If is measured in the rotating frame, its inertial velocity is . The masses producing the gravitational field are stationary in this frame, so their potential energy is a time-independent function . Thus kinetic minus potential energy gives the stated Lagrangian
Put . Then
Substitution in the Euler-Lagrange equation yields
The extra terms are the Coriolis acceleration, Euler acceleration, and centrifugal acceleration of a rotating reference frame.
The canonical momentum and Hamiltonian are
Accordingly, Hamilton's equations are
Let be a Cartesian basis fixed in the rotating frame. A vector then satisfies
because a derivative of a body-fixed basis vector is . Applying this transport formula twice to gives, for constant ,
The second and third terms correspond to Coriolis acceleration and centrifugal acceleration in the rotating description.
For the bead, use cylindrical unit vectors with upward and
Projection of along the wire tangent eliminates the smooth-wire normal force and gives
Multiply the three equations by and add. The Coriolis acceleration does no work because its two terms cancel, leaving
Equivalently, the radiation-modified Jacobi constant is
In a frame with unit angular velocity, transforming the acceleration introduces the Coriolis acceleration and centrifugal acceleration. Radiation reduces the attraction of by the factor , so
With the effective potential
its Cartesian components are exactly
This is the photogravitational restricted three-body problem.
For the Keplerian shearing sheet velocity , its material acceleration vanishes because . The component of the Coriolis acceleration is , which is cancelled by with the signs in the stated equation; constant supplies no force. The flow is also incompressible.
Let and . Axisymmetry removes , while . Keeping first-order terms gives
Differentiate the momentum equations in time and use incompressibility to eliminate . The radial velocity obeys
For a plane wave proportional to , this gives the inertial wave dispersion relation
When and , incompressibility forces , and the vertical momentum equation then forces . The remaining motion has and satisfies : each horizontal layer executes an epicyclic motion, with the phase varying vertically but no pressure or vertical-velocity perturbation.
The term is the Coriolis acceleration, and is the centrifugal acceleration. With , the Cartesian components are
Dot the momentum equation with . The Coriolis acceleration does no work, while the buoyancy-variable equation gives
which cancels the buoyancy work . Thus
Using incompressibility,
Therefore
For , advection vanishes and the Coriolis acceleration exactly cancels , so constant and complete the equilibrium.
Write perturbations with . Incompressibility gives . It also makes the quadratic terms and vanish exactly; the background-advection terms vanish because . The amplitude equations are
Eliminating the amplitudes yields the inertia-gravity wave dispersion relation
For , , so the group velocity is
It is perpendicular to and hence to the phase velocity. An inertial wave packet transports energy along beams lying in its phase surfaces.
If and , incompressibility suppresses vertical motion and : horizontal epicyclic motion and rotation dominate. If , radial motion is suppressed and : vertical buoyancy oscillations dominate. Intermediate ratios give hybrid inertia-gravity waves.
If , exponential growth occurs exactly when
Only modes with sufficiently large radial wavenumber permit enough vertical displacement for unstable buoyancy to overcome rotational restoration; the other orientations remain stabilized by the Coriolis force.
For a Keplerian shearing sheet, the shear rate is and the shearing-sheet tidal potential is
A uniform steady solution is
The Coriolis acceleration of this linear shear flow balances the radial tidal acceleration. The only nonzero background component of the viscous stress tensor that matters is , which is spatially constant. Hence : a local uniform patch has no stress gradient or torque divergence to drive an accretion flow.
For the axisymmetric perturbation, define
Linearization about the uniform dust density and drifting equilibrium gives
The factors and are the Coriolis acceleration and Keplerian-shear couplings. Applying to the continuity equation and using the three momentum equations eliminates . All remaining forcing terms are proportional to , so
where is independent of time.
Let and define the derivative following the background Keplerian shear by
The linearized continuity and momentum equations are
The coefficient combines the background shear with the Coriolis acceleration.
At latitude , resolve the planetary angular velocity as
For velocity , the Coriolis acceleration is
The traditional approximation drops the terms involving the horizontal rotation component . The retained horizontal force is therefore
Its direct velocity-scale requirement is
For an incompressible flow, , so a sufficient condition is
together with the small aspect ratio that makes hydrostatic pressure the leading vertical momentum balance. The approximation consequently becomes delicate near the equator.
The beta plane is the local Taylor expansion
where
and is the planetary radius. It requires a local Cartesian region,
and . Away from the equator, treating the variation as a perturbation of an f-plane also requires ; near the equator one instead retains the linear term as the leading Coriolis parameter.
Assume an inviscid homogeneous ocean, no horizontal pressure gradient, and no wind stress. Horizontal uniformity then removes advective acceleration, and the parcel equations on a beta plane are
with and .
Since , integration from the stated initial data gives
This is conservation of the parcel's zonal canonical momentum: its zonal speed records the meridionally accumulated Coriolis acceleration. Multiplying the two momentum equations by and and adding gives
Thus kinetic energy and speed are constant:
Eliminating gives the required ordinary differential equation
For , the equator is at . There
The parcel must encounter a meridional turning point before reaching the equator if it is to remain strictly in the Northern Hemisphere. The energy relation therefore requires
or . Equality is the limiting trajectory that reaches the equator with zero meridional speed.
For , advection and viscosity vanish, while its Coriolis acceleration cancels ; constant pressure and complete the equilibrium. For axisymmetric perturbations,
Linearize the inviscid momentum equation in the uniformly rotating frame. The Coriolis acceleration is , and the equilibrium pressure gradient cancels gravity. For perturbations proportional to , the horizontal components are
The vertical component is
Linearizing mass conservation,
gives
Finally, linearizing the adiabatic pressure equation gives
These are the stated five equations. Self-gravity contributes no perturbation because it is neglected, and the equilibrium centrifugal term has already been absorbed or omitted.
For the incompressible velocity , in a shearing sheet, advection produces and the Coriolis acceleration produces . Including the radial tide gives . A material ellipse has . A vortex patch is immersed in surrounding fluid, so this pressure need not vanish on its boundary; imposing that condition would describe a different free-boundary problem.
A dilute dust component can be approximated as a pressureless fluid with velocity and surface density of a disk . In a gas velocity , linear drag force gives acceleration for positive aerodynamic stopping time . Its equations include Coriolis acceleration, the shearing-sheet tidal potential, and . Neglecting gas backreaction is justified only when the prescribed-gas approximation is appropriate. Strong orbit crossing or appreciable dust velocity dispersion can invalidate the single-valued pressureless-fluid description.
Rossby number Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Rossby number compares inertial acceleration with Coriolis acceleration. For speed , horizontal length , and Coriolis parameter , it is . Small Rossby number supports geostrophic balance and the quasi-geostrophic approximation.
Rotating fluid Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24