Correction of an error in the matrix elements used by Salwen & Grosch (1972) has brought the results of the matrix-eigenvalue calculation of the linear stability of Hagen–Poiseuille flow into complete agreement with the numerical integration results of Lessen, Sadler & Liu (1968) for azimuthal index n = 1. The n = 0 results were unaffected by the error and the effect of the error for n > 1 is smaller than for n = 1. The new calculations confirm the conclusion that the flow is stable to infinitesimal disturbances.Further calculations have led to the discovery of a degeneracy at Reynolds number R = 61·452 ± 0·003 and wavenumber α = 0·9874 ± 0·0001, where the second and third eigenmodes have equal complex wave speeds. The variation of wave speed for these two modes has been studied in the vicinity of the degeneracy and shows similarities to the behaviour near the degeneracies found by Cotton and Salwen (see Cotton 1977) for rotating Hagen-Poiseuille flow. Finally, new results are given for n = 10 and 30; the n = 1 results are extended to R = 106; and new results are presented for the variation of the wave speed with αR at high Reynolds number. The high-R results confirm both Burridge & Drazin's (1969) slow-mode approximation and more recent fast-mode results of Burridge.

Linear stability of rotating Hagen-Poiseuille flow has been investigated by an orthonormal expansion technique, confirming results by Pedley and Mackrodt and extending those results to higher values of the wavenumber |α|, the Reynolds number R, and the azimuthal index n. For |α| [gsim ] 2, the unstable region is pushed to considerably higher values of R and the angular velocity, Ω. In this region, the neutral stability curves obey a simple scaling, consistent with the unstable modes being centre modes. For n = 1, individual neutral stability curves have been calculated for several of the low-lying eigenmodes, revealing a complicated coupling between modes which manifests itself in kinks, cusps and loops in the neutral stability curves; points of degeneracy in the R, Ω plane; and branching behaviour on curves which circle a point of degeneracy.

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The proposed modifications of the Einstein–Maxwell equations include: (1) the addition of a scalar term to the electromagnetic side of the equation rather than to the gravitational side, (2) the introduction of a four-dimensional, nonlinear electromagnetic constitutive tensor, (3) the addition of curvature terms arising from the non-metric components of a general symmetric connection and (4) the addition of a non-isotropic pressure tensor. The scalar term is defined by the condition that a spherically symmetric particle be force-free and mathematically well behaved everywhere. The constitutive tensor introduces two structure fields: One contributes to the mass and the other contributes to the angular momentum. The additional curvature terms couple both to particle solutions and to localized electromagnetic and gravitational wave solutions. The pressure term is needed for the most general spherically symmetric, static metric. It results in a distinction between the Schwarzschild mass and the inertial mass.

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