Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability of Counter-Rotating Discs

Observations of galaxies and models of accreting systems point to the occurrence of counter-rotating discs where the inner part of the disc ($r<r_0$) is co-rotating and the outer part is counter-rotating. This work analyzes the linear stability of radially separated co- and counter-rotating thin discs. The strong instability found is the supersonic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The growth rates are of the order of or larger than the angular rotation rate at the interface. The instability is absent if there is no vertical dependence of the perturbation. That is, the instability is essentially three-dimensional. The nonlinear evolution of the instability is predicted to lead to a mixing of the two components, strong heating of the mixed gas, and vertical expansion of the gas, and annihilation of the angular momenta of the two components. As a result the heated gas will free-fall towards the disc's center over the surface of the inner disc

Electro-Mechanical Resonant Magnetic Field Sensor

We describe a new type of magnetic field sensor which is termed an Electro-Mechanical Resonant Sensor (EMRS). The key part of this sensor is a small conductive elastic element with low damping rate and therefore a high Q fundamental mode of frequency $f_1$. An AC current is driven through the elastic element which, in the presence of a magnetic field, causes an AC force on the element. When the frequency of the AC current matches the resonant frequency of the element, maximum vibration of the element occurs and this can be measured precisely by optical means. We have built and tested a model sensor of this type using for the elastic element a length of copper wire of diameter 0.030 mm formed into a loop shape. The wire motion was measured using a light emitting diode photo-transistor assembly. This sensor demonstrated a sensitivity better than 0.001G for an applied magnetic field of $\sim 1$G and a good selectivity for the magnetic field direction. The sensitivity can be easily improved by a factor of $\sim 10 - 100$ by more sensitive measurement of the elastic element motion and by having the element in vacuum to reduce the drag force.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Jets and Disk-Winds from Pulsar Magnetospheres

We discuss axisymmetric force-free pulsar magnetospheres with magnetically collimated jets and a disk-wind obtained by numerical solution of the pulsar equation. This solution represents an alternative to the quasi-spherical wind solutions where a major part of the current flow is in a current sheet which is unstable to magnetic field annihilation.Comment: 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Ap