Gyroscopic polynomials

Abstract: Gyroscopic alignment of a fluid occurs when flow structures align with the rotation axis. This often gives rise to highly spatially anisotropic columnar structures that in combination with complex domain boundaries pose challenges for efficient numerical discretizations and computations. We define gyroscopic polynomials to be three-dimensional polynomials expressed in a coordinate system that conforms to rotational alignment. We remap the original domain with radius-dependent boundaries onto a right cylindrical or annular domain to create the computational domain in this coordinate system. We find the volume element expressed in gyroscopic coordinates leads naturally to a hierarchy of orthonormal bases. We build the bases out of Jacobi polynomials in the vertical and generalized Jacobi polynomials in the radial. Because these coordinates explicitly conform to flow structures found in rapidly rotating systems the bases represent fields with a relatively small number of modes. We develop the operator structure for one-dimensional semi-classical orthogonal polynomials as a building block for differential operators in the full three-dimensional cylindrical and annular domains. The differential operators of generalized Jacobi polynomials generate a sparse linear system for discretization of differential operators acting on the gyroscopic bases. This enables efficient simulation of systems with strong gyroscopic alignment.