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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2006
The linear stability of the Stewartson layer in a compressible fluid is studied. The viscosity and the heat conductivity are shown to be negligible for a special kind of infinitesimal disturbance. The basic equations of the disturbance are shown to reduce to those for a Boussinesq fluid subject to a virtual radial stratification. A Miles-type sufficient condition for stability and a Howard-type semicircle theorem are derived. The growth rates of unstable modes with wavenumber and shear strength are summarized in stability diagrams for typical cases. The results clarify the situation in which the stability of the Stewartson layer is governed by a balance between the shear strength and the temperature stratification in the layer.