singularities provide a connection between seemingly discontinuous stability criteria and thus explain several paradoxes in the theory of MRI that were poorly understood since the 1950s.     

Long-wave oscillatory Marangoni instability in a horizontal liquid layer

The long-wave instability in the problem of thermocapillary convection in a horizontal layer with a free deformable boundary and a solid bottom is investigated. The transcendental equation for the main asymptotic term of the spectral parameter is written in explicit form. The main attention is paid to investigating oscillatory instability. For the frequency of neutral oscillations, simple transcendental equations are obtained that contain the Prandtl and Biot numbers. In a number of cases, exact solutions are indicated. Explicit formulae are given for the main asymptotic term of the Marangoni number. In the case of a non-heat-conducting solid wall, the relation between the critical values of the parameters for inverse Prandtl numbers is found. It is shown that, for different Prandtl numbers, the asymptotic values are in good agreement with the numerical values.     

Singularities on the boundaries of magnetorotational instabilities and scaling laws

In the theory of magnetorotational instability and its modern extensions such as the helical MRI, non-trivial scaling laws between the critical parameters are observed. In case of the standard MRI it is well known that the Reynolds and Hartmann numbers are scaled as Re ∼ Ha² while for the helical MRI Re ∼ Ha³ . What is less known is that the thresholds of SMRI and HMRI plotted as surfaces in the space of parameters, possess singularities that determine the scaling laws. Moreover, the two paradoxes of SMRI and HMRI in the limits of infinite and zero magnetic Prandtl number (Pm), respectively, sharply correspond to the singularities on the instability thresholds. In either case, it is the local Plücker conoid structure that explains the non-uniqueness of the critical Rossby number, and its crucial dependence on the Lundquist number. For HMRI, we have found an extension of the former Liu limit Ro_c ≃ −0.828 (valid for Lu = 0 ) to a somewhat higher value Ro ≃ −0.802 at Lu = 0.618 which is, however, still below the Kepler value. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Analytic study on angular fields of HRR solution

By using the constructing function method, a systematic and strict analysis is carried out on the angular distribution field near a crack tip in a power-law hardening material and the analytic solution is provided for HRR problem. In addition, the equivalence of H equation and RR equation is proved. The present analytic solutions for HRR problem can reduce to (he well-known Williams solution in the limit case ofN→1 (orn→1) and Prandtl solution in the limit case ofN→0 (orn→∞). It is particularly interesting that from the deformation theory of plasticity one obtains the Prandtl solution based on the increatment theory of plasticity. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19132022).     

Spurious Behaviour of Numerically Computed Fluid Flow

We investigate the stability to aliasing errors of numericalschemes for hydrodynamics, taking the viscous Burgers' equationas a model for systems with a term that is quadratic in thevelocity. Considering wavelengths equal to three times the mesh-spacing,and arbitrary mean flow, we are able to demonstrate explicitlyfor common schemes (a) a sufficient criterion for stabilityand (b) blow-up of solutions in a finite time when (a) is violated.Singular behaviour is shown to persist at all wavelengths: studiesof wavelengths up to thirty times mesh-spacing make it clearthat a profile with a single region of strong convergent flowis most conducive to instability. In contrast, spectral (Galerkin)and upwind schemes are shown to be stable for all flows andperiods.     

Nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of two miscible ferrofluids in porous media

The nonlinear theory of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is employed to analyze the instability phenomenon of two ferrofluids through porous media. The effect of both magnetic field and mass and heat transfer is taken into account. The method of multiple scale expansion is employed in order to obtain a dispersion relation for the first-order problem and a Ginzburg–Landau equation, for the higher-order problem, describing the behavior of the system in a nonlinear approach. The stability criterion is expressed in terms of various competing parameters representing the mass and heat transfer, gravity, surface tension, fluid density, magnetic permeability, streaming, fluid thickness and Darcy coefficient. The stability of the system is discussed in both theoretically and computationally, and stability diagrams are drawn. Received: July 25, 2002; revised: April 16, 2003     

