  This paper contains a local linear stability analysis for accretion disks
under the influence of a global radial entropy gradient beta = - d log T / d
log r for constant surface density. Numerical simulations suggested the
existence of an instability in two- and three-dimensional models of the solar
nebula. The present paper tries to clarify, quantify, and explain such a global
baroclinic instability for two-dimensional flat accretion disk models. As a
result linear theory predicts a transient linear instability that will amplify
perturbations only for a limited time or up to a certain finite amplification.
This can be understood as a result of the growth time of the instability being
longer than the shear time which destroys the modes which are able to grow. So
only non-linear effects can lead to a relevant amplification. Nevertheless, a
lower limit on the entropy gradient ~beta = 0.22 for the transient linear
instability is derived, which can be tested in future non-linear simulations.
This would help to explain the observed instability in numerical simulations as
an ultimate result of the transient linear instability, i.e. the Global
Baroclinic Instability.
