Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/prelims/mathematics-v-resit/question-6/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2017 Prelims Mathematics V resit Question 6 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
A temperature on the full unit disk must be single valued, so its angular factor and angular derivative are -periodic. For positive separation constant , this requires to be a positive integer. For , periodicity removes . For , no nonzero linear combination of and is -periodic, so that case disappears.
The origin belongs to the disk, so a classical harmonic function must remain bounded and extend smoothly there. This excludes and . The remaining individual separated solutions are constants and . By superposition, the regular harmonic expansion on a disk isThe admissible Fourier coefficients are fixed by the boundary conditions. Smoothness at the origin can also be seen from and being the real and imaginary parts of , hence harmonic polynomials.
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