Descriptor Approach for Eliminating Spurious Eigenvalues in Hydrodynamic Equations

We describe a general framework for avoiding spurious eigenvalues — unphysical unstable eigenvalues that often occur in hydrodynamic stability problems. In two example problems, we show that when system stability is analyzed numerically using descriptor notation, spurious eigenvalues are eliminated. Descriptor notation is a generalized eigenvalue formulation for differential-algebraic equations that explicitly retains algebraic constraints. We propose that spurious eigenvalues are likely to occur when algebraic constraints are used to analytically reduce the number of independent variables in a differential-algebraic system of equations before the system is approximated numerically. In contrast, the simple and easily generalizable descriptor framework simultaneously solves the differential equations and algebraic constraints and is well-suited to stability analysis in these systems.