MAGNETO-CONVECTION IN A ROTATING FLUID LAYER OF HIGH THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY

This paper explores the thermal instability of a plane fluid layer rotating rapidly about a vertical axis in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field. The thermal diffusivity κ is taken to be large compared with the magnetic diffusivity η. For a range of parameters it is shown that an increase of the magnetic field leads to a decrease in the critical Rayleigh number, and two quite distinct physical mechanisms appear to be involved. © 1979 D. Reidel Publishing Co.