Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-2-of-the-earth-sciences-geology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/paper-3/8/d/solution

For , the harmonic oscillator equation gives . The condition at zero requires , and the condition at requires . A nonzero normal mode therefore has
A multiplicative normalization has been absorbed into the temporal amplitude. The candidate is affine and the two zero endpoint values force it to vanish. A positive separation constant gives hyperbolic functions, whose two zero endpoint values likewise give only the trivial solution. Negative adds no new eigenfunctions because it only reverses their signs.

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