Convective overstability Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
An adverse radial specific entropy gradient can drive an oscillatory instability through the finite lag supplied by thermal conduction or relaxation. This differs from a viscous-convective instability, in which viscosity changes rotational stabilization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 321 3 f Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let and . Since , the leading terms ofgiveThe mode is unstable for every , a weaker criterion than the inviscid condition. Strong viscosity damps the velocity response and removes the rapid epicyclic restoration, permitting a slow viscous-convective instability; its growth rate nevertheless tends to zero on very small scales.