Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 56 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the Lambda-CDM model, nearly Gaussian primordial density contrasts grow under gravity within an expanding universe containing cold dark matter, ordinary baryons and a cosmological constant. The cold dark matter is effectively collisionless and has negligible pressure on galactic scales. Before recombination, baryons are coupled to the photon fluid: radiation pressure and acoustic oscillations prevent their perturbations from behaving like pressureless matter. After recombination they can fall into the gravitational potentials already established by dark matter, subject to gas pressure and the Jeans mass.
For small density contrasts, evolution is linear. On pressure-free scales the growing mode is multiplied by the linear growth factor , with during matter domination. The cosmological density power spectrum can be writtenHere is the cosmological transfer function. For nearly scale-invariant initial conditions, the large-scale matter spectrum behaves approximately as , whereas well inside the matter-radiation equality scale it falls approximately as , until the microscopic dark-matter cutoff matters. This fall of the dimensional does not imply less fluctuation power on every smaller mass scale: the power per logarithmic wavenumber is , and the smoothed matter density variance is obtained by integrating it against a mass-dependent window. Over the relevant cold-dark-matter hierarchy, smaller mass windows generally have larger variance.
The hierarchical galaxy formation picture follows: fluctuations on small mass scales typically reach the nonlinear collapse threshold first, while larger objects assemble later through accretion and dark-matter halo mergers. It is a statistical ordering, not a claim that every small object precedes every large rare peak. When becomes order unity, the linear growth factor is no longer a solution for the local density. Collisionless dark matter develops multistream regions and bound dark matter halos; phase mixing and violent relaxation redistribute orbital energies, and virialized structures approximately obey the virial theorem.
Baryons have an additional nonlinear route. Infall and shocks convert bulk kinetic energy into thermal energy, with characteristic virial temperatureUnlike collisionless dark matter, the gas can lose this energy through radiative cooling. The optically thin gas cooling time is the thermal-energy density divided by the radiative loss rate, for exampleThe density convention in must agree with the denominator; the astrophysical cooling function can also be defined using instead. The cooling criterion for galaxy formation compares this time with the collapse or supply time. Rapidly cooling gas loses pressure support, contracts and can form stars. Slowly cooling gas remains in a hot atmosphere. Stable virial shocks are not obligatory in every low-mass system: gas can also arrive in cold streams and cool while being accreted.
Angular momentum prevents indefinite radial contraction. Tidal torque theory supplies an initial halo spin, and later mergers change it. If gas radiates energy while retaining much of its specific angular momentum, it settles into a rotationally supported galactic disk rather than reaching the centre. The relation explains why modest halo spin can set a disk radius much smaller than its virial radius of a dark-matter halo. Torques, bars and gravitational encounters can transport angular momentum outwards and feed central concentrations; radiative cooling alone does not remove it.
Galaxy mergers alter stellar structure as well as assembling mass. A major galaxy merger can strongly disturb or destroy an existing galactic disk, randomizing stellar orbits and creating a spheroid through violent relaxation. A gas-rich galaxy merger also permits dissipation, inflow and a burst of star formation; gas left over or accreted afterwards can rebuild a galactic disk. Minor galaxy mergers add stars to outer components, thicken disks and grow bulges. Dry galaxy mergers add stellar mass and can increase size without much new star formation. Halo merging therefore does not imply instantaneous merging of its galaxies: satellite orbital decay requires Chandrasekhar dynamical friction and can take a substantial time.
The atomic and molecular cooling thresholds for galaxy formation supply a lower characteristic scale. Primordial atomic gas cools inefficiently below roughly because electronic excitation is suppressed. The corresponding halo mass is of order at a redshift of order ten, with approximate dependence at fixed threshold temperature. Molecular hydrogen can cool gas at hundreds of kelvin and permit smaller early objects, provided it forms and survives dissociating radiation. Metal-line cooling changes these thresholds after enrichment. Thus the atomic threshold is not an absolute minimum mass for all stellar systems.
At the other end, sufficiently massive dark matter halos have high virial temperatures and low-density hot gas. Above the strong atomic-line-cooling interval, thermal bremsstrahlung has . At comparable halo gas density, , while depends mainly on formation density. Cooling therefore becomes less able to condense all the gas within the available time. This upper galaxy mass from gas cooling argument selects galaxy-sized condensations, broadly halo masses around – in simple low-redshift estimates, rather than single luminous galaxies containing every baryon in a group or cluster. Its numerical scale depends on epoch, metallicity and gas profile. Subsequent galaxy mergers can build larger stellar systems; cooling is not an absolute upper bound on their final mass.
