Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014/2/a/solution

Work first on . Divide by to put the equation in leading-coefficient-one form. Its first-derivative coefficient is , so the integrating factor for the self-adjoint differential operator is
The resulting coefficients are
Indeed , and multiplying the original equation by gives . These transformed coefficients are singular at the right endpoint; the boundary value there is understood as the endpoint limit.
Substituting and in the homogeneous original equation gives zero in both cases. Their Wronskian is
which is nonzero for . Thus they are linearly independent on the solution interval.
To construct a Dirichlet Green function, choose homogeneous solutions adapted to the two endpoints:
Their Wronskian is again , and . Therefore the Green function for with zero endpoint values is
For fixed it is continuous in , vanishes at both endpoints, and satisfies the unit-flux jump condition
Consequently in the sense of distributions. This is a singular-endpoint Green function with a double-zero right solution.
The endpoint data are nonhomogeneous, so use the homogeneous lifting and write
Although is singular at one, the integral exists for each interior : the right solution satisfies , cancelling the forcing when .
Splitting the integral at gives
where elementary antiderivatives yield
For the second equality, an antiderivative is , whose endpoint limit at one is . Simplifying the Green representation gives
It has the prescribed endpoint values. Direct substitution gives , and at the degenerate endpoint it also obeys . The only homogeneous solution satisfying both zero endpoint conditions is zero, so this solution is unique in the corresponding classical class.

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