ONSET OF INSTABILITY IN HYDROMAGNETIC COUETTE FLOW

Abstract

The stability of viscous flow between rotating cylinders in the presence of a constant axial magnetic field is considered. The boundary conditions for general conductivities are examined. It is proved that the Principle of Exchange of Stabilities holds at zero magnetic Prandtl number, for all Chandrasekhar numbers, when the cylinders rotate in the same direction, the circulation decreases outwards, and the cylinders have insulating walls. The result holds for both the finite gap and the narrow gap approximation.