Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-49/2/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 49 2 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the usual scalar field theory with a nonnegative potential , shifted to zero in the vacuum, write its static energy in dimensions asApply Derrick scaling . The gradient acquires a factor and the volume a factor , givingA smooth finite-energy static solution is a stationary point of this energy, so its Derrick virial identity isFor , both terms are nonnegative, forcing . The field is a constant vacuum: there is no nontrivial finite-energy static soliton in this scalar-gradient-plus-nonnegative-potential model. The assumptions matter: extra derivative terms, gauge fields, time dependence or a potential not bounded below by its vacuum value can change the argument.
For , the relation becomes and says nothing further about . A gradient-only energy is scale invariant, so Derrick theorem alone does not rule out nonconstant solutions; sigma-model lumps are examples. For a scalar field with isolated potential minima, constrains the continuous field to one vacuum and hence makes it constant. If the vacuum values form a nontrivial manifold, the scaling relation alone leaves open a nonconstant map into it. In neither case does the two-dimensional scaling argument itself prove existence.
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