Finally, a Press-Schechter halo mass function has many low-mass objects and a steep high-mass cutoff, while the luminosity function of galaxies also has a faint component and a bright cutoff, often described by a Schechter function. The two shapes are related through the halo-to-galaxy luminosity mapping, not by identifying luminosity with total halo mass. In the idealized one-central-galaxy, no-scatter limit,If and , then . A constant conversion gives similar shapes. Actual stellar feedback, inefficient low-temperature cooling and reionization suppress faint galaxies relative to small haloes, while long cooling times and active-galactic-nucleus feedback suppress luminosity at large halo masses. Satellites, scatter, stellar populations and dust further affect the correspondence. The halo hierarchy supplies the gravitational framework; cooling, angular momentum and feedback determine which parts become luminous galaxies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 58 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the paper's positive binding-energy convention ; the physical Newtonian gravitational potential energy is . Assume positive masses, an isolated system, and no collision during the time interval under consideration. Differentiate half the scalar moment of inertia, , twice:Group the force term into unordered pairs. The force on particle from is ; the two contributions to the virial sum are thereforeAdding them proves the instantaneous virial theorem identityNo time average is needed for this form. A vanishing average of would require additional boundedness assumptions.
For the pairwise moment-of-inertia identity, expand the squared pair distances:The last term vanishes in the centre of mass frame, givingLet , and label the two smallest masses . If , every term in is at most , so . One pair attains , and its mass product is at least , so . HenceThese constants show the minimum-separation binding-energy bounds: inverse binding energy is comparable to the nearest-pair distance, independently of configuration.
Similarly, every separation is at most and at least one pair attains . The pairwise identity gives the maximum-separation inertia boundsBoth lower bounds rely on actual extremal separations, rather than an arbitrary numerical lower or upper estimate for all the pair distances.
Negative energy does not imply a positive lower bound on the minimum separation. The printed request is false if it is meant to exclude close approaches or collisions; the trivial bound says nothing of that kind. In fact and give , which, combined with , proves the negative-energy minimum-separation upper boundThis ensures at least one close pair, not confinement of every particle or prevention of collision.
An explicit negative-energy gravitational collision is a pair initially at rest with separation . Its total energy is . For reduced mass , its relative radial equation isThe separation decreases to zero in the finite timeBefore that time the motion is a regular Newtonian solution, yet its separation has no positive infimum. Even at fixed negative energy, bound Kepler orbits with eccentricity approaching one have arbitrarily small pericentre distance. Thus a missing angular momentum or collision-exclusion hypothesis cannot be supplied by the energy sign alone.
For , the instantaneous virial theorem gives . Integrating twice from any regular time givesUsing , obtain the positive-energy linear diameter growth boundwhenever the numerator is nonnegative. Consequently, for a solution existing for arbitrarily large future times,This is the precise at-least-linear expansion statement. It does not assert that is monotone at every instant, nor that all individual particles escape. The large-time conclusion presupposes continued existence of the trajectory; the inequality itself holds on every nonsingular time interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 58 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and use energy and angular momentum per unit particle mass. The Kepler orbit equation is . HenceThus and are integrals of motion. Splitting the velocity into radial and transverse parts, , gives the Kepler radial energy equationHere denotes the derivative of the scalar radius, unlike .
For the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector, differentiate directly:The vector triple-product identity yieldsThe terms cancel, proving every component of is conserved.
Write and for a monotone radial orbit time transformation. The chain rule givesImpose , equivalentlyMultiplying the radial energy equation by then givesThis is a transformation along each trajectory; the new clock is obtained by integrating its radius-dependent rate.
For the Kepler–harmonic radial duality, take the old inverse-radius term as the new constant energy, . On a positive-radius branch , soThe remaining term is minus the new Newtonian gravitational potential:For this is an attractive isotropic harmonic oscillator with . For it is an inverted oscillator, and for the Newtonian gravitational potential vanishes. Calling it a confining oscillator therefore requires a bound original Kepler orbit.
For the angular reconstruction of a radial orbit transformation, choose the new angle by . The same then supplies its centrifugal term. From , the transformation is ; in the harmonic case this gives up to a constant. Keeping the old angle unchanged would not in general preserve the angular momentum used in the displayed transformed radial equation.
For the second transformation use the explicit displayed split of the energy terms. It assigns weight to and to ; the surrounding printed prose interchanges these weights. Define the transformed quantities consistently byTheir difference is exactly , so they give the same transformed radial energy equation.
Let , , and . Constancy of the new energy imposesFor the standard regular isochrone branch take , , and . The positive-radius root isFor it is monotone. The corresponding clock is also regular there:With and , rationalization gives . Eliminate using :where one possible identification isThis is the Kepler–isochrone radial transformation to the spherical isochrone model, up to the additive energy constant .
