Viscous stability of an accretion disk (${\partial }_{\Sigma }(\bar{\nu }\Sigma )>0$)

Within an instantaneous vertically averaged transport closure, the local Keplerian viscous diffusion equation has effective diffusion coefficient $3{\partial }_{\Sigma }(\bar{\nu }\Sigma )$. A positive coefficient smooths short radial Fourier modes in the allowed thin-disc wavelength range; a negative coefficient gives the negative-diffusion criterion for viscous disk instability. A zero coefficient is linearly degenerate and does not establish strict decay. This local response criterion alone does not settle thermal, self-gravitating or boundary-driven stability.