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Consider a nonlinear diffusion equation with uniform supply, $\varphi h_t=D_m(h^m{h}_x{)}_x+R$, on $x>0$, with an absorbing boundary $h(0,t)=0$ and initially $h=0$. Far from the boundary, $h=Rt/\varphi$. Balancing the time derivative, supply, and diffusion givesThe similarity solution satisfiesThe outward boundary volume flux per unit width is $Q=R\ell c_m$, where $c_m={\lim }_{\eta \downarrow 0}{F}^m{F}^{\prime }$. Integrating the equation givesThus the growing region of depleted storage fixes the discharge prefactor, and $Q\propto t^{(m+1)/2}$.

For one-dimensional flux $F(p)=p|p|e^{-p^2/(2{\lambda }^2)}$, the nonlinear diffusion equation is $u_t=F^{\prime }(u_x)u_{xx}$. The sole one-dimensional member of the principal diffusion coefficients is positive for $0<|u_x|<\sqrt{2}\lambda$, negative above $\sqrt{2}\lambda$, and zero at the two endpoints. Negative diffusion gives formal sharpening with ill-posedness through high-frequency growth. The extra factor $|p|$ matters: the unweighted exponential conductance has threshold $\lambda$ instead.

The azimuthal momentum equation with $u_y=-3\Omega x/2$ isHence the slow radial drift isSubstitution into mass conservation, ${\partial }_t\Sigma +{\partial }_x(\Sigma u_x)=0$, gives the nonlinear diffusion equationIt describes slow axisymmetric viscous spreading while the velocity remains close to the imposed Kepler shear. It omits epicyclic and acoustic waves, rapid transients, self-gravity, nonaxisymmetric structure, and edge dynamics for which the assumed shear and secular force balance fail.