Magnetorotational-type instability in Couette-Taylor flow of a viscoelastic polymer liquid

Abstract

We describe an instability of viscoelastic Couette-Taylor flow that is directly analogous to the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics, with polymer molecules playing the role of magnetic field lines. By determining the conditions required for the onset of instability and the properties of the preferred modes, we distinguish it from the centrifugal and elastic instabilities studied previously. Experimental demonstration and investigation should be much easier for the viscoelastic instability than for the MRI in a liquid metal. The analogy holds with the case of a predominantly toroidal magnetic field such as is expected in an accretion disk and it may be possible to access a turbulent regime in which many modes are unstable.

arXiv comment4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letters

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Understanding viscoelastic flow instabilities: Oldroyd-B and beyond
• Magnetohydrodynamic experiments on cosmic magnetic fields
• Analog of Astrophysical Magnetorotational Instability in a Couette-Taylor Flow of Polymer Fluids
• Viscoelastic modes in a strongly coupled cold magnetized dusty plasma
• Inertio-elastic instability of a vortex column