The attractive branch of the Kepler–isochrone transformation requires a suitable parameter domain. The displayed square root needs , and the positive-root branch used above needs , . An attractive regular isochrone also needs and . For bound original orbits a convenient domain is , , : it satisfies all these requirements and gives . For one may instead take , with ; these map to unbound attractive isochrone orbits. Other parameter choices can produce a repulsive Newtonian gravitational potential or a different branch, so no unrestricted real-parameter statement is justified. The singular algebraic case is the harmonic transformation already handled separately. The angular reconstruction likewise completes the isochrone radial solution into a central-force orbit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 4 11C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In plane polar coordinates, use and . Their derivatives are and . Differentiating gives the velocity and acceleration in polar coordinates:Both the electrostatic inverse-square force and the drag point radially, so the torque about the origin is zero even though the force depends on radial velocity. The vector angular momentum is constant. For , every position lies in the fixed plane perpendicular to it; if , the trajectory is radial and still lies in a plane. In the nonzero case the transverse equation is , givingThe signed depends on the plane orientation. The stipulated ratio requires .
Set and use primes for differentiation with respect to . Then , and . The radial equation is , soThis damped Binet equation has the general solution, for ,It is used on the physical interval where . For either sign of , introduce the forward angular distance ; then the exponential is . Thus damping acts forward in time for both orientations, not just when .
For unit mass, the kinetic energy is and the electrostatic potential energy is . ThereforeUsing the damped Binet equation,and multiplication by givesThis is also the drag force times the radial speed. Energy is nonincreasing in time, strictly decreasing while radial motion occurs; a circular trajectory already has constant energy. The sign of alone would be misleading for negative .
To justify circularization under radial inverse-square drag, suppose the forward trajectory remains bounded, . Since and the effective radial potential energy tends to as , the radius is also bounded away from zero. Velocity then stays bounded, so the solution continues for all forward time without collision. Moreover , so . The decaying general solution gives and . ConsequentlyThe tangential motion remains, so the limiting orbit is circular. The convergence is asymptotic; boundedness is needed because a physical solution could otherwise reach and escape rather than complete indefinitely many turns.
Bounded inverse-square orbit with radial drag approaching a circular orbit, with nonincreasing energy converging to the circular-orbit value
. Details. The example uses , and , which stays positive. Radial oscillations decay while angular momentum stays fixed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 44 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use flavor hypercharge , where is baryon number and is strangeness. The isospin coordinate is . The baryon octet has coordinatesHere the nucleons have , the Sigma baryons and Lambda baryon have , and the Xi baryons have . The central Sigma baryon belongs to an isospin triplet while the central Lambda baryon is an isospin singlet; equal coordinates do not identify the states.
The pseudoscalar meson octet isThe pions have , the upper kaons have , and their lower antiparticles have . The two central states are the neutral pion and the Eta octet state. This is the octet basis of flavor symmetry; the physical eta can also mix with the flavor-singlet state.
For the flavor SU(3) Cartan generators, choose the Hermitian physics convention and the inner product . Then an orthonormal diagonal basis isStrictly, are elements of the anti-Hermitian SU(3) Lie algebra; are the corresponding Hermitian observables. In the quark basis , the up and down quarks form an isospin doublet and the strange quark is a singlet. Their values are . Each quark has baryon number , and their strangeness values are . It follows thatThese flavor hypercharge conventions differ from the electroweak hypercharge convention. If instead the inner product is , the orthonormal basis is , , and the same operators are , .
In the ordinary quark model, the proton has valence content and charge , while the neutron has content and charge zero. Additivity of electric charge gives and , hence , . The Sigma baryon has content and charge , giving . Thus the quark triplet's electric charges, in units of the positive elementary charge, areThe Gell-Mann--Nishijima formula is consequentlyIt also reproduces every baryon octet charge from the first diagram. On antiquarks the additive quantum numbers reverse sign, and combining a quark with an antiquark reproduces the meson octet charges.
Because the down and strange quarks have identical electric charge, commutes with the U-spin generatorsThey satisfy ; equivalently the anti-Hermitian matrices span an subalgebra. The entries on the block of are equal, so for all three U-spin generators. The electric charge is therefore constant within each irreducible U-spin multiplet. For example, U-spin relates and , and relates and , without changing their charge. It does not imply exact mass degeneracy: unequal down- and strange-quark masses break U-spin.
For pion-nucleon octet channels, assume the collision is governed by the strong interaction. The initial baryon number is one and strangeness is zero, so an outgoing meson-baryon pair must preserve , , and electric charge. Thus its total flavor hypercharge is . The allowed types areA kaon of can accompany a Lambda baryon or Sigma baryon of . An antikaon cannot balance the nonpositive strangeness of an octet baryon. A Xi baryon would require a meson of , which the meson octet does not contain.
Resolving these types by electric charge gives all possible pairs:In the isospin-symmetric approximation, total isospin is conserved as well: the incoming contains . The and channels contain both values, while and contain only . The extreme-charge initial states are pure , consistently excluding and . Clebsch-Gordan coefficients relate amplitudes in different charge channels; the table establishes permission, not equal probabilities. Electromagnetism and unequal up- and down-quark masses introduce small violations of isospin symmetry.
