Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-probability-statistics-and-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2010/h/h2/solution

By reflection symmetry, is the midpoint of the cylinder axis. With position measured from , define . Symmetry makes the off-diagonal entries zero. Uniform density gives and , by integrating over a disk and the interval . Hence
For parallel axes based at , the tensor form of the parallel-axis theorem is , where . This follows by substituting in the defining integral and using . Here is an axial vector of length , so
The Euler angles are cyclic coordinates. Their conserved conjugate momenta are and . The Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, so the conserved energy is kinetic plus gravitational potential, namely the expression given with constant .
Eliminate the angular velocities using and . The energy equation becomes
Thus
The elimination is valid away from the coordinate poles; the multiplied equation extends by continuity to any pole reached by a regular motion.

New to topics? Read the docs here!