Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/ii/paper-1/30a/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 1 30A iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The characteristic vector field is a divergence-free vector field:The Jacobian determinant obeys , with . Thus the flow preserves phase-space volume, the Liouville theorem in Hamiltonian mechanics. Changing variables and using (i) givesThis applies on intervals where the flow is a diffeomorphism of the phase space and the integrals are defined; for finite conservation statements require integrability. For instance compactly supported initial data and give the usual setting. An arbitrary smooth need not make these integrals finite on infinite-volume space, and merely smooth does not exclude escape of characteristics to infinity. Equivalently , with no flux through infinity, proves the same Casimir invariant of a transport equation conservation.
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