Finally, energy and momentum conservation require for a particular pair, where is the squared total four-momentum. Only channels above their own threshold can occur. Total angular momentum and parity symmetry in quantum field theory constrain the partial waves of the meson-baryon scattering: a pseudoscalar meson and a positive-parity spin-one-half baryon have pair parity and total angular momentum (only for ). Initial and final partial waves must have matching and parity. Sufficient energy can open a channel, but cannot remove the electric charge conservation, baryon number, or strangeness constraints.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 54 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Physical-process first law for a rotating black hole, in four-dimensional general relativity with , isIt applies to a small neutral matter influx into an initially stationary, nonextremal black hole that settles to another stationary state. The background surface gravity and angular velocity are and , and are the Killing energy and angular momentum delivered through the event horizon. Other conserved charges are held fixed. The perturbation must be small enough that its horizon generators do not develop caustics, and all equalities below are to first order.
Let be the stationary Killing vector field normalized at infinity, and the axial Killing vector field with -periodic orbits. The horizon generator is . Choose an affine tangent and parameter with zero at the past stationary limiting section, so affine horizon-generator scaling gives, on the background horizonThe background null expansion and null shear vanish, and null twist vanishes for the hypersurface-orthogonal horizon generators. Linearizing the Null Raychaudhuri equation and using the Einstein field equations givesThe quadratic null expansion and null shear terms are second order. With background cross-sectional measure , the first-order area change is . Multiplying the evolution equation by and integrating by parts gives the first-order horizon-area response to matter fluxThe boundary term vanishes: at the past limiting section, and the final stationary boundary condition gives zero expansion in the settled future. Equivalently, assume a sufficiently localized influx with the required late-time decay.
The energy and angular-momentum fluxes have signsThese correspond to the particle conventions and . Their combination isThis proves the requested Physical-process first law of black-hole mechanics. For charged infall the corresponding law contains an additional horizon-potential term ; the energy-minus-angular-momentum version assumes that work term is absent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 62 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A phase-space distribution function describes the mass in a small cell of positions and velocities: is that mass. Its velocity integral is the spatial mass density, and at a fixed position is a normalized velocity probability density. A number-normalized galactic distribution function differs by the stellar mass convention.
Take and . For the cusped logarithmic spherical galaxy model, differentiate the gravitational potential and use the spherical Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity:ThusA circular orbit requires . Its galaxy rotation curve is thereforeIt rises as at small radius and approaches from below at large radius.
The outer flat galaxy rotation curve is qualitatively useful for galaxies. However, the density has an inner cusp and an outer tail, while diverges. The model therefore requires an outer truncation for a finite galaxy, and does not describe a central constant-density core. Its gravitational potential cannot be normalized to zero at infinity.
For a star, the specific energy is and the specific angular momentum is . Since the gravitational potential is stationary and spherical,Thus both the specific energy and the entire angular-momentum vector are conserved.
For Jeans theorem, follow a stellar trajectory in phase space. The Collisionless Boltzmann equation is preciselyIn a steady system , so the value of the galactic distribution function is constant along every trajectory: it is itself an integral of motion. Conversely, if are time-independent integrals of motion, then satisfies . Locally, a complete set of invariant orbit labels expresses any steady galactic distribution function this way. This is the weak form of Jeans theorem; a stronger assertion about a small set of isolating integrals needs additional orbital regularity or mixing assumptions. In particular, the theorem does not say that every steady galaxy must have a galactic distribution function depending on only and .
For the proposed constant-anisotropy distribution function, write and . Introduce a polar angle in the tangential velocity plane. Then , so the apparent singularity cancels against the velocity Jacobian. This inverse-angular-momentum velocity integration makes the density finite for every .
Let , , , and . Each exponential component contributesHere the two Gaussian integrals and the angular integral have product . Consequently,The galactic distribution function is nonnegative, gives the required density, and depends on conserved ; by Jeans theorem it is a self-consistent steady solution.
Differentiating the Gaussian integral with respect to shows that each component has , and the same value for . Angular averaging gives . Weighting these by yields the velocity dispersionsThe radial numerator includes , as in the original PDF. All mean velocities vanish by parity. The same parity, or the zero angular average of , gives .
