Berlin 2005 – scientific programme
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DY: Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 33: Ferrofluids and Liquid Crystals
DY 33.7: Talk
Monday, March 7, 2005, 15:30–15:45, TU H2032
Two-dimensional solitons on the surface of magnetic liquids — •Reinhard Richter1 and Igor Barashenkov2 — 1Experimentalphysik V, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany — 2University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
We report the observation of a stable soliton-like structure on the surface of a ferrofluid in the hysteretic regime of the Rosensweig instability. Unlike other pattern-forming systems with localized 2D structures [1], magnetic fluids are characterized by energy conservation; hence their mechanism of soliton stabilization is different from the previously discussed gain/loss balance mechanism. The radioscopic measurements of the soliton’s surface profile suggest that locking on the underlying periodic structure is instrumental in its stabilization [2].
[1] see e.g., P.B. Umbanhowar et al., Nature (London) 382 (1996) 793.
[2] R. Richter, I. Barashenkov, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (2004)