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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 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.