The velocity-anisotropy parameter isThe constant-anisotropy distribution function therefore favors radial motion at every radius: the radial variance is twice either individual tangential variance. It still has a substantial population with nonzero angular momentum, rather than exclusively radial orbits. The factor enhances low-angular-momentum stars. The radial velocity dispersion approaches at the centre and far out; each individual tangential variance is half as large. There is no mean rotation, despite the well-defined galaxy rotation curve for hypothetical circular orbits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 65 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write , , and , the reduced mass. In the center of mass frame, and . Both components of the circular orbit have the same angular velocity . Thus their total orbital angular momentum isUsing Kepler's third law, , and the orbital period , gives the circular-binary orbital angular momentum
Take , so and . A parcel in an isotropic stellar wind has, on average, the donor star's orbital velocity. Its wind velocity relative to the donor star averages to zero, so its mean specific orbital angular momentum about the center of mass is . The escaping mass per unit time is . With negligible stellar spin, no additional wind torque, and internal redistribution of the angular momentum of retained matter, donor-wind angular-momentum loss therefore givesIsotropy is in the donor star's frame: it does not make the escaping orbital angular momentum vanish. This is also different from isotropic re-emission from a binary star, where matter escapes from the accretor.
Logarithmically differentiate the expression for along a slowly evolving sequence of circular orbits:Substitution of the donor-wind angular-momentum loss and mass rates givesFor constant , the last expression is . Hence the period invariant for constant-fraction donor-wind mass loss isFor a time-dependent , the differential equation still holds, but this integrated power law does not. At it reduces to the period-product invariant for conservative mass transfer; at , is constant and is constant, as in Jeans-mode mass loss.
Set the binary mass ratio . Since , the Kepler third law and the preceding orbital period derivative implyThe specified approximation to the Roche lobe gives . Consequently the donor-wind Roche-lobe response isThis is a local Roche-lobe radius response exponent, so it remains valid instantaneously even if varies.
The stellar radius response exponent of is . Maintaining Roche-lobe overflow in exact contact requires , yieldingFor a precise feasibility of donor-wind binary contact test, put and . The Roche-lobe radius response exponent is . Thus a permitted contact fraction exists exactly whenUnless vanishes, the required fraction is . At , both limiting Roche-lobe radius response exponents coincide: contact is possible for any only if , and for no otherwise.
The sign of the overfilling change resolves the failure of contact:If , mass loss makes the donor star underfill its Roche lobe: the system detaches and contact-driven transfer stops. If , mass loss increases the overfilling: transfer is destabilized, and rapid transfer or a common envelope may result. Calling this a failure of dynamical stability of binary mass transfer specifically requires to be the adiabatic stellar radius response exponent; a thermal or equilibrium response concerns a different timescale. Additional angular momentum losses or intrinsic stellar expansion can change these outcomes by changing the contact equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 65 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In the center of mass frame, the velocities are and . Hence the kinetic energy is , while the Newtonian gravitational potential energy is . The two-body orbital energy is thereforeThe relative equation of Newtonian gravity is . It is a central force, so conservation of angular momentum confines the motion to a plane and preserves the specific angular momentum .
For completeness, derive the polar equation of a Kepler orbit. Let and use primes for derivatives. Then and . The radial equation gives the Binet equationChoose the angular origin at closest approach. Its solution is , soFor the ellipse, the orbital eccentricity satisfies . Its extreme separations are and . The semi-major axis is half their sum, giving and thus . The true anomaly runs through a full ; the endpoints are the same position, and for a circular Kepler orbit the angular origin is arbitrary.
The radial and transverse relative speeds are and . Substituting these into the specific orbital energy givesTherefore the conserved orbital energy isThe negative specific orbital energy and fixed angular momentum characterize the bound Kepler orbit; neither should be assumed unchanged through a mass-ejecting explosion.
Initially the circular Kepler orbit has and . Treat the supernova kick in a binary star as impulsive: the relative position does not change, the companion's velocity is unchanged during the impulse, and the new neutron star receives with . Thus , and with the angle between these vectors before the kick,Write , and . The post-explosion specific orbital energy isUsing givesHere for a bound Kepler orbit. For a hyperbolic Kepler orbit, this formula uses the signed energy parameter , rather than the positive geometric magnitude of the hyperbola's semi-major axis. At the parabolic Kepler orbit boundary, .
The kick-direction binary survival criterion is bound if and unbound with positive asymptotic speed if . To prove the printed sufficient disruption condition, choose a perpendicular kick, : then , so produces positive specific orbital energy. This is sufficient, not the sharp existence threshold. Sincethe complete kick-direction binary survival criterion isThe second inequality follows by taking a kick directly opposite to . All directions remain bound if , while every direction has positive escape energy if . For , the marginal direction obeys when the right-hand side lies in . Equalities give marginal parabolic Kepler orbits for the relevant extreme direction. With zero kick, losing more than half the original total mass unbinds the circular Kepler orbit.
For an escaping pair, the Newtonian gravitational potential energy approaches zero at infinite separation. Conservation of the post-explosion two-body orbital energy then gives , or the asymptotic relative speed of a disrupted binaryThis is the relative recession speed, not the velocity of the new center of mass or either star's individual velocity in the original inertial frame. A marginal parabolic Kepler orbit separates with at infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 65 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A cataclysmic variable is a close semidetached binary in which a white dwarf accretes from a cool, usually low-mass donor star filling its Roche lobe. In an ordinary hydrogen-rich system the donor star is often near the lower main sequence. In a nonmagnetic cataclysmic variable (a disk-fed CV), the white dwarf's magnetic field is too weak to control the flow over the disk. This leaves a characteristic disk-fed geometry, summarized in the original schematic below. NASA's introduction to cataclysmic variables describes the basic components.
