Equilibrium states of an elastic conductor in a magnetic field: a paradigm of bifurcation theory

In this paper we study the equilibrium states of a nonlinearly elastic conducting wire in a magnetic field. The wire is perfectly flexible and is suspended between fixed supports. The wire carries an electric current and is subjected to a constant magnetic field whose direction is parallel to the line between the supports. We solve this problem exactly and show that the set of solutions gives rise to a paradigmatic bifurcation diagram. We then carry out a study of the equations obtained by linearization about the nontrivial solutions in order to gain some insight into the stability of the various solution branches.