A study of transient dynamics of perturbations in Keplerian discs using a variational approach

Abstract

We study linear transient dynamics in a thin Keplerian disc employing a method based on variational formulation of optimisation problem. It is shown that in a shearing sheet approximation due to a prominent excitation of density waves by vortices the most rapidly growing shearing harmonic has azimuthal wavelength, $\lambda_y$, of order of the disc thickness, $H$, and its initial shape is always nearly identical to a vortex having the same potential vorticity. Also, in the limit $\lambda_y\gg H$ the optimal growth $G\propto (\Omega/\kappa)^4$, where $\Omega$ and $\kappa$ stand for local rotational and epicyclic frequencies, respectively, what suggests that transient growth of large scale vortices can be much stronger in areas with non-Keplerian rotation, e.g. in the inner parts of relativistic discs around the black holes. We estimate that if disc is already in a turbulent state with effective viscosity given by the Shakura parameter $\alpha<1$, the considered large scale vortices with wavelengths $H/\alpha>\lambda_y>H$ have the most favourable conditions to be transiently amplified before they are damped. At the same time, turbulence is a natural source of the potential vorticity for this transient activity. We extend our study to a global spatial scale showing that global perturbations with azimuthal wavelengths more than an order of magnitude greater than the disc thickness still are able to attain the growth of dozens of times in a few Keplerian periods at the inner boundary of disc.