arXiv subjects

Oleg N. Kirillov

Publications and source records attributed to Oleg N. Kirillov.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Local instabilities in magnetized rotational flows: A short-wavelength approach

We perform a local stability analysis of rotational flows in the presence of a constant vertical magnetic field and an azimuthal magnetic field with a general radial dependence. Employing the short-wavelength approximation we develop a unified framework for the investigation of the standard, the helical, and the azimuthal version of the magnetorotational instability, as well as of current-driven kink-type instabilities. Considering the viscous and resistive setup, our main focus is on the case of small magnetic Prandtl numbers which applies, e.g., to liquid metal experiments but also to the colder parts of accretion disks. We show that the inductionless versions of MRI that were previously thought to be restricted to comparably steep rotation profiles extend well to the Keplerian case if only the azimuthal field slightly deviates from its current-free (in the fluid) profile. We find an explicit criterion separating the pure azimuthal inductionless magnetorotational instability from the regime where this instability is mixed with the Tayler instability. We further demonstrate that for particular parameter configurations the azimuthal MRI originates as a result of a dissipation-induced instability of the Chandrasekhar's equipartition solution of ideal magnetohydrodynamics.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2013

Instabilities of rotational flows in azimuthal magnetic fields of arbitrary radial dependence

Using the WKB approximation we perform a linear stability analysis for a rotational flow of a viscous and electrically conducting fluid in an external azimuthal magnetic field that has an arbitrary radial profile B_{phi}(R). In the inductionless approximation, we find the growth rate of the three-dimensional perturbation in a closed form and demonstrate in particular that it can be positive when the velocity profile is Keplerian and the magnetic field profile is slightly shallower than R^{-1}.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Extending the range of the inductionless magnetorotational instability

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) can destabilize hydrodynamically stable rotational flows, thereby allowing angular momentum transport in accretion disks. A notorious problem for MRI is its questionable applicability in regions with low magnetic Prandtl number, as they are typical for protoplanetary disks and the outer parts of accretion disks around black holes. Using the WKB method, we extend the range of applicability of MRI by showing that the inductionless versions of MRI, such as the helical MRI and the azimuthal MRI, can easily destabilize Keplerian profiles ~ 1/r^(3/2) if the radial profile of the azimuthal magnetic field is only slightly modified from the current-free profile ~ 1/r. This way we further show how the formerly known lower Liu limit of the critical Rossby number, Ro=-0.828, connects naturally with the upper Liu limit, Ro=+4.828.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

A unifying picture of helical and azimuthal MRI, and the universal significance of the Liu limit

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a key role for cosmic structure formation by triggering turbulence in the rotating flows of accretion disks that would be otherwise hydrodynamically stable. In the limit of small magnetic Prandtl number, the helical and the azimuthal version of MRI are known to be governed by a quite different scaling behaviour than the standard MRI with a vertical applied magnetic field. Using the short-wavelength approximation for an incompressible, resistive, and viscous rotating fluid we present a unified description of helical and azimuthal MRI, and we identify the universal character of the Liu limit Ro= -0.8284 for the critical Rossby number. From this universal behaviour we are also lead to the prediction of higher azimuthal wavenumber for rather small ratios of azimuthal to axial applied fields.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

PT-symmetry, indefinite damping and dissipation-induced instabilities

With perfectly balanced gain and loss, dynamical systems with indefinite damping can obey the exact PT-symmetry being marginally stable with a pure imaginary spectrum. At an exceptional point where the symmetry is spontaneously broken, the stability is lost via passing through a non-semisimple 1:1 resonance. In the parameter space of a general dissipative system, marginally stable PT-symmetric ones occupy singularities on the boundary of the asymptotic stability. To observe how the singular surface governs dissipation-induced destabilization of the PT-symmetric system when gain and loss are not matched, an extension of recent experiments with PT-symmetric LRC circuits is proposed.

math-ph↗

arXiv2011

Standard and helical magnetorotational instability: How singularities create paradoxal phenomena in MHD

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) triggers turbulence and enables outward transport of angular momentum in hydrodynamically stable rotating shear flows, e.g., in accretion disks. What laws of differential rotation are susceptible to the destabilization by axial, azimuthal, or helical magnetic field? The answer to this question, which is vital for astrophysical and experimental applications, inevitably leads to the study of spectral and geometrical singularities on the instability threshold. The singularities provide a connection between seemingly discontinuous stability criteria and thus explain several paradoxes in the theory of MRI that were poorly understood since the 1950s.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2011

Paradoxical transitions to instabilities in hydromagnetic Couette-Taylor flows

By methods of modern spectral analysis, we rigorously find distributions of eigenvalues of linearized operators associated with an ideal hydromagnetic Couette-Taylor flow. Transition to instability in the limit of vanishing magnetic field has a discontinuous change compared to the Rayleigh stability criterion for hydrodynamical flows, which is known as the Velikhov-Chandrasekhar paradox.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2011

