Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-perturbation-methods-and-applied-complex-variables-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/a/4/solution

On the two independent variables, the total derivative is . Multiplication of by gives exactly the stated multiple-scale equation.
At order one, . Integrating twice gives
The periodic reciprocal coefficient has strictly positive mean. Unless , the integral has a nonzero linear drift in , violating the periodic cell ansatz and creating secular growth when . Thus and .
At order ,
Periodicity requires the derivative to have zero cell average. Consequently
At order , the equation is
The second flux inside braces is , independent of . Integrating over one period annihilates the first derivative, by periodicity, and yields . Hence
The effective transport coefficient is the harmonic mean of over the fast period; the source is averaged arithmetically. Smoothness sufficient for these formal differentiations and uniform positivity on the cells are understood.

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