Towards an Acoustic Geometry in Slightly Viscous Fluids

Abstract: We explore the behaviour of barotropic and irrotational fluids with a small viscosity under the effect of first-order acoustic perturbations. We discuss, following the extant literature, the difficulties in gleaning an acoustic geometry in the presence of viscosity. In order to obviate various technical encumbrances, when viscosity is present, for an extraction of a possible acoustic geometry, we adopted a method of double perturbations, whereby dynamical quantities such as the velocity field and potential undergo a perturbation both in viscosity and in an external acoustic stimulus. The resulting perturbation equations yield a solution which can be interpreted in terms of a generalised acoustic geometry, over and above the one known for inviscid fluids.