Nonmagnetic cataclysmic variable: Roche-lobe-filling donor, L1 gas stream, accretion disk, hot spot, white dwarf and boundary layer
. Details. Roche-lobe overflow passes through the inner Lagrange point . A nearly ballistic stream bends in the rotating frame and strikes the outer accretion disk, producing an accretion-disk stream-impact hot spot. Its retained angular momentum prevents direct radial infall. Viscous evolution of an accretion disk transports angular momentum outward while gas moves inward through a nearly Keplerian accretion disk. Close to the white dwarf, gas slows from orbital rotation toward the stellar rotation in an accretion-disk boundary layer. The disk, accretion-disk stream-impact hot spot, accretion-disk boundary layer, white dwarf and donor star all contribute to the spectrum and, where the orbital inclination permits, to the eclipses of an eclipsing binary. In particular, “nonmagnetic” describes the accretor's control of the flow; it does not imply that the donor star cannot sustain a magnetic field.
The gravitational power available from accretion is approximately . For a slowly rotating white dwarf and a thin steady Keplerian accretion disk, the specific energy changes from approximately zero far out to at the inner disk. Roughly half the available power is radiated by the accretion disk; the rest is released in the accretion-disk boundary layer as the orbital kinetic energy is dissipated. Stellar rotation and departures from a steady thin disk change this partition.
A classical nova has a different energy source. Transferred hydrogen accumulates on the white dwarf; compression heats the base of its envelope until temperature-sensitive hydrogen burning accelerates. Electron degeneracy pressure initially weakens the expansion response to heating, helping a thermonuclear runaway develop. The envelope subsequently expands and ejects material, producing a large optical outburst followed by a decline as the ejecta expand and residual burning ends. The white dwarf usually survives, so continued accretion can build another fuel layer. A rough recurrence scale is the ignition-envelope mass divided by the mean accretion rate; both this mass and the rate vary strongly among systems. The event is an envelope eruption, and the retained fraction is not automatically unity. Starrfield, Iliadis and Hix's nova calculations explains this nuclear mechanism. A classical nova is powered by unstable nuclear burning on the white dwarf.
A dwarf nova undergoes recurrent, shorter brightenings powered principally by enhanced gravitational accretion. The hydrogen-ionization disk instability creates cold, mostly neutral and hot, ionized branches of the disk's accretion-disk thermal S-curve, separated by unstable equilibria. In quiescence the cool disk stores matter because inward transport is slow. Once a critical surface density is reached, a heating transition puts the disk into a hotter, more state with higher effective viscosity: the inward accretion rate and luminosity rise and the disk drains. A cooling transition returns it to quiescence, completing the cycle. A persistent increase in the donor star's transfer rate is not required. Sufficiently high transfer rates can keep the disk on its hot stable branch, giving a nova-like variable rather than ordinary disk cycles. Lasota's disk-instability analysis and Hameury's disk-instability review develop this picture. A dwarf-nova outburst is a disk instability, not a white-dwarf thermonuclear explosion. The names classify mechanisms and need not identify permanently distinct binaries: a nova-producing binary can also possess an unstable disk between nuclear eruptions.
The cataclysmic-variable orbital-period distribution is not smooth. For ordinary hydrogen-rich cataclysmic variables, prominent features are a cataclysmic-variable period gap around two to three hours, a cataclysmic-variable period minimum near eighty minutes, and an accumulation near that minimum. These are population features rather than absolute exclusions. Selection effects matter: luminous high-accretion rate systems are easier to find than faint evolved systems. Helium-transferring binaries have a different period range and are not described by the hydrogen-rich minimum. Gänsicke and collaborators' period-minimum study documents the observed accumulation.
The Roche-lobe-filling period-density relation makes the orbital period a measure of donor structure. Combining with Kepler's third law givesAs the donor star loses mass, its stellar radius response exponent impliesA donor with evolves toward shorter orbital periods. When its effective response falls below , continued mass loss instead lengthens the orbital period: this is the cataclysmic-variable period bounce. A very low-mass donor may be substellar and increasingly affected by electron degeneracy pressure; the ideal degenerate scaling illustrates the reversal. The precise cataclysmic-variable period minimum depends on thermal disequilibrium and the strength of orbital angular momentum loss. Near a turning point is small; for an approximately steady evolutionary flow of systems, the number per period interval scales as , explaining the accumulation. Knigge, Baraffe and Patterson's donor-based evolutionary study relates the donor star's response to these period features.