Paradoxes of magnetorotational instability and their geometrical resolution

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) triggers turbulence and enables outward transport of angular momentum in hydrodynamically stable accretion discs. By using the WKB approximation and methods of singular function theory, we resolve two different paradoxes of MRI that appear in the limits of infinite and vanishing magnetic Prandtl number. For the latter case we derive a new strict limit of the critical Rossby number. This new limit of ${\rm Ro_c}=-0.802$, which appears for a finite Lundquist number of ${\rm Lu}=0.618$, extends the formerly known inductionless Liu limit of ${\rm Ro_c}=-0.828$ valid at ${\rm Lu}=0$.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

Structural optimization of the Ziegler's pendulum: singularities and exact optimal solutions

Structural optimization of non-conservative systems with respect to stability criteria is a research area with important applications in fluid-structure interactions, friction-induced instabilities, and civil engineering. In contrast to optimization of conservative systems where rigorously proven optimal solutions in buckling problems have been found, for non-conservative optimization problems only numerically optimized designs were reported. The proof of optimality in the non-conservative optimization problems is a mathematical challenge related to multiple eigenvalues, singularities on the stability domain, and non-convexity of the merit functional. We present a study of the optimal mass distribution in a classical Ziegler's pendulum where local and global extrema can be found explicitly. In particular, for the undamped case, the two maxima of the critical flutter load correspond to a vanishing mass either in a joint or at the free end of the pendulum; in the minimum, the ratio of the masses is equal to the ratio of the stiffness coefficients. The role of the singularities on the stability boundary in the optimization is highlighted and extension to the damped case as well as to the case of higher degrees of freedom is discussed.

math.OC↗

arXiv2010

Brouwer's problem on a heavy particle in a rotating vessel: wave propagation, ion traps, and rotor dynamics

In 1918 Brouwer considered stability of a heavy particle in a rotating vessel. This was the first demonstration of a rotating saddle trap which is a mechanical analogue for quadrupole particle traps of Penning and Paul. We revisit this pioneering work in order to uncover its intriguing connections with classical rotor dynamics and fluid dynamics, stability theory of Hamiltonian and non-conservative systems as well as with the modern works on crystal optics and atomic physics. In particular, we find that the boundary of the stability domain of the undamped Brouwer's problem possesses the Swallowtail singularity corresponding to the quadruple zero eigenvalue. In the presence of dissipative and non-conservative positional forces there is a couple of Whitney umbrellas on the boundary of the asymptotic stability domain. The handles of the umbrellas form a set where all eigenvalues of the system are pure imaginary despite the presence of dissipative and non-conservative positional forces.

math-ph↗

arXiv2009

On the relation of standard and helical magnetorotational instability

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a crucial role for cosmic structure formation by enabling turbulence in Keplerian disks which would be otherwise hydrodynamically stable. With particular focus on MRI experiments with liquid metals, which have small magnetic Prandtl numbers, it has been shown that the helical version of this instability (HMRI) has a scaling behaviour that is quite different from that of the standard MRI (SMRI). We discuss the relation of HMRI to SMRI by exploring various parameter dependencies. We identify the mechanism of transfer of instability between modes through a spectral exceptional point that explains both the transition from a stationary instability (SMRI) to an unstable travelling wave (HMRI) and the excitation of HMRI in the inductionless limit. For certain parameter regions we find new islands of the HMRI.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

Paradoxes of dissipation-induced destabilization or who opened Whitney's umbrella?

The paradox of destabilization of a conservative or non-conservative system by small dissipation, or Ziegler's paradox (1952), has stimulated an ever growing interest in the sensitivity of reversible and Hamiltonian systems with respect to dissipative perturbations. Since the last decade it has been widely accepted that dissipation-induced instabilities are closely related to singularities arising on the stability boundary. What is less known is that the first complete explanation of Ziegler's paradox by means of the Whitney umbrella singularity dates back to 1956. We revisit this undeservedly forgotten pioneering result by Oene Bottema that outstripped later findings for about half a century. We discuss subsequent developments of the perturbation analysis of dissipation-induced instabilities and applications over this period, involving structural stability of matrices, Krein collision, Hamilton-Hopf bifurcation and related bifurcations.

math-ph↗

arXiv2009

Campbell diagrams of weakly anisotropic flexible rotors

We consider an axi-symmetric rotor perturbed by dissipative, conservative, and non-conservative positional forces originated at the contact with the anisotropic stator. The Campbell diagram of the unperturbed system is a mesh-like structure in the frequency-speed plane with double eigenfrequencies at the nodes. The diagram is convenient for the analysis of the traveling waves in the rotating elastic continuum. Computing sensitivities of the doublets we find that at every particular node the untwisting of the mesh into the branches of complex eigenvalues in the first approximation is generically determined by only four 2x2 sub-blocks of the perturbing matrix. Selection of the unstable modes that cause self-excited vibrations in the subcritical speed range, is governed by the exceptional points at the corners of the singular eigenvalue surfaces--`double coffee filter' and `viaduct'--which are associated with the crossings of the unperturbed Campbell diagram with the definite Krein signature. The singularities connect the problems of wave propagation in the rotating continua with that of electromagnetic and acoustic wave propagation in non-rotating anisotropic chiral media. As mechanical examples a model of a rotating shaft with two degrees of freedom and a continuous model of a rotating circular string passing through the eyelet are studied in detail.

