Cell Sizes at the Onset of Thermal Convection in a Fluid Layer Subject to the Influence of Rotation and a Magnetic Field

Abstract

A comparison is made between the theoretical and experimental cell sizes manifest at the onset of stationary convection in a mercury layer heated from below and subject to the influence of rotation about a vertical axis and a vertical magnetic field. The theoretical cell sizes have been derived on the basis of a variational technique, and the boundary conditions appropriate to the experimental situation have been applied.