Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-v/6/c/solution

Choose the positive weights
These are the volumetric heat capacities. The heat equations and integration by parts give
The exterior boundary terms vanish because the temperatures there are zero. At the thermal interface, the remaining term is
by continuity of temperature and heat flux. Hence the weighted energy estimate is
Both weights are positive, so . Zero initial temperatures give , forcing for all . Each temperature therefore vanishes throughout its slab. Applying this argument to a difference also proves uniqueness for arbitrary common initial data in this thermal interface problem.

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