Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2020/paper-1/8/b/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2020 Paper 1 8 b iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Reality requires . The way it constrains the amplitudes depends on whether the spatial wave number is real or imaginary.
For , is real and even. Complex conjugation interchanges the two exponentials, so comparing independent spatial factors givesThe companion equation is the same constraint with frequency reversed and conjugated. Neither oscillatory spatial branch grows as .
For , put with . ThenBoundedness excludes the growing exponential, and reality then pairs the remaining amplitudes:These are the two independent low-frequency requirements. At threshold boundedness eliminates the separate linear-in- solution discussed in (ii). The constraints are understood for a Fourier transform representation in which spatial mode amplitudes are well defined; sufficient amplitude integrability also ensures the spectral integral itself is bounded.
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