Abstract
The stability of differentially rotating fluid cylinders obeying a polytropic equation of state is tested. Non-axisymmetric perturbations induce dynamical instabilities discovered previously by Papaloizou & Pringle for the case of accretion tori. Their growth rate is calculated as a function of the azimuthal wavenumber, the rotation law and the radial extension of the cylinder. A connection between the surface wave instability of incompressible cylindrical shells (Blaes & Glatzel) and the compressible instability of vortices (Broadbent & Moore) is constructed.

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