Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-5/2/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 5 2 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The total differential order of is two, so its principal symbol is . The conormal to is , on which vanishes. The initial line is a characteristic hypersurface for this total-order symbol; the first-order time derivative does not enter it.
Suppose a real analytic solution existed near . Repeated use of the heat equation gives . The initial power series is near zero, henceThe time Taylor series at would therefore have coefficients . The ratio of successive absolute coefficients is , giving radius of convergence zero. This contradicts the assumed real analytic regularity. No such analytic local solution exists, although the initial function itself is real analytic.
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