For steady flow the given equation gives . Dotting with yields , so is constant along each streamline. It can have different values on different streamlines. Dotting with also makes it constant along vortex lines where they are defined.
If the flow is additionally irrotational, and hence . Thus is one constant on each connected fluid region, the stronger global Bernoulli conclusion.
Take the curl. A gradient has zero curl, and the supplied identity, with and , gives
Therefore . In planar flow and , so the stretching term vanishes. Consequently
Vorticity is carried unchanged with each fluid particle. It need not be spatially uniform or independent of time at a fixed spatial point.
The Milne-Thomson circle theorem replaces a potential analytic inside the circle of radius by outside it, when its original singularities are outside. The circle becomes a streamline, the imposed flow at infinity is preserved, and no extra circulation is introduced.
Use the convention that positive circulation is counterclockwise, so a vortex potential is and its derivative is . With , the circle construction gives
up to an additive constant and local logarithm branches. There is an image vortex of strength at and a central vortex of strength . Their zero net interior circulation is needed for the specified motion equation.
The original vortex moves with the regular velocity of the image flow, excluding its own singular velocity. Thus
The conjugation in this equation matches the printed source. Write and cancel to obtain
Real and imaginary parts give
The vortex moves uniformly on the circle determined by its initial radius, clockwise for positive in this convention.

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