Asymptotic theory of thermal convection in rapidly rotating systems

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Abstract
An asymptotic theory of marginal thermal convection in rotating systems is constructed for the limit of rapid rotation. Many self-gravitating astronomical bodies, including the major planets, the Sun, and the Earth's liquid core, correspond to this limit. In the laboratory, an analogous system can be constructed with a very rapidly rotating apparatus, in which the centrifugal force plays the role of self-gravitation. The formulation is offered in such a way that both these geophysical systems and laboratory analogues are included as special cases. When the inclination of the outer boundaries relative to the equatorial plane is considered weak, the two types of system are identical at leading order. In this limit, the asymptotic analysis is profoundly simplified, because the system satisfies the Taylor-Proudman theorem to leading order. Nevertheless the system contains a very peculiar property: the mode defined by a conventional WKBJ theory implicitly assuming a locality of convection in the radial direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation cannot be accepted as a correct marginal mode, because a modulation equation gives an exponential growth in the radial direction, which contradicts an implicit initial assumption. The erroneous behaviour is traced to a spatial dispersion of thermal Rossby waves, which governs the marginal mode. The difficulty is resolved by extending the analysis to a complex plane of the radial coordinate of the point where convection amplitude attains its maximum. Such a complex radial distance is defined as the point where the wave dispersion disappears locally. The projection of the solution onto the real axis results in an inclination of the Taylor columns with respect to the radial direction. This is in good agreement with the most recent numerical studies. The isolation of convective Taylor columns in the radial direction weakens and the spiralling gets stronger as the Prandtl number decreases, as a result of the need to displace the critical radial distance further from the real axis.