Skew symmetry of Galerkin advection (${\int }_{\Omega }v\mathbf{b}\cdot \nabla v=0$)

For a divergence-free drift $\mathbf{b}$ and a function $v$ with zero boundary Sobolev trace, integration by parts gives ${\int }_{\Omega }v\mathbf{b}\cdot \nabla v=\frac{1}{2}{\int }_{\partial \Omega }{v}^2\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{n}-\frac{1}{2}{\int }_{\Omega }(\nabla \cdot \mathbf{b})v^2=0$. Consequently the advection matrix in a conforming Galerkin method has zero quadratic form; its symmetric part vanishes. Adding a diffusion stiffness matrix gives a nonpositive spatial generator and a nonincreasing L2 norm in the semidiscrete advection-diffusion equation. The same identity holds with a suitable zero normal-flux boundary term instead of zero trace.