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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Spiral vortices traveling between two rotating defects in the Taylor-Couette system
Ch Hoffmann1, M Lücke, A Pinter
1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany.
Abstract:
Numerical calculations of vortex flows in Taylor-Couette systems with counter rotating cylinders are presented. The full, time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a combination of a finite difference and a Galerkin method. Annular gaps of radius ratio eta=0.5 and of several heights are simulated. They are closed by nonrotating lids that produce localized Ekman vortices in their vicinity and that prevent axial phase propagation of spiral vortices. The existence and spatiotemporal properties of rotating defects, modulated Ekman vortices, and the spiral vortex structures in the bulk are elucidated in quantitative detail.
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