Wednesday, March 20, 2013

1303.4642 (Oleg N. Kirillov et al.)

Extending the range of magnetorotational instability    [PDF]

Oleg N. Kirillov, Frank Stefani
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 if the radial profile of the azimuthal magnetic field is only slightly modified. This way we further show how the formerly known lower Liu limit of the critical Rossby number, Ro=-0.828, connects naturally with the corresponding upper Liu limit, Ro=+4.828.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.4642

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