Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 4 9B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 ia Paper 4 10B a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Apply the rotating-frame derivative formula first to , then to . Since the angular velocity is constant in either frame,The two apparent forces in the rotating equation are the Coriolis force and the centrifugal acceleration multiplied by mass. ThusSet . The supplied gradient identity gives . Taking the scalar product with removes , since it is orthogonal to , and removes the Coriolis force. Therefore the energy balance in a uniformly rotating frame isThe displayed quantity is conserved when the potential is stationary in the rotating coordinates. This includes a static inertial potential invariant under rotations about the chosen axis, such as vertical gravity in part (b). If the word conservative only means a time-independent inertial potential, that extra rotational invariance is needed; a conservative force alone does not imply the claimed conservation.
For an explicit counterexample to that unrestricted interpretation, take unit mass, an inertial force , , no , rotation , and inertial trajectory with initial velocity zero. It satisfies Newton's second law. Substituting into the proposed energy gives , which is not constant for nonzero rotation. The qualified conservation law above is the one used for the hoop.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 ia Paper 4 11B c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Measure a signed angle from the upward radius in the direction of falling. With , gravitational torque givesThere is an idealization in the release condition: exactly upright and exactly at rest is an unstable equilibrium, so the exact ideal solution stays there. Uniqueness of this smooth equation with prevents spontaneous departure. The usual falling calculation means an infinitesimal disturbance, with its energy tending to that of the upright rest state. For that limiting separatrix motion, conservation of mechanical energy givesOn the branch with increasing angle, for ; the opposite branch has the opposite angular velocity. The nontrivial limiting motion approaches the upright position only as , because has a logarithmically divergent integral near zero.
Let point from toward , and in the direction of increasing angle, so and . The centre of mass acceleration on the limiting falling branch isGravity has components . Applying Newton's second law to the whole disc givesThe signed component parallel to the radius, positive from toward , is the required . This same radial formula is consistent at the exact stationary upright state, where , , and ; nonzero falling angles require the limiting-release interpretation just stated.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 56 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Let , and let be the reduced mass. The stellar distances from the center of mass are and . For a circular Kepler orbit, , so summing the two orbital contributions gives the circular-binary orbital angular momentumThe separation is inside the square root. This also has the required dimensions of angular momentum.
For the homologous rotating collapse, label a fluid element by and its polar angle . Its enclosed mass is constant during stellar homology, as are the dimensionless density profile and the inertia coefficient . Conservation of angular momentum and solid-body rotation giveThe magnitude of the centrifugal acceleration is , while the Newtonian gravitational field has magnitude . ThereforeUsing only the radial component of centrifugal force replaces by and leaves the scaling unchanged. The centrifugal force vanishes on the rotation axis; the central point is understood through the limiting field rather than a ratio of two zero forces.
At the equator of the cloud, critical rotation of a spherical cloud means , where . ConsequentlyImmediately after the first fission, each daughter has mass and radius because the spheres touch. Their orbital moment of inertia is , while their combined spin moment of inertia is . With a common spin and orbital frequency , the synchronous fission model for binary formation givesThe common frequency can change during fission; corotation requires equal instantaneous frequencies, not an unchanged frequency from before the rearrangement. Equating the two values of yieldsFor a nonzero positive inertia coefficient, the necessary and sufficient condition in this algebraic model for isFor example, a moment of inertia of a uniform solid sphere has and gives ; it fails the required compact-fission condition. A sufficiently centrally concentrated cloud can have smaller .
For the next collapse, neglect exchange of spin with the unchanged outer orbit, so each daughter's spin angular momentum is separately conserved. Immediately after the first fission that spin isFor a daughter of mass to reach critical rotation of a spherical cloud at radius , the same relation gives . HenceEquivalently, its centrifugal-to-gravity ratio starts at when its radius is and reaches one after contraction by a factor four. Applying the same fission rule to this daughter produces an inner pair with separationCorotation at this second fission is local to each newly formed inner pair; it is not a single common frequency for the entire four-star hierarchy.