math-ph↗

arXiv2008

Determining role of Krein signature for 3D Arnold tongues of oscillatory dynamos

Using a homotopic family of boundary eigenvalue problems for the mean-field $α^2$-dynamo with helical turbulence parameter $α(r)=α_0+γΔα(r)$ and homotopy parameter $β\in [0,1]$, we show that the underlying network of diabolical points for Dirichlet (idealized, $β=0$) boundary conditions substantially determines the choreography of eigenvalues and thus the character of the dynamo instability for Robin (physically realistic, $β=1$) boundary conditions. In the $(α_0,β,γ)-$space the Arnold tongues of oscillatory solutions at $β=1$ end up at the diabolical points for $β=0$. In the vicinity of the diabolical points the space orientation of the 3D tongues, which are cones in first-order approximation, is determined by the Krein signature of the modes involved in the diabolical crossings at the apexes of the cones. The Krein space induced geometry of the resonance zones explains the subtleties in finding $α$-profiles leading to spectral exceptional points, which are important ingredients in recent theories of polarity reversals of the geomagnetic field.

math-ph↗

arXiv2008

Unfolding the conical zones of the dissipation-induced subcritical flutter for the rotationally symmetrical gyroscopic systems

Flutter of an elastic body of revolution spinning about its axis of symmetry is prohibited in the subcritical spinning speed range by the Krein theorem for the Hamiltonian perturbations. Indefinite damping creates conical domains of the subcritical flutter (subcritical parametric resonance) bifurcating into the pockets of two Whitney's umbrellas when non-conservative positional forces are additionally taken into account. This explains why in contrast to the common intuition, but in agreement with experience, symmetry-breaking stiffness variation can promote subcritical friction-induced oscillations of the rotor rather than inhibit them.

math-ph↗

arXiv2008

Perturbation of multiparameter non-self-adjoint boundary eigenvalue problems for operator matrices

We consider two-point non-self-adjoint boundary eigenvalue problems for linear matrix differential operators. The coefficient matrices in the differential expressions and the matrix boundary conditions are assumed to depend analytically on the complex spectral parameter and on the vector of real physical parameters. We study perturbations of semi-simple multiple eigenvalues as well as perturbations of non-derogatory eigenvalues under small variations of the parameters. Explicit formulae describing the bifurcation of the eigenvalues are derived. Application to the problem of excitation of unstable modes in rotating continua such as spherically symmetric MHD alpha2-dynamo and circular string demonstrates the efficiency and applicability of the theory.

math-ph↗

arXiv2007

How to play a disc brake

We consider a gyroscopic system under the action of small dissipative and non-conservative positional forces, which has its origin in the models of rotating bodies of revolution being in frictional contact. The spectrum of the unperturbed gyroscopic system forms a "spectral mesh" in the plane "frequency -gyroscopic parameter" with double semi-simple purely imaginary eigenvalues at zero value of the gyroscopic parameter. It is shown that dissipative forces lead to the splitting of the semi-simple eigenvalue with the creation of the so-called "bubble of instability" - a ring in the three-dimensional space of the gyroscopic parameter and real and imaginary parts of eigenvalues, which corresponds to complex eigenvalues. In case of full dissipation with a positive-definite damping matrix the eigenvalues of the ring have negative real parts making the bubble a latent source of instability because it can "emerge" to the region of eigenvalues with positive real parts due to action of both indefinite damping and non-conservative positional forces. In the paper, the instability mechanism is analytically described with the use of the perturbation theory of multiple eigenvalues. As an example stability of a rotating circular string constrained by a stationary load system is studied in detail. The theory developed seems to give a first clear explanation of the mechanism of self-excited vibrations in the rotating structures in frictional contact, that is responsible for such well-known phenomena of acoustics of friction as the squealing disc brake and the singing wine glass.

math-ph↗

arXiv2007

The spherically symmetric alpha2-dynamo and some of its spectral peculiarities

A brief overview is given over recent results on the spectral properties of spherically symmetric MHD alpha2-dynamos. In particular, the spectra of sphere-confined fluid or plasma configurations with physically realistic boundary conditions (BCs) (surrounding vacuum) and with idealized BCs (super-conducting surrounding) are discussed. The subjects comprise third-order branch points of the spectrum, self-adjointness of the dynamo operator in a Krein space as well as the resonant unfolding of diabolical points. It is sketched how certain classes of dynamos with a strongly localized alpha-profile embedded in a conducting surrounding can be mode decoupled by a diagonalization of the dynamo operator matrix. A mapping of the dynamo eigenvalue problem to that of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian with energy dependent potential is used to obtain qualitative information about the spectral behavior. Links to supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics and to the Dirac equation are indicated.

math-ph↗