Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/1/c/i/solution

At , the nonzero homogeneous solution satisfies both zero boundary conditions. Thus the boundary value problem has a nontrivial kernel and cannot have an inverse for arbitrary forcing.
More directly, the adjoint operator has the zero-endpoint homogeneous solution . If an ordinary Green's function existed, the integration by parts identity would imply
But for . This contradiction rules out the Green's function for the unmodified operator. It is the Fredholm alternative obstruction.

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