Nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor instability in magnetic fluids with uniform horizontal and vertical magnetic fields

A weakly nonlinear evolution of two dimensional wave packets on the surface of a magnetic fluid in the presence of an uniform magnetic field is presented, taking into account the surface tension. The method used is that of multiple scales to derive two partial differential equations. These differential equations can be combined to yield two alternate nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The first equation is valid near the cutoff wavenumber while the second equation is used to show that stability of uniform wave trains depends on the wavenumber, the density, the surface tension and the magnetic field. At the critical point, a generalized formulation of the evolution equation governing the amplitude is developed which leads to the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation. From the latter equation, the various stability crteria are obtained.