The Stability of Shear Flow of Viscous Electrically Conducting Fluid in the Presence of Velocity and Magnetic Shears

Abstract

The linear stability of the shear flow of an incompressible, viscous, electrically conducting fluid permeated by the sheared magnetic field is investigated. An unbounded two-layer model consisting of different viscosity and magnetic diffusivity fluids with different velocity shear and magnetic shears is examined for two-dimensional disturbances. An analytical study using the short wavelength approximation shows that the configuration is always unstable for different diffusivities and for different shears. When the magnetic field does not vanish on the interface, it may stabilize or destabilize the system depending on the values of certain parameters.