The steady incompressible shearing sheet equation is
The final term follows from the local tidal potential . For the given linear velocity, the advective acceleration is , while the Coriolis acceleration is . Equating components gives
The cross derivatives vanish, so the pressure Hessian of an elliptical shearing-sheet vortex integrates to
The additive constant is fixed by exterior matching or the pressure reference. No zero-pressure free-boundary condition is imposed on an incompressible vortex patch: it is embedded in a surrounding fluid.
Let be the uniform background surface density, , and write , , . The background sheet has no horizontal gravitational gradient; its vertical field is irrelevant to the stated planar equations. Put . Keeping first-order terms gives
The contribution comes from , while the Coriolis acceleration supplies the remaining coupling. The prescribed tidal potential has no perturbation, and its background force already balances the background Coriolis term. The isothermal pressure linearizes to .
In the inertial frame the steady convective acceleration is . For a barotropic fluid, , where is the barotropic enthalpy function. The equilibrium momentum equation therefore gives
on each connected fluid region. Uniform rotation is essential: it makes the centrifugal acceleration derivable from the centrifugal potential .
The Cowling approximation sets the gravitational-potential perturbation to zero while retaining background gravity. The barotropic pressure force linearizes as , with . Denote its mode amplitude by . The advective time derivative on a scalar mode is , so the stated positive-frequency exponential produces with . Linearizing the radial centrifugal term produces , while linearizing the azimuthal convective term produces . Thus
These are the pressure-gradient and Coriolis acceleration terms in the corotating-frame form. Independently, linearizing continuity equation gives
The equilibrium mass density is axisymmetric, so no additional azimuthal background-density derivative appears.
For and , invert the horizontal momentum system:
Inserting these into the continuity equation, dividing by and multiplying by gives
The two terms proportional to cancel; this cancellation leaves precisely the background-density derivative in the last term. Since , this is exactly
The singular frequency cases require the original velocity equations rather than this inversion.
In the low-frequency anelastic approximation for a rotating barotropic star, neglect the left side. Spherical background mass density satisfies , understood by its smooth limiting form on the equatorial plane. For ,
The remaining equation reduces to
Writing , the bracket factors as . The regular desired branch is therefore
The other algebraic factor corresponds to , where the eliminated horizontal system is singular; it is not classified by this pressure-equation inversion. A constant-density background makes the bulk factor identically zero but does not invalidate the displayed solution.
For the regular branch, an explicit velocity check is particularly informative. Up to a common mode normalization,
It satisfies and . Thus for every spherical mass density profile, directly verifying the anelastic continuity condition. The motion is tangential to spherical shells and is the sectoral inertial mode of a slowly rotating barotropic star. For single-valued azimuthal modes, is a positive integer. With the source's exponential convention,
For the pattern is retrograde relative to the star but prograde in the inertial frame. This is a leading slow-rotation anelastic mode, not an exact solution of the compressible equations whose left-hand term was discarded.
For any vector , differentiating its components and the rotating basis gives the rotating-frame derivative formula
Apply it twice to the position , with constant angular velocity . The inertial acceleration is
where dots denote rotating-frame derivatives. Newton's second law therefore becomes
The last terms are the Coriolis force and the force corresponding to centrifugal acceleration.
For the particle on a uniformly rotating inclined plane, choose orthonormal vectors along the horizontal axis and up the slope, and set , the upward normal vector. Then and
Here is the normal reaction. The marble is modeled as the smooth sliding particle specified by the printed equations, without an additional rolling constraint. The rotating-frame Coriolis acceleration and centrifugal acceleration are respectively
The normal rotating-frame acceleration is zero, so the normal reaction is not generally ; it satisfies
Projecting the same equation onto the two tangential axes gives exactly
Multiply the equations by and and add. The Coriolis force terms cancel, as expected because this force does no work relative to the rotating frame. The normal reaction also does no work along the plane. The conserved quantity is rotating-frame kinetic energy plus gravitational and centrifugal potential energy:
This need not be the conserved inertial energy, since the externally driven rotating plane can exchange energy with the particle.
Write for the material derivative. For any specific quantity , conservation of mass gives
Dotting the momentum equation with produces the kinetic energy balance
The Coriolis acceleration does no work because . Since the shearing-sheet tidal potential is time-independent, its advected potential-energy density obeys
For the isothermal equation of state, define the barotropic energy density , with fixed positive reference surface density . The continuity equation implies
Adding these balances combines the two pressure terms into . This establishes isothermal shearing-sheet energy conservation. Thus the conserved energy density and its flux are
Choosing the density unit so that reproduces the printed logarithm. Changing the reference adds a multiple of the conserved mass to and its advective energy flux. The barotropic energy density is the mathematical energy of this fixed-isothermal sound speed closure; it is not the microscopic thermal energy of a thermally isolated gas. Maintaining an isothermal process can require heat exchange.
