Neutral eigensolutions of the stability equation for stratified shear flow

Abstract

Many of the known analytic solutions of the equation for neutral disturbances to a stably stratified, inviscid, parallel shear flow are shown to belong to a wider family of solutions when a transformation to the hypergeometric differential equation is possible. Two particular cases in which the transformation can be made are examined in some detail and the solutions are expressed in a simple analytical form. A number of novel solutions are presented as examples.