Small deformation theory for a magnetic droplet in a rotating field

TL;DR

This paper develops a small deformation theory to analyze the shape and motion of a magnetic droplet in a rotating magnetic field, revealing how the droplet's equilibrium shape depends on the field's frequency and relaxation properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel three-dimensional small deformation model for magnetic droplets in rotating fields, combining phenomenological and hydrodynamic approaches for shape evolution analysis.

Findings

Droplet shape depends on the product of relaxation time and field frequency.

The droplet pseudo-rotates with the field, with its long axis following the magnetic direction.

Analytic results agree with boundary element simulations within small deformation limits.

Abstract

A three dimensional small deformation theory is developed to examine the motion of a magnetic droplet in a uniform rotating magnetic field. The equations describing the droplet's shape evolution are derived using two different approaches - a phenomenological equation for the tensor describing the anisotropy of the droplet, and the hydrodynamic solution using perturbation theory. We get a system of ordinary differential equations for the parameters describing the droplet's shape, which we further analyze for the particular case when the droplet's elongation is in the plane of the rotating field. The qualitative behavior of this system is governed by a single dimensionless quantity $\tau\omega$ - the product of the characteristic relaxation time of small perturbations and the angular frequency of the rotating magnetic field. Values of $\tau\omega$ determine whether the droplet's equilibrium will be closer to an oblate or a prolate shape, as well as whether it's shape will undergo oscillations as it settles to this equilibrium.We show that for small deformations, the droplet pseudo-rotates in the rotating magnetic field - its long axis follows the field, which is reminiscent of a rotation, nevertheless the torque exerted on the surrounding fluid is zero. We compare the analytic results with a boundary element simulation to determine their accuracy and the limits of the small deformation theory.