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Magnetorotational Instability in Electrically Driven Flow of Liquid Metal: Spectral Analysis

I. V. Khalzov, A. I. Smolyakov, V. I. Ilgisonis

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0604185

Abstract

The spectral stability of liquid metal differentially rotating in transverse magnetic field is studied numerically by solving the eigenvalue problem with rigid-wall boundary conditions. The equilibrium velocity profile used in calculations corresponds to the electrically driven flow in circular channel with the rotation law Ω(r)~1/r2. This type of flow profile is planned to be used in new experimental device to test the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in laboratory. Our analysis includes calculations of the eigen-frequency spectra for both axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric modes. It is found that for chosen device parameters the flow is always spectrally unstable due to MRI with the fastest growth rate corresponding to the axisymmetric mode.

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