Square-root boundary layer at a vanishing drift ($z=x/\sqrt{\epsilon }$)

In $\epsilon y^{\prime \prime }+2x{y}^{\prime }-2xy=0$, the drift vanishes at the endpoint $x=0$. Balancing diffusion against drift gives the inner expansion coordinate $z=x/\sqrt{\epsilon }$. The leading layer equation is $Y^{\prime \prime }+2z{Y}^{\prime }=0$, with a bounded error function profile. A regular outer first-order calculation alone cannot impose both endpoint values.

If an outer expansion contains $-(\epsilon /2)\log x$ and the layer coordinate is $x=\sqrt{\epsilon }z$, its overlap contains $-(\epsilon /2)\log z-(\epsilon /4)\log \epsilon$. Matching forces an inner expansion term $-(\epsilon /4)\log \epsilon \mathrm{erf}z$ when that homogeneous profile tends to one in the overlap and vanishes at the boundary. The logarithm multiplies the matching profile, rather than an arbitrary constant.