 Kelvin-Helmholtz dispersion relation with gravity

Two deep layers of incompressible flow with upper mass density ${\rho }_1$, lower mass density ${\rho }_2$, and tangential velocities $U_1,U_2$ have this dispersion relation when surface tension is absent. Decaying velocity potentials and the linearized kinematic boundary condition determine their amplitudes; the dynamic boundary condition for an inviscid interface gives the displayed relation. For $k>0$ the squared departure of the phase velocity $c$ from the density-weighted mean velocity is $g({\rho }_2-{\rho }_1)/[k({\rho }_1+{\rho }_2)]-{\rho }_1{\rho }_2(U_1-U_2{)}^2/({\rho }_1+{\rho }_2{)}^2$. A negative value gives Kelvin-Helmholtz instability despite stable density stratification.