Magnetic Convection in a Nonuniformly Rotating Electroconducting Medium

Abstract

We study the stability of a convective flow in a nonuniformly rotating plasma layer in an axially uniform magnetic field. The stationary and oscillating regimes of magnetic convection are considered depending on the angular velocity profile (Rossby number Ro) of the electroconducting medium. Using the Galerkin method for describing the weakly nonlinear stage of evolution of convection, we have obtained a nonlinear dynamic system of Lorentz-type equations. Numerical analysis of these equations has revealed the chaotic behavior of convective flows. The criteria for the emergence of chaotic flows are obtained depending on parameters of convection (Rayleigh number Ra), magnetic field (Chandrasekhar number Q), and rotation (Taylor number Ta) for the Rayleigh (Ro = –1) and Kepler (Ro = –3/4) angular velocity profiles of the medium.