Long-term transfer is driven mainly by losses of orbital angular momentum, rather than by disk outbursts. Magnetic braking of a binary star removes the cool donor star's spin through a magnetized stellar wind. Tidal synchronization makes the orbit replenish that spin, so the wind extracts orbital angular momentum. This is usually the dominant standard driving mechanism above the cataclysmic-variable period gap. Gravitational-wave emission from a binary system supplies a baseline loss, especially important below the gap. For a weak-field, slowly moving circular orbit, the circular gravitational-wave inspiral givesBecause ordinary transfer from the lighter donor star tends to expand its Roche lobe if orbital angular momentum is conserved, an external loss is needed to sustain contact. In the conservative contact approximation, the binary mass-transfer contact equation readswhere the stellar radius response exponent must match the evolutionary timescale and additional donor expansion has been neglected. The positive denominator on the stable branch makes drive . Nova ejecta can introduce additional nonconservative binary mass transfer. Knigge's evolutionary discussion describes the standard loss mechanisms and their limitations.
In the disrupted magnetic braking model, relatively rapid mass loss above the cataclysmic-variable period gap keeps the donor star inflated relative to stellar thermal equilibrium. When the donor approaches the fully convective star transition, the model postulates a substantial reduction in magnetic braking of a binary star. The donor star can contract within its Roche lobe, suppressing Roche-lobe overflow near the upper edge of the gap. Gravitational-wave emission from a binary system continues to shrink the detached binary; near the lower edge the Roche lobe again reaches the donor radius and transfer resumes. No mass transfer is needed during the detached crossing. The density relation predicts a radius ratio between contact at three and two hours if the masses remain nearly fixed, illustrating the required inflation before detachment. The torque reduction is a model ingredient, not a claim that all fully convective stars lose their magnetic fields. Zorotovic and collaborators' detached-binary study tests the predicted detached population in the gap.
The standard formation channel starts with an initially wider binary star containing two main sequence stars. The initially more massive component evolves first and becomes a giant. Unstable Roche-lobe overflow can engulf the companion in a common envelope. Drag causes inward orbital motion, releasing two-body orbital energy and transferring angular momentum to the envelope. If the envelope is expelled before merger, a close detached binary survives, containing the exposed core, which becomes a white dwarf, and the lower-mass companion. This explains how a binary becomes much tighter than the giant progenitor's radius would have allowed. The outcome depends on envelope binding and the efficiency of energy deposition, summarized approximately by the common-envelope energy formalism; ejection is not guaranteed. Ivanova and collaborators' common-envelope analysis discusses the relevant physics and uncertainties.
Subsequent magnetic braking of a binary star and gravitational-wave emission from a binary system shrink the detached binary until its companion fills its Roche lobe. Stable Roche-lobe overflow, for a suitable binary mass ratio and stellar radius response exponent, then creates a cataclysmic variable. Its later nuclear eruptions, disk cycles and secular orbital period evolution occur on different timescales. The formation sequence is a wide binary, envelope ejection, a close detached white-dwarf binary, and angular-momentum-driven contact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 31A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For spin , . The Pauli matrices satisfy . The antisymmetric term vanishes on contraction with , and , so . Separating the even and odd terms of the exponential series givesFor the single-particle Hamiltonian, unitary time evolution consequently acts asFor two spins the joint eigenstates of total angular momentum are the spin-one-half triplet statewith and , and the spin-one-half singlet stateThese follow by adding the two spin- angular momenta, or by direct action of the Pauli matrices.
The two terms of the specified Hamiltonian commute, so its evolution factorizes into rotations with opposite angles on the two tensor factors. The unique initial state is . With , , its evolved state isThe singlet amplitude is , giving the requested probability
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 34D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and parametrize the timelike geodesic by proper time . Time-translation and rotational symmetry conserve and in the equatorial plane. The normalized four-velocity obeysSubstitution and multiplication by give , orThe dot denotes a proper-time derivative, and are energy and angular momentum per unit rest mass.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 7D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The two cyclic Euler angles give conserved canonical momentaHere is the body-axis angular momentum and the vertical angular momentum. Thus is constant. Since the Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, the energy is also conserved:These are the three independent conserved quantities furnished by the continuous symmetries of the heavy symmetric top.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 12C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In a frame centered at the fixed point or centre of mass, a rotating material point has velocity . The identity converts the rotational kinetic energy into , where the inertia tensor isLikewise integrating gives the angular momentum . These expressions refer to rotational motion about the chosen origin.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 12C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In principal axes, and . Substitute the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body:For the squared angular momentum,Thus both and are conserved, even though the body-frame components of generally change.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 10B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For unit mass, the inverse-square force has potential energy , with zero potential at infinity. Conservation of angular momentum gives . Differentiate the polar equation of the Kepler orbit:Consequently the total mechanical energy iswhere . This also explains the sign distinction between an elliptic orbit, a parabolic Kepler orbit, and a hyperbolic Kepler orbit.
