The 15th Rigaand 6th PAMIRConference on FundamentalandApplied MHD Magnetic liquids HEXAGONS AND SOLITON-LIKE SPIKES: RADIOSCOPY OF THE ROSENSWEIG INSTABILITY

We report an observation of a stable soliton-like structure on the surface of a ferrofluid, generated by a local perturbation in the hysteretic regime of the Rosensweig instability. Unlike other pattern-forming systems with localized 2D structures, 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 pe-riodic structure is instrumental in its stabilization. Introduction. To date, stable solitary waves have been experimentally ob-served in a variety of one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional physical systems. In 2D, dispersive nonlinear systems are prone to collapse instabilities and hence the 2D solitons turned out to be more elusive. (Here we use the term “soliton” in a broad physical sense as a synonym of localized structure.) So far, the lis