Use perturbations for velocity, magnetic field, magnetohydrodynamic total pressure and buoyancy displacement variable. Set
This is advection by the background Keplerian shearing sheet. Subtracting the equilibrium before retaining first-order terms gives the nine linearized equations:
The azimuthal coefficient combines the Coriolis acceleration with perturbation advection of the background shear. The term is the winding of radial magnetic field by that shear. The tidal force cancels when the equations at a fixed position are subtracted; it does not add a separate Eulerian perturbation force. Magnetic pressure is already included in , leaving only linear magnetic tension. In this normalization has dimensions of length because .
Use an Earth-centred rotating reference frame, with Earth's constant angular velocity vector . The vectors , , and are the particle's position, velocity, and acceleration measured in that rotating frame. The vector is the gravitational acceleration due to the actual gravitational force, expressed in the same axes; it excludes the separate centrifugal acceleration. The remaining term is the Coriolis acceleration. A constant rotation axis and an unaccelerated Earth-centred origin account for the absence of an Euler term or a translational-origin term.
For the size estimates, Earth's angular speed is
With drop height , unperturbed free fall gives the fall time
and final speed . Thus the gravitational term has size , the Coriolis acceleration is at most about , and the centrifugal acceleration is at most . These are characteristic sizes , , and in acceleration units; geometric factors can reduce them, and the Coriolis term is zero at release.
For a suitable approximation to the rotational deflection of a falling body, take constant over the short fall, start at rest relative to Earth, and use the zeroth-order velocity inside the small Coriolis term. In the centrifugal term replace by , because . Integrating the resulting acceleration twice, with initial position , gives
Since , evaluating at the unperturbed fall time yields the printed first-iterate estimate
The approximation keeps the leading Coriolis contribution and the leading centrifugal contribution enhanced by Earth's large radius. Feeding the Coriolis velocity correction back into the equation produces terms of size , smaller than the retained centrifugal displacement by a factor of order . Replacing by in that term has the same relative error. Here and , so both approximations are well controlled. Strictly, the displayed vector is the position at time : its small upward component is removed by the slightly longer actual fall time. That arrival-time correction changes the retained horizontal displacements only at higher order. Thus the horizontal components of the printed estimate give the landing point on the locally flat surface; its vertical component should not be interpreted as a landing above the ground.
Let point east, north, and vertically upwards. They form a right-handed basis, with . At latitude , in the spherical-Earth approximation,
The required cross products are
At , the northerly and easterly displacements are therefore
The negative northerly component means a southward displacement. With the supplied values, these are approximately south and east. The eastward effect comes from Coriolis acceleration, while the leading southward effect here comes from centrifugal acceleration.
The normalization of the circular restricted three-body problem implies , by Kepler's third law. The two bodies have barycentric positions and . Consequently
Differentiate the effective potential directly:
Since and , these become
On , centrifugal acceleration is the straight line . Each gravitational term points towards its source, diverges at that source, and tends to zero far away. Let ; away from the sources,
Thus the net acceleration is strictly increasing on each of the three intervals separated by the bodies. On the left interval runs from to ; on the middle interval it runs from just right of to just left of ; on the right interval it runs from to . The intermediate value theorem and strict monotonicity give exactly three collinear Lagrange points, in increasing order. The sketch plots gravity and centrifugal acceleration separately; their intersections with locate the equilibria.
Figure 1.
Gravity and centrifugal acceleration on the binary axis, with their three balance points L3, L1 and L2 marked for a small secondary mass
.
Write , so and . The exact right-hand equilibrium equation is
As , , so . Therefore the distance is the leading Hill radius in units of the binary separation:
Replacing by changes only higher-order terms. In dimensional units the right-hand side is multiplied by the binary separation.
Use the displacement vector , where and . The absolute coordinate cannot be the first entry of a homogeneous linear system about ; it must be translated. At , reflection symmetry gives , while the Hessian matrix has
To first order in and , the Coriolis acceleration then gives
This is the linearization at L2. The expression for is exact at the true equilibrium; in the small-secondary limit, and , so .
For an eigenmode proportional to , eliminate the velocity coordinates. The characteristic polynomial is
Thus
For , the four eigenvalues are
There is an exponentially growing eigenmode, so is an unstable saddle-centre equilibrium. A generic displacement has an unstable component whose distance grows as . The L2 escape e-folding time is
This is a local exponential timescale, not the time to reach a prescribed distance from an unspecified initial offset. Starting with unstable amplitude , reaching within the linear neighborhood takes approximately . Initial data exactly on the centre-stable subspace need not grow forward at this linear order; the existence of the growing eigenmode already proves instability.