Influence of Thermal Stratification on the Stability of Ekman-Couette-Flow

The Ekman-Couette-System consists of two infinitely extended plates which are sheared in opposite directions over a fluid and are additionally rotated about their normal axis. In the case of angular velocities which tend to zero, the system becomes the classical Couette-System, whereas for high angular velocities the boundary layers of the upper and lower plate are separated and represent Ekman boundary layers. For both limit cases the influence of thermal stratification on the stability of the base flow has been a subject of research for some time, but not so for moderate angular velocities. This was the motivation for doing a linear stability analysis for that case, including both stable and unstable stratification for a Prandtl number equal to unity. The results show, that as expected, stable stratification is suppressing the emergence of stationary as well as Type I- and Type II-shear-instabilities, while unstable stratification is supporting them. For unstable stratification, the system can also become unstable to a convection instability with all its properties known from other systems, except for that their orientation angle is not coincidental but determined due to the influence of the shear and Coriolis forces. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Instability of a planar liquid layer in an alternating longitudinal magnetic field with non-zero mean

The conducting liquid interface is found to undulate in an alternating magnetic field. It was shown earlier that ifM =B ₀ ²/μηω, B₀, ω, μ andη being the amplitude (complex) of the alternating longitudinal magnetic field imposed at the interface, the angular frequency of the field, the magnetic permeability and the viscosity respectively, and ifM _c was the critical value ofM then the planar layer was stable or unstable according asM < M _c orM > M _c. In this paper we have determined the stability criterion when in addition to the alternating longitudinal field there acts a uniform field in the same direction. After comparing our results with those obtained earlier, in the absence of the uniform field, we find that the additional uniform field has a significant destabilizing effect.     

Onset of thermal convection and influence of rotation in wide spherical gap flow

The onset of thermal convection and the effect of rotation in a high Prandtl number fluid in a wide gap between two concentric spheres with an axial force field are investigated experimentally. Both spheres rotate along the vertical axis with the same angular velocity Ω while the inner one (r₁) is cooled and the outer one (r₂) is heated. The velocity field is investigated by different visualization techniques and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The axisymmetric basic flow is disturbed by local instabilities. At a Rayleigh number of Ra = 6.97 · 10⁶, a pulsing vortex develops in the south polar region. A different, coexisting instability in the outer boundary layer appears at Ra = 1.79 · 10⁷. Rotating with Taylor numbers Ta > 1.4 · 10⁵, this instability vanishes. The instabilities occur mainly in the southern hemisphere where the thermal stratification is unstable.     

Nonlinear Stability of Riemann Ellipsoids with Symmetric Configurations

Using modern differential geometric methods, we study the relative equilibria for Dirichlet’s model of a self-gravitating fluid mass having at least two equal axes. We show that the only relative equilibria of this type correspond to Riemann ellipsoids for which the angular velocity and vorticity are parallel to the same principal axis of the body configuration. The two solutions found are MacLaurin and transversal spheroids. The singular reduced energy-momentum method developed in Rodríguez-Olmos (Nonlinearity 19(4):853–877, 2006) is applied to study their nonlinear stability and instability. We found that the transversal spheroids are nonlinearly stable for all eccentricities while for the MacLaurin spheroids, we recover the classical results. Comparisons with other existing results and methods in the literature are also made.      

The null spaces of elliptic partial differential operators in Rn

Overstability in a horizontal layer of a viscoelastic fluid is considered in the presence of a uniform magnetic field. The equations of motion appropriate to hydromagnetics in a Maxwellian fluid have been established and the analysis has been carried out in terms of normal modes. The proper solutions have been obtained for the case of two free boundaries. The dispersion relation obtained is found to be quite complex and involves the Prandtl number p₁, magnetic Prandtl number p₂, a parameter Q characterizing the strength of the magnetic field, and a parameter Γ which characterizes the elasticity of the fluid. Numerical calculations have been performed for different values of the parameters involved and the values of critical Rayleigh numbers, wave numbers, and frequencies for the onset of instability as overstability have been obtained. It is found that the magnetic field has a stabilizing influence on the overstable mode of convection in a viscoelastic fluid. Elasticity is found to have a destabilizing influence as in the absence of a magnetic field. Thus the effect of a magnetic field is the same as that for an ordinary viscous fluid.     

On the blow-up criterion of strong solutions for the MHD equations with the Hall and ion-slip effects in {\mathbb{R}^{3}}

In this paper, we establish a blow-up criterion of strong solutions to the 3D incompressible magnetohydrodynamics equations including two nonlinear extra terms: the Hall term (quadratic with respect to the magnetic field) and the ion-slip term (cubic with respect to the magnetic field). This is an improvement of the recent results given by Fan et al. (Z Angew Math Phys, 2015).     

