Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 321 3 a Solution 2026-09-28
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 givesDifferentiate the momentum equations in time and use incompressibility to eliminate . The radial velocity obeysFor a plane wave proportional to , this gives the inertial wave dispersion relation
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 321 1 b Solution 2026-09-28
For a Keplerian shearing sheet, the shear rate is and the shearing-sheet tidal potential isA uniform steady solution isThe 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.