The great number of varied approaches to hydrodynamic stability theory appear as a bulk of results whose classification and discussion are well-known in the literature. Several books deal with one aspect of this theory alone (e.g. the linear case, the influence of temperature and magnetic field, large classes of globally stable fluid motions etc.). The aim of this book is to provide a complete mathe- matical treatment of hydrodynamic stability theory by combining the early results of engineers and applied mathematicians with the recent achievements of pure mathematicians. In order to ensure a...

This is a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the mathematical problems of thermal convection. The book delineates the main ideas leading to the authors' variant of the energy method. These can be also applied to other variants of the energy method. The importance of the book lies in its focussing on the best concrete results known in the domain of fluid flows stability and in the systematic treatment of mathematical instruments used in order to reach them.