Vibrational instability: a possible test of nuclear hydrodynamics

In the controlled collisions of water droplets, an instability arises which was not predicted by theory. Nevertheless, it is believed that some well-established theoretical hydrodynamical considerations promise to describe the phenomenon in a very simple and intuitive way. As a result, there arises the prospect of testing, perhaps with some rigor, the qualitative question whether the nuclear fluid dynamics can properly be described as hydrodynamics (i.e., by means of a Navier--Stokes equation), or whether nuclear matter flows according to new laws still to receive their detailed specification. 5 figures