Suppression of instability in rotatory hydromagnetic convection

Recently discovered hydrodynamic instability [1], in a simple Bénard configuration in the parameter regime under the action of a nonadverse temperature gradient, is shown to be suppressed by the simultaneous action of a uniform rotation and a uniform magnetic field both acting parallel to gravity for oscillatory perturbations whenever (Qσ ₁/π² + J/π⁴) > 1 and the effective Rayleigh numberR(1 -T ₀α₂) is dominated by either 27π⁴(1 + l/σ₁/4 or 27π⁴/2 according as σ₁ ≥1 or σ₁ ≤ 1 respectively. HereT ₀is the temperature of the lower boundary while α₂ is the coefficient of specific heat at constant volume due to temperature variation and σ₁,R,Q andJ respectively denote the magnetic Prandtl number, the Rayleigh number, the Chandrasekhar number and the Taylor number.     

Selection between proportional and stratified hazards models based on expected log-likelihood

The problem of selecting between semi-parametric and proportional hazards models is considered. We propose to make this choice based on the expectation of the log-likelihood (ELL) which can be estimated by the likelihood cross-validation (LCV) criterion. The criterion is used to choose an estimator in families of semi-parametric estimators defined by the penalized likelihood. A simulation study shows that the ELL criterion performs nearly as well in this problem as the optimal Kullback–Leibler criterion in term of Kullback–Leibler distance and that LCV performs reasonably well. The approach is applied to a model of age-specific risk of dementia as a function of sex and educational level from the data of a large cohort study.     

Nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of two miscible ferrofluids in porous media

The nonlinear theory of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is employed to analyze the instability phenomenon of two ferrofluids through porous media. The effect of both magnetic field and mass and heat transfer is taken into account. The method of multiple scale expansion is employed in order to obtain a dispersion relation for the first-order problem and a Ginzburg–Landau equation, for the higher-order problem, describing the behavior of the system in a nonlinear approach. The stability criterion is expressed in terms of various competing parameters representing the mass and heat transfer, gravity, surface tension, fluid density, magnetic permeability, streaming, fluid thickness and Darcy coefficient. The stability of the system is discussed in both theoretically and computationally, and stability diagrams are drawn.     

A note on the ill-posedness of shear flow for the MHD boundary layer equations

For the two-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamics(MHD)boundary layer system,it has been shown that the non-degenerate tangential magnetic field leads to the well-posedness in Sobolev spaces and high Reynolds number limits without any monotonicity condition on the velocity field in our previous works.This paper aims to show that sufficient degeneracy in the tangential magnetic field at a non-degenerate critical point of the tangential velocity field of shear flow indeed yields instability as for the classical Prandtl equations without magnetic field studied by G′erard-Varet and Dormy(2010).This partially shows the necessity of the non-degeneracy in the tangential magnetic field for the stability of the boundary layer of MHD in 2D at least in Sobolev spaces.     

A general divergence criterion for prior selection

The paper revisits the problem of selection of priors for regular one-parameter family of distributions. The goal is to find some “objective” or “default” prior by approximate maximization of the distance between the prior and the posterior under a general divergence criterion as introduced by Amari (Ann Stat 10:357–387, 1982) and Cressie and Read (J R Stat Soc Ser B 46:440–464, 1984). The maximization is based on an asymptotic expansion of this distance. The Kullback–Leibler, Bhattacharyya–Hellinger and Chi-square divergence are special cases of this general divergence criterion. It is shown that with the exception of one particular case, namely the Chi-square divergence, the general divergence criterion yields Jeffreys’ prior. For the Chi-square divergence, we obtain a prior different from that of Jeffreys and also from that of Clarke and Sun (Sankhya Ser A 59:215–231, 1997).     

An Instability Criterion for Nonlinear Standing Waves on Nonzero Backgrounds

A nonlinear Schrödinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a finite interval. Localized standing wave solutions on a non-zero background, e.g., dark solitons trapped by the inhomogeneity, are identified and studied. A novel instability criterion for such states is established through a topological argument. This allows instability to be determined quickly in many cases by considering simple geometric properties of the standing waves as viewed in the composite phase plane. Numerical calculations accompany the analytical results.