Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-i-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/5/b/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2014 Paper 1 5 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
First fix the source at the spatial origin. Fourier transform replaces by and by in the free term. Multiplication by a static background becomes a momentum convolution; the derivative in acts on the Green function, so it carries the internal momentum . ConsequentlyThe transformed point source supplies the right-hand side one. The signs follow from in these conventions.
Source-position qualification. For a nonuniform , the general Green function is not translation invariant. In the printed basis , its coefficient must also depend on , and the convolution contains an extra factor . The displayed source equation is valid for , or with the background itself expressed in coordinates centred on that source. Equivalently, a general spatial Fourier Green function has two momentum arguments and a momentum-delta-function source. Staticity alone permits the time-difference transform, not a general position-difference-only transform.
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