At the original periapsis, the parabolic Kepler orbit has , , and purely tangential speed . ThusThe outward radial impulse has zero moment about the Sun, so it preserves angular momentum and hence . Its additional velocity is perpendicular to the original velocity, so the new mechanical energy is . Applying the energy formula givesFor , the new orbit is a hyperbolic Kepler orbit; leaves the parabola unchanged.
To fix the orientation of the sketch, put the Sun at the origin, the impulse point at , and take the original motion there upwards. The new velocity is . The eccentricity vector isIt points towards the new periapsis, which is rotated clockwise through from the original periapsis direction. Thus, measured using the original polar angle , the new orbit isIn particular, the impulse point is already on the outgoing part of the new orbit and is not its new periapsis. The old parabola satisfies . Both orbits pass through and have the same focus, but the hyperbola's new periapsis axis is tilted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A spacetime is geodesically complete if every maximal geodesic has an affine parameter ranging over all of . For timelike geodesics this is equivalent to unbounded proper time in both directions. An extendible geodesic segment can be prolonged in the same spacetime; an inextendible geodesic cannot. A finite coordinate endpoint need not imply finite affine parameter.
For the Kruskal spacetime, use withIn the right exterior . A truncated ray , is an extendible geodesic of radial null type: neither artificial endpoint is a spacetime boundary. A future ray in the black hole reaches , hence , and is inextendible geodesic and future null-geodesically incomplete. Its Killing energy gives , so the Schwarzschild singularity occurs at finite affine parameter. The maximal continuation toward the past supplies the other half of this same null geodesic.
There is no inextendible, complete radial timelike geodesic in positive-mass Kruskal spacetime. This requested example is impossible as printed. For a radial timelike geodesic, the conserved Killing energy and normalization giveIf , has at most one turning point, a maximum ; a maximal trajectory runs from the white hole Schwarzschild singularity to the Schwarzschild singularity. If , there is no finite turning point; one end can lie at infinity but the other reaches . The exceptional trajectory through the bifurcation surface also reaches in both time directions. Near ,whose integral is finite. Constant- radial timelike curves are accelerated, not geodesics.
Two plausible repairs have different meanings. Removing “radial” permits a complete circular timelike geodesic at , with nonzero angular momentum and proper time ranging over . Replacing “timelike” by “null” permits a complete horizon null geodesic: , , with an affine parameter. The Penrose diagram shows both repairs explicitly, together with the two valid requested examples; the circular trajectory is only a radial projection and is labelled as nonradial.
Kruskal causal diagram with extendible and incomplete null rays and explicitly labelled repairs to the impossible radial timelike example
. Details. The horizontal boundaries are the Schwarzschild singularities, diagonal dashed lines are the Killing horizons, and outer diagonal edges are null infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 4 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For each initial Kerr black hole, and the horizon area follows by integrating its induced metric:The final Schwarzschild black hole has area . Applying the second law of black-hole mechanics to the sum of the two initial areas givesConsequently the radiated energy fraction satisfiesThe bound is for nonrotating initial holes and tends to as . It is an upper bound from area alone, not a predicted efficiency or an assurance that equality is realizable. A final Schwarzschild black hole has zero angular momentum; any nonzero total initial angular momentum must also be removed or compensated, which can further restrict a physical merger.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 320 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
False as a claimed change between isolated steady endpoints. Conservation of energy by itself would allow a more negative and a larger , but both endpoints must also obey the virial theorem. For a finite isolated equilibrium with no surface term,If total is conserved between the two equilibria, the fixed-energy virial constraint between steady states givesThis includes both ordered rotation and random stellar motion. A galactic bar or other instability can redistribute angular momentum and concentrate a central component, but compensating expansion or rearrangement elsewhere must preserve the global energy constraint. Central concentration alone does not prove that the whole system has a more negative .
A remnant could have different energies if stars escape, or if an external component exchanges energy with it; then the conserved total energy would include that other component. Those cases do not justify treating the bound disc simultaneously as a closed fixed-energy system and as a new equilibrium with increased .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 320 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
False. Adiabatic invariance of an orbital action preserves actions under sufficiently slow regular evolution, not the ratios of their frequencies. With action-angle variables, can change even when does not. A closed bound orbit requires commensurate radial and angular frequencies; rational commensurability is not an adiabatic invariant.
For an explicit counterexample, slowly change the physical potential from Kepler form towith a small, slowly varying positive . The radial epicyclic frequency and circular angular frequency at a nearly circular orbit areInitially their ratio is one. For generic nonzero , is irrational, producing the Kepler-harmonic epicyclic precession. An initially slightly eccentric ellipse with nonzero radial action therefore becomes a precessing nonclosed orbit, while its radial action remains approximately fixed and its angular momentum remains exactly fixed by spherical symmetry.





