Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-1/30b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 1 30B Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Under local integrability and suitable bounds away from zero, Watson's lemma givesEach term follows by and the Gamma function integral; a finite local remainder is bounded in the same way, and the region away from zero is exponentially small.
For Laplace's method, assume an isolated nondegenerate global minimum of , with and suitable tail bounds. Expand near and set . The leading term is ; successive terms come from Gaussian moments of the Taylor expansions. Several equally low minima contribute additively, while degenerate minima need a different scale.
Here the integrand is entire in , so deform the contour to the line at imaginary part , the vertical segment from to , and the line at imaginary part . The two horizontal tails sum to . The vertical segment contributes . Its maximum is at zero; putting and using givesThe fourth Gaussian moment is three times the zeroth, soSince , this has the required normalization.
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