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Relative to the kinetic-energy inner product, integration by parts reverses incompressible base transport, transposes the velocity-gradient coupling, and preserves viscous diffusion. With reverse time $\tau =-t$, the adjoint base state is evaluated at $-\tau$. The Leray-Helmholtz projection or adjoint pressure enforces divergence-free adjoint velocity. The curl of a cross product and vorticity cross-product identity give the equivalent form ${\partial }_{\tau }v=\Omega \times v-\nabla \times (U\times v)-\nabla \pi +{\mathrm{Re}}^{-1}\Delta v$.

Use the Levi-Civita symbol and summation over repeated indices. Contracting the two symbols givesThus the curl of a cross product is

Use the kinetic-energy inner product $⟨v,u⟩=\int v^{\ast }\cdot udV$, with perturbation energy $\Vert u{\Vert }^2/2$. On divergence-free fields the primal generator, before the pressure projection, isThe base state is also divergence-free. The periodic boundary terms in $x,z$ cancel, and decay at $|y|\to \infty$ removes the remaining boundary terms. Integration by parts changes $-\mathbf{U}\cdot \nabla$ to $+\mathbf{U}\cdot \nabla$; the Laplacian is self-adjoint under these conditions. Writing $J_{ij}={\partial }_j{U}_i$, the shear term $-Ju$ has adjoint operator $-J^{T}v$. A pressure gradient pairs to zero with a divergence-free field. Hencewhere the last term enforces the divergence-free projection.

To conserve $⟨v(t),u_p(t)⟩$ over the finite interval, the physical-time adjoint obeys $-{\partial }_{t}v=A^{†}(t)v$. Put $\tau =-t$ and $u_d(\tau )=v(-\tau )$; then ${\partial }_{\tau }{u}_d=A^{†}(-\tau )u_d$. This reverses the interval from $t=T$ towards $t=0$, or $\tau =-T$ towards $\tau =0$.

For $\mathbf{\Omega }=\nabla \times \mathbf{U}$, the vorticity cross-product identity and the curl of a cross producthold when both fields are divergence-free. Their difference equals the transport and shear terms in the adjoint operator. Therefore the adjoint linearized Navier-Stokes evolution isThe Leray-Helmholtz projection determines the adjoint pressure. The time-dependent base state is evaluated at $-\tau$; no extra time derivative of that base state appears in the spatial adjoint operator.

For differentiable vector fields, the displayed identity relates vorticity to the antisymmetric part of the velocity gradient. Together with the curl of a cross product, it converts the adjoint linearized Navier-Stokes evolution between component and rotational forms.