Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:39:03.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Shearing Instabilities in Magnetoconvection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

M. R. E. Proctor
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
P. C. Matthews
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
A. M. Rucklidge
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Recent numerical simulations of two-dimensional convection (compressible and Boussinesq) in the presence of a vertical magnetic field reveal that in some circumstances, narrow rolls are unstable to horizontal shear: tilted rolls are observed, as well as oscillating shearing motion. During the oscillation, the rolls tilt over and are replaced by a vigorous horizontal streaming motion, which decays, and the rolls are reformed, only to tilt over again, either in the same or in the opposite direction. A low-order model of this problem is constructed by truncating the PDEs for Boussinesq magnetoconvection. In the model, oscillatory shearing motion is created either in a ℍ bifurcation from untilted rolls, in which case the rolls tilt first one way and then the other, or in a ℍ bifurcation from tilted rolls, in which case the rolls always tilt in the same direction. Oscillations of the second type are converted into oscillations of the first type in a gluing bifurcation. This scenario is interpreted in terms of a Takens–Bogdanov bifurcation.

MOTIVATION

The interaction between convection and magnetic fields plays a central role in the theory of stellar dynamos. In order to investigate this interaction in detail, we consider a simplified problem: two-dimensional convection in a vertical magnetic field. To represent the astrophysical situation, in which there are no sidewalls, we consider a box with periodic boundary conditions in the horizontal direction, allowing horizontal flows. It is found that convection can be unstable to a horizontal shearing motion.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×