Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/iii/paper-65/4/i/solution

Choose a reference circular orbit at , and use local coordinates , , with the frame rotating at . Linearizing differential rotation in the shearing sheet gives the background flow
Thus the velocity perturbation is measured relative to this background. The local orbital shear parameter is ; Keplerian rotation has and . Rotation supplies the Coriolis force, while the linear shear supplies the terms proportional to .
For constant density, is the total-pressure potential after background force balance has been subtracted:
up to a function of time and any prescribed perturbation potential that is absorbed into it. The magnetic-pressure gradient has been combined with the gas-pressure gradient, leaving magnetic tension as . The pressure also enforces incompressibility. In the unstratified shearing box here, the tidal/background terms have already been removed in deriving the perturbation equations; no independent vertical stratification is being evolved.

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