For the compact self-similar disk with density-linear viscosity, radial drift is . An integrating factor gives the displayed trajectories. From , the arrival time at the origin is , finite for every interior point. The outer-edge trajectory has zero surface density of a disk and carries no mass.
The compact self-similar disk with density-linear viscosity has outward drift but zero limiting mass flux at the origin. Its viscous torque in an accretion disk has a positive finite inner limit for , equal to . Thus disk mass conservation coexists with growth of angular momentum; an external central torque supplies that growth.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 65 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take and a nontrivial nonnegative profile. On put and . The diffusion operator acts on , givingBut differentiating the trial profile in time gives onlyFor , the functions are independent on the interior. Their coefficients can match only ifMatching the remaining coefficients givesThus , with when , and when . A nonzero solution whose support shrinks to zero at has . The two compact self-similar disk with density-linear viscosity profiles are consequentlySet for . Both and its first radial derivative vanish at the moving edge, because vanishes quadratically there. Together with , this makes the cutoff consistent with the diffusion equation without an added singular edge flux.
These are singular-origin self-similar solutions: is a limiting support condition, while diverges as . It is not ordinary finite pointwise initial data. A finite nonzero would instead make an invariant solution of the radius equation, precluding an expanding nontrivial profile from that initial radius.