This spin assumption matters. If tidal locking instead kept each shrinking daughter synchronized to the fixed outer orbital period throughout the intervening collapse, its angular velocity would remain fixed. Its centrifugal-to-gravity ratio would then scale as and decrease, so it would never reach the proposed second fission. This is a counterexample to extending the corotation assumption through the whole contraction. The printed ratio describes the separately spin-conserving interpretation of the repeated fission hierarchy.
The model can generate a compact hierarchy algebraically, but is not a general physical account of multiple-star formation. In the allowed range , one has , suggesting well-separated inner and outer scales. However, rapidly rotating gas deforms, touching daughters are tidally distorted, and pressure, gas flows, dissipation and spin-orbit torques cannot generally be ignored. The assumed identical profiles, equal mass splits, instantaneous corotation and later torque-free contractions are restrictive. Star formation can involve gravitational fragmentation and redistribution of angular momentum; the toy budget neither proves that fission occurs nor predicts the population of real multiple systems.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 4 10C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For any vector , differentiating its components and the rotating basis gives the rotating-frame derivative formulaApply it twice to the position , with constant angular velocity . The inertial acceleration iswhere dots denote rotating-frame derivatives. Newton's second law therefore becomesThe last terms are the Coriolis force and the force corresponding to centrifugal acceleration.
For the particle on a uniformly rotating inclined plane, choose orthonormal vectors along the horizontal axis and up the slope, and set , the upward normal vector. Then andHere is the normal reaction. The marble is modeled as the smooth sliding particle specified by the printed equations, without an additional rolling constraint. The rotating-frame Coriolis acceleration and centrifugal acceleration are respectivelyThe normal rotating-frame acceleration is zero, so the normal reaction is not generally ; it satisfiesProjecting the same equation onto the two tangential axes gives exactly
Multiply the equations by and and add. The Coriolis force terms cancel, as expected because this force does no work relative to the rotating frame. The normal reaction also does no work along the plane. The conserved quantity is rotating-frame kinetic energy plus gravitational and centrifugal potential energy:This need not be the conserved inertial energy, since the externally driven rotating plane can exchange energy with the particle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 4 3C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In classical charged particle in a uniform magnetic field motion, the Lorentz force and Newton's second law giveAssume and choose an orthonormal coordinate system with , . Write , retaining the sign of the electric charge. The velocity equations areThus the parallel velocity is constant, and the perpendicular velocity rotates at constant angular frequency. Choosing the time origin and perpendicular axes conveniently givesIntegrating the velocity, one obtainsThe first two coordinates describe a circle of radius , while the third advances uniformly. This is helical motion in a uniform magnetic field: the helix has axis parallel to through the guiding centre. Its cyclotron frequency isand its signed angular velocity vector about that axis is . The minus sign follows from the ordering in the Lorentz force. The helix degenerates to a circle when and to a straight line when . If or , there is only straight-line motion. In a relativistic extension with fixed Lorentz factor , the frequency becomes ; the classical result above uses as momentum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 54 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The axial angular momentum density is . The second equation in part (b) writes its conservation law with magnetic axial angular momentum fluxThe nonmagnetic part of the energy flux is azimuthal. Using , its poloidal part isThe ratio is therefore wherever the compared component of the angular-momentum flux is nonzero; the proportionality remains meaningful at zero flux.
A fully steady magnetic configuration requires , hence : angular velocity is constant along poloidal field lines. This is Ferraro's law of isorotation. The steady azimuthal force additionally requires , which holds, for example, if . The remaining meridional force balance is a separate equilibrium condition.
Since and are time independent, differentiate the angular-momentum equation once more and substitute the induction equation:This is the variable-coefficient wave equation for the torsional Alfvén wave.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 54 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The pressure-square term in the Cowling energy principle for a rotating barotropic star is nonnegative, and makes its stratification term nonnegative. Write for specific angular momentum. ThenFor a regular star reaching the rotation axis, . The given therefore makes for , and consequently . Equivalently, with the usual nonnegative angular-velocity convention the sign follows directly. All three energy terms are nonnegative, soThis is stability within the Cowling approximation used throughout. The orientation-independent rotational condition is , the Rayleigh discriminant criterion. If a fluid region excludes the axis and negative angular velocity is allowed, alone needs the additional sign of ; the squared-angular-momentum criterion avoids that ambiguity.
