https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2003-10047-1
Hydrodynamic instabilities in ferronematics
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, PO Box 3148, 55021, Mainz, Germany
* e-mail: pleiner@mpip-mainz.mpg.de
In the hydrodynamic description of ferronematics there are various dynamic magnetic-field effects, linear in the field strength, that are negligible in usual nematics, but can play a role in ferronematics. Here, we investigate theoretically the influence of these new terms on the thermal convection (Rayleigh-Bénard) and the viscous fingering (Saffman-Taylor) instability in ferronematics in the presence of a strong magnetic field. We find that the instabilities are qualitatively changed due to the occurrence of a finite vorticity component -- a feature that is known from simple liquids in the case of a superimposed mechanical rotation. We suggest to use the additional effects (cross-flow within convection rolls, oblique rolls, rotating fingers) for measuring the phenomenological coefficients involved.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, and Springer-Verlag, 2003