Use an upward vertical coordinate , constant mass density , and a positive Coriolis parameter ; the square-root formulas below assume the Northern Hemisphere. For a slab of thickness , the net force per unit horizontal area is . Dividing by its mass and including the Coriolis acceleration gives
Here are the vertical shear stress components of the viscous stress tensor, so their boundary values require a signed traction convention. Linearization removes advective acceleration. Decompose the horizontal velocity into an exterior pressure response and an Ekman layer correction. On an f-plane these satisfy
and
The exterior pressure response is in geostrophic balance when steady. For a surface Ekman layer with negligible stress at its base, its Ekman transport is
Integrating the continuity equation and imposing zero vertical boundary-layer velocity at the surface gives . Thus the base velocity, positive upward, is
The PDF prints the opposite sign. Its negative formula is correct for a velocity defined positive downward, but its stated momentum equations with use the upward-coordinate shear convention above. This sign must be accounted for when interpreting the subsequent pumping equation.
For constant kinematic viscosity, write and . The steady Ekman layer equation is . Taking the surface at and the ocean below it, the bounded surface Ekman layer solution is
The total velocity is . Prescribed wind stress determines the coefficient of this Ekman layer correction; it does not determine a relation between the wind and the independent pressure-driven velocity. An additional boundary condition is necessary for a laminar Ekman boundary stress law in terms of .
The two printed laminar stress formulas and the positive pressure-Laplacian pumping formula are instead the standard Bottom Ekman layer relations. To derive them consistently, put a stationary no-slip boundary condition at , with water at . Then
Consequently
These are shear stress values; the actual bottom traction on the fluid has the opposite sign. Integrating this Bottom Ekman layer gives and . Since the exterior geostrophic flow is horizontally nondivergent, the upward velocity above the bottom is . Using , yields
This recovers the requested magnitude and pressure dependence with a consistent bottom interpretation. The surface version would require its own specified boundary velocity and corresponding signs.
For Ekman spin-down in a shallow-water layer, let , , and . Upward bottom pumping enters the exterior linearized shallow water equations through . Taking the curl of their momentum equations gives , hence
Slow geostrophic balance gives and . Therefore the intended damping equation is
The slow-adjustment assumption is , not the printed . The printed negative pumping term in continuity can alternatively describe downward extraction at the upper boundary, but it cannot be combined unchanged with the upward bottom pumping just derived. A literal use of the positive printed and negative continuity source would reverse the damping sign and produce growth.
For a Fourier mode with , substitution gives
For scales small compared with the Rossby deformation radius, and , independent of wavenumber. For scales large compared with the Rossby deformation radius, the equation becomes , where
The zero wavenumber mode does not decay. A thin Ekman layer, , makes , so the derived decay time satisfies the corrected slow-time assumption.
The rotating-frame derivative formula is . Applying it twice to the position vector, with constant angular velocity, gives
Solving for identifies the displayed terms: its left side is the acceleration relative to the rotating reference frame, the first right-hand term is the inertial acceleration, is the Coriolis acceleration, and is the outward centrifugal acceleration.
For a particle of mass , replace by the actual force divided by using Newton's second law. The remaining terms then appear as apparent forces in . There is no Euler acceleration because is constant and no translational acceleration term because the common origin is fixed in the inertial frame.
Let be the kinetic energy per unit volume. Dot the momentum equation with . The Coriolis acceleration does no work because . Incompressibility turns the advection and pressure terms into divergences, yielding
Thus is the energy flux and is the source in the requested kinetic-energy form.
To decide about conservation of energy, absorb the ordinary radial shearing-sheet tidal potential into the density. Its material derivative cancels the work term:
For this is the usual conservative Jacobi energy in a shearing sheet, subject to vanishing boundary energy flux. For , the extra body force has nonzero curl, , so no scalar potential can absorb it. A potential would necessarily introduce a vertical force , absent from the model. Therefore this vertical-shear model does not generically conserve the standard total mechanical energy: its maintained shear/irradiation background can supply or remove energy. This is the energy balance of the incompressible vertical-shear model.
Write the proposed background as , . It satisfies incompressibility, and . A constant pressure has zero gradient. The Coriolis acceleration is , which exactly cancels the prescribed body force. Thus it is a steady state.
The background is ordinary Keplerian radial shear together with vertical shear: and . At a given radius, different heights have different azimuthal velocities. The small in this question measures vertical shear; it is distinct from the orbital shear parameter, whose radial value here remains . The vertical shear instability draws on this height-dependent differential rotation.
For the Keplerian shearing sheet background , the only spatial derivative is . Since and all fields are independent of , and .
The Coriolis acceleration exactly balances the tidal term:
With constant pressure and , the buoyancy displacement variable equation also has zero advection, zero source and zero diffusion. Therefore
is a steady solution. Its absolute vorticity is , since the background relative vorticity is .
