Bifurcating solutions at the onset of convection in the Bénard problem for two fluids (Q1110408)

We consider two fluids with different thermal and mechanical properties arranged in parallel layers between two infinite horizontal plates. The bottom plate is kept at a higher temperature than the top plate. In the unbounded directions we impose periodic boundary conditions with the periods chosen such that the problem has hexagonal symmetry. In contrast to the Bénard problem for one fluid, the onset of convection in the two-fluid Bénard problem considered here can be oscillatory. The oscillations are essentially due to the competition between the destabilizing temperature gradient and a stable interface between the two fluids. The hexagonal symmetry of the problem causes a sixfold degeneracy of the critical eigenvalues. On the ``abstract'' level, Hopf bifurcations with this type of symmetry-induced degeneracy were investigated by \textit{M. Roberts}, \textit{J. W. Swift}, and \textit{D. H. Wagner}, [Multiparameter bifurcation theory, Proc. AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Res. Conf., Arcata/Calif. 1985, Contemp. Math. 56, 283-318 (1986; Zbl 0602.58037)]. They showed that there are eleven qualitatively different types of bifurcating solutions and they identified the parameters which determine the stability of these solutions. We apply their results to the two-fluid Bénard problem. Since the eigenfunctions at criticality are not explicitly known in this problem, we shall use a combination of analysis and numerical computation. In the examples we study, we find that most branches are subcritical and none are stable near the bifurcation point.