| Citation | Balbus is distinguished for studies of astrophysical fluids. He demonstrated that a seed magnetic field in a rotating, conducting fluid makes the flow turbulent, thus solving the old puzzle of how accretion discs work. He showed that when the magnetic Prandtl number is near unity, an accretion disc can enter a limit cycle in which periods of high and low viscosity alternate, as in compact X-ray sources. He showed that restriction of heat conduction to magnetic field lines creates buoyant instabilities. Using “residual entropy” he gained insight into the Sun’s convective zone and analytic fits to the results of helioseismology. |