Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The kink-type instability of a toroidal magnetic field, also known as Tayler instability (TI) is a current-driven instability of a strong enough field due to non-axisymmetric perturbations. In astrophysical context the TI has been discussed as a principal ingredient of a dynamo mechanism (Taylor-Spruit dynamo). It is also a possible source of helicity, in particular of helical structures in galactic jets and outflows. TI is also widely used as a mechanism to enhance angular momentum transport in star evolution models even if there is not yet observational evidence for its existence. Nonetheless an ongoing laboratory experiment in cylindrical geometry indeed shows that TI exists in liquid metal flows influenced by a strong axial current.