 Amplitudes and physical branches of a power-law stratified plume

For the Boussinesq top-hat plume in a stratified ambient with $N^2=C{z}^p$, the exact pure-power solution has the displayed radius and velocity, and $g^{\prime }=-2C{z}^{p+1}/(3p+8)$. With positive entrainment, radius, upward speed and reduced gravity, stable $C>0$ requires $-4<p<-8/3$, whereas unstable $C<0$ requires $p>-8/3$. The stable branch has divergent buoyancy flux at zero height, so it is not a finite-flux point-source solution. The unstable branch has zero limiting source buoyancy flux and extracts buoyancy from its maintained unstable ambient. The cases $p=-6,-4,-8/3$ are singular at nonzero $C$; $C=0$ instead admits the ordinary Boussinesq point-source plume.