  We describe an instability of viscoelastic Couette-Taylor flow that is
directly analogous to the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in astrophysical
magnetohydrodynamics, with polymer molecules playing the role of magnetic field
lines. By determining the conditions required for the onset of instability and
the properties of the preferred modes, we distinguish it from the centrifugal
and elastic instabilities studied previously. Experimental demonstration and
investigation should be much easier for the viscoelastic instability than for
the MRI in a liquid metal. The analogy holds with the case of a predominantly
toroidal magnetic field such as is expected in an accretion disk and it may be
possible to access a turbulent regime in which many modes are unstable.
