Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/paper-1/4/solution

Split the Fourier transform integral at zero:
By Fourier inversion applied to this pair, or by the residue theorem, the other transform is
For example, inversion with gives ; evenness supplies the desired sign convention.
Take the spatial Fourier transform of the Laplace equation. For it gives . Removing the exponentially growing solution and matching the boundary gives
At this formula is interpreted by continuity; a single transform value does not alter the inverse integral. The previous transform pair identifies
the Poisson kernel for the upper half-plane. The convolution theorem therefore gives the Poisson integral
This is the bounded harmonic solution for bounded decaying data, or the corresponding solution in an appropriate Fourier class. Such a growth condition matters if vertical decay is interpreted only pointwise: the nonzero harmonic function vanishes on the real axis and tends to zero for fixed as , but grows rapidly in and has no ordinary spatial Fourier transform. It can be excluded by requiring boundedness; the stated pointwise limits alone would not establish uniqueness.
For the interval data, direct integration gives the Poisson extension of interval boundary data
As it approaches for , zero for , and at . At those jump points the prescribed isolated values cannot be attained by a continuous extension; they do not affect the integral. The solution decays vertically, with for fixed and large .

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