Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/iii/paper-107/2/iv/solution

For the corrected bounded-domain problem, the interior theorem for the Perron method for the Dirichlet problem gives a classical solution of the Poisson equation, and the power barrier for an exterior cone argument gives its continuous extension with the required Dirichlet boundary condition. Hence existence holds in .
If are two such classical solutions, then is a harmonic function with zero boundary trace. The weak maximum principle for elliptic operators, applied to and on the bounded domain, gives and . Consequently
There is exactly one solution after adding boundedness of . For the printed unbounded-domain version, the half-plane counterexample in part (i) disproves uniqueness; an additional condition at infinity or a suitable restricted solution class would instead have to be specified.

New to topics? Read the docs here!