Bifurcations in a convection problem with temperature-dependent viscosity

A convection problem with temperature-dependent viscosity in an infinite layer is presented. As described, this problem has important applications in mantle convection. The existence of a stationary bifurcation is proved together with a condition to obtain the critical parameters at which the bifurcation takes place. For a general dependence of viscosity with temperature a numerical strategy for the calculation of the critical bifurcation curves and the most unstable modes has been developed. For a exponential dependence of viscosity on temperature the numerical calculations have been done. Comparisons with the classical Rayleigh-Bénard problem with constant viscosity indicate that the critical threshold decreases as the exponential rate parameter increases.