Singular diffusionless limits of double-diffusive instabilities in magnetohydrodynamics

We study local instabilities of a differentially rotating viscous flow of electrically conducting incompressible fluid subject to an external azimuthal magnetic field. In the presence of the magnetic field, the hydrodynamically stable flow can demonstrate non-axisymmetric azimuthal magnetorotational instability (AMRI) both in the diffusionless case and in the double-diffusive case with viscous and ohmic dissipation. Performing stability analysis of amplitude transport equations of short-wavelength approximation, we find that the threshold of the diffusionless AMRI via the Hamilton–Hopf bifurcation is a singular limit of the thresholds of the viscous and resistive AMRI corresponding to the dissipative Hopf bifurcation and manifests itself as the Whitney umbrella singular point. A smooth transition between the two types of instabilities is possible only if the magnetic Prandtl number is equal to unity, Pm =1. At a fixed Pm ≠1, the threshold of the double-diffusive AMRI is displaced by finite distance in the parameter space with respect to the diffusionless case even in the zero dissipation limit. The complete neutral stability surface contains three Whitney umbrella singular points and two mutually orthogonal intervals of self-intersection. At these singularities, the double-diffusive system reduces to a marginally stable system which is either Hamiltonian or parity–time-symmetric.

Stabilizing and destabilizing perturbations of PT -symmetric indefinitely damped systems

Eigenvalues of a potential dynamical system with damping forces that are described by an indefinite real symmetric matrix can behave as those of a Hamiltonian system when gain and loss are in a perfect balance. This happens when the indefinitely damped system obeys parity–time ( ) symmetry. How do pure imaginary eigenvalues of a stable -symmetric indefinitely damped system behave when variation in the damping and potential forces destroys the symmetry? We establish that it is essentially the tangent cone to the stability domain at the exceptional point corresponding to the Whitney umbrella singularity on the stability boundary that manages transfer of instability between modes.

Sensitivity Analysis of Dissipative Reversible and Hamiltonian Systems: A Survey

The paradox of destabilization of a conservative or non-conservative system by small dissipation, or Ziegler’s paradox (1952), has stimulated an ever growing interest in the sensitivity of reversible and Hamiltonian systems with respect to dissipative perturbations. Since the last decade it has been widely accepted that dissipation-induced instabilities are closely related to singularities arising on the stability boundary. What is less known is that the first complete explanation of Ziegler’s paradox by means of the Whitney umbrella singularity dates back to 1956. We revisit this undeservedly forgotten pioneering result by Oene Bottema that outstripped later findings for about half a century. We discuss subsequent developments of the perturbation analysis of dissipation-induced instabilities and applications over this period, involving structural stability of matrices, Krein collision, Hamilton-Hopf bifurcation and related bifurcations.

LEGENDRIAN GRAPHS GENERATED BY TANGENTIAL FAMILY GERMS

We construct a Legendrian version of envelope theory. A tangential family is a one-parameter family of rays emanating tangentially from a regular plane curve. The Legendrian graph of the family is the union of the Legendrian lifts of the family curves in the projectivized cotangent bundle $PT^*\mathbb{R}^2$. We study the singularities of Legendrian graphs and their stability under small tangential deformations. We also find normal forms of their projections into the plane. This allows us to interpret the beak-to-beak perestroika as the apparent contour of a deformation of the double Whitney umbrella singularity $A_1^\pm$.