Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/paper-1/8/solution

Take and a source position . Before the source, the zero initial data require . After it, set ; the homogeneous equation becomes . Continuity of and a unit jump in at give , . Thus the causal Green function of a damped oscillator is
Here is the Heaviside step function. For , take the continuous limit , giving . The formula is also unchanged when a nonzero changes sign. Its continuity removes a delta derivative, and its unit first-derivative jump supplies the required Dirac delta function.
For the forced equation use . The zero-initial-data Green function representation is
The sine-product identity reduces this to elementary exponential-trigonometric integrals. Evaluating gives
For an independent check, the steady particular part is , while the decaying homogeneous part has coefficients and that impose .

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