Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-04-07
Phys.Rev.E80:066303,2009
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
30 pages, 22 figures, submitted to PRE
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.80.066303
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is thought to play a key role in the formation of stars and black holes by sustaining the turbulence in hydrodynamically stable Keplerian accretion discs. In previous experiments the MRI was observed in a liquid metal Taylor-Couette flow at moderate Reynolds numbers by applying a helical magnetic field. The observation of this helical MRI (HMRI) was interfered with a significant Ekman pumping driven by solid end-caps that confined the instability only to a part of the Taylor-Couette cell. This paper describes the observation of the HMRI in an improved Taylor-Couette setup with the Ekman pumping significantly reduced by using split end-caps. The HMRI, which now spreads over the whole height of the cell, appears much sharper and in better agreement with numerical predictions. By analyzing various parameter dependencies we conclude that the observed HMRI represents a self-sustained global instability rather than a noise-sustained convective one.
Gerbeth Gunter
Gundrum Thomas
Hollerbach Rainer
Priede Jānis
Rudiger Günther
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