For an axisymmetric vertical mode of a shearing sheet in this Boussinesq approximation, the perturbations have no horizontal gradients, so background-shear advection vanishes. The linear Coriolis acceleration and perturbation advection of the background shear give
while thermal conduction and incompressibility give
Here is the thermal diffusion rate of a Fourier mode, not the cooling exponent in Question 2. Since , incompressibility forces , and the vertical momentum equation then forces for this nonzero-wavenumber amplitude.
The three remaining amplitudes satisfy
A nontrivial solution requires the determinant to vanish, giving the convective overstability dispersion relation
No division by or was needed, so the thermal energy mode of a shearing sheet is retained. The notation denotes a signed buoyancy frequency squared and can be negative for an adverse stratification; it must not be restricted to the square of a real positive frequency.
Apply part (a) first to the position :
Applying it again to both terms on the right gives
where because . Substituting the first formula into the last term produces
In the Earth-fixed rotating reference frame, the sideways apparent force is the Coriolis acceleration multiplied by the ski-doo's mass:
At the South Pole, is vertical and antiparallel to the local outward normal, while is horizontal, so
The force points to the left of the direction of travel, which is westward when the ski-doo is moving north after crossing the pole.
The Euler-Lagrange equations of the particle Lagrangian in a shearing sheet are
The terms coupling and are the Coriolis acceleration. The cyclic coordinate has conserved canonical momentum
For a Newtonian potential of a point mass, and . Set and substitute in the radial equation. It becomes , a harmonic oscillator equation about the epicyclic guiding center . Integration gives
The four real constants in and the two in account for the six initial position and velocity data.
Expanding the inertial specific angular momentum gives . Thus measures the angular-momentum offset from the reference circular orbit, and specifies the radius of its associated epicyclic guiding center.
The conserved horizontal energy in the rotating frame is
It is the horizontal part of the local Jacobi energy in a shearing sheet, rather than the inertial specific orbital energy. Its positive term is the epicyclic energy; its negative term is the energy of the background shear at guiding-center position . Independently, the vertical harmonic oscillator has conserved energy
In the rotating shearing sheet, write the background orbital shear as . The rotating momentum equation contains Coriolis acceleration and the shearing-sheet tidal potential; the background shear balances the radial tidal acceleration.
Set
Gauss's law for magnetism gives , and the vertical ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation gives . Horizontal invariance and remove the nonlinear horizontal advection. The remaining background-shear term is . The horizontal magnetic tension is , while horizontal pressure gradients vanish. Subtracting background balance yields
For ideal magnetohydrodynamics, the ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation is . Its horizontal components give
These horizontally invariant magnetized shearing-sheet equations are exact within the stated local, incompressible ansatz, even for finite horizontal amplitudes. The vertical equation determines the pressure needed to balance vertical gravity and magnetic pressure; it does not add another horizontal evolution equation.
Assume , , and use complex normal mode amplitudes. The zonal momentum and continuity equations give
When , solving these two linear equations gives
For , a nonzero solution requires and . The remaining momentum equation gives . Only the positive sign decays at both infinities, so the equatorial Kelvin wave is
Its phase and group velocities are both eastward with speed .
For nonzero meridional velocity, substitute the eliminated amplitudes into . The result is
Set . The decaying Hermite polynomial modes have , up to normalization, and their eigenvalue gives the equatorial shallow-water dispersion relation
For , the quadratic in factors as
The admissible Yanai wave root is . With , substitution and cancellation give
These expressions satisfy the original equations even at the isolated point where the two algebraic roots coincide and the earlier elimination formula has a zero denominator. The other root is not an independent admissible branch: its generic singular reconstruction fails the trapping conditions.
In the zonal momentum equation, the acceleration term is , the Coriolis term is , and the pressure term is . When , acceleration is small and the leading balance is between Coriolis acceleration and the pressure gradient. When , acceleration balances pressure and the Coriolis term is small; the branch tends to an eastward gravity wave.
For , the fixed-frequency zonal roots are
The radicand is nonnegative exactly when satisfies . This gives the frequency gap for higher equatorial wave modes:
For the forcing frequency , we have . Already the low-frequency upper bound is , and that bound decreases with , while the high-frequency bound increases. Hence no mode propagates. The available real-wavenumber branches are
For the equatorial Kelvin wave, . For the Yanai wave, differentiating gives
Thus both propagating responses are detected east of the localized forcing, provided it has nonzero projection onto their meridional structures. The Yanai phase travels westward at this frequency, but its wave packet and energy travel eastward. Higher modes contribute only an evanescent response near the forcing.
Figure 1.
Equatorial dispersion branches at the specified forcing frequency
. The horizontal line at dimensionless frequency one half meets the Kelvin and Yanai branches. Both intersections have positive group velocity; higher trapped modes have no real zonal wavenumber at this frequency.