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 73 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , , and letUse the method of reflections for Stokes flow. At the fixed sphere, the first sphere produces the incident Stokeslet velocity to leading order. In Faxén translation law, set the second sphere's translational velocity to zero. The applied holding force is thereforeThe first sphere's finite-radius potential dipole adds to the incident velocity, as does the Laplacian term in Faxén translation law at the fixed sphere. Multiplying by gives the stated next correction. There is no intermediate term. This is the holding force and torque for a sphere in a distant Stokeslet.
The vorticity of a Stokeslet at displacement is . At the fixed sphere, , soSet its angular velocity to zero in Faxén rotation law. The applied holding couple isThe displayed sign is the external couple needed to oppose the ambient rotation, rather than the hydrodynamic couple on the sphere.
The leading reflected flow at the first sphere is . Apply Faxén translation law there with its prescribed force . Since , the mobility correction from a fixed distant sphere isThe next correction comes from finite-radius terms in the incident/reflected flow and in Faxén translation law, together with the fixed sphere's induced stresslet and holding-couple rotlet. Each gives at the first sphere. The symbol is its isolated-sphere velocity scale, not its actual velocity in the two-sphere problem.
The first sphere has no applied couple. Its angular velocity follows from Faxén rotation law and the reflected Stokeslet:The component of parallel to contributes no vorticity. The next reflected rotlet and stresslet give the stated error order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The mobility correction from a fixed distant sphere givesTaking their ratio and keeping the first nonzero transverse correction yieldsto the stated leading order. Set . The deflection is , so replacing by on the right introduces only higher-order errors. Integrating from givesThe maximum occurs at , and the deflection and spin in a distant sphere encounter areFor the rotation, use and to leading order in the angular velocity from part (b). Its signed angle about the positive axis isThus the rotation is clockwise when viewed from positive , with the magnitude of the displayed leading term.
The deflection tends back to zero downstream: . More generally, kinematic reversibility of Stokes flow combined with reflection in the plane makes a passing trajectory fore-aft symmetric. One can see this without using the distant-sphere approximation: the relevant translational hydrodynamic mobility matrix has the form . Hence is even in and is odd in . Uniqueness of the trajectory through then gives .
For , the numerical deflection and spin approximations above are invalid: the encounter enters a narrow gap and requires lubrication theory. However, the same return to the incoming offset holds for an ideal passing encounter of perfectly smooth spheres in Stokes flow. Lubrication resistance prevents finite-time contact under a bounded force, and does not itself destroy kinematic reversibility of Stokes flow. Contact, surface roughness or nonhydrodynamic forces could change that conclusion; they are additional physics, not part of the ideal model. This distinction is the fore-aft symmetry of a sedimenting-sphere encounter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 8C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Relative positions and velocities measured from galaxy are and . Spatial homogeneity says that the same position-to-relative-velocity rule applies from every galaxy. Thus . Taking and putting , gives additivity . For a continuous physical velocity field, additivity implies rational homogeneity and, by continuity, real homogeneity. Thereforefor a position-independent matrix . Regularity is necessary to exclude pathological discontinuous additive functions.
Decompose the given matrix as , whereIts symmetric part is isotropic: no cosmological shear, expansion scalar , and linear scale factor proportional to for . Its antisymmetric part is rigid rotation with angular velocityThe vorticity is . Comoving separations obeyThus all distances grow by the same power, volumes grow as , and the pattern rotates about the fixed axis through angle . Homogeneity alone permits this rotation; full cosmological isotropy would not.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 12B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use an Earth-centred rotating reference frame, with Earth's constant angular velocity vector . The vectors , , and are the particle's position, velocity, and acceleration measured in that rotating frame. The vector is the gravitational acceleration due to the actual gravitational force, expressed in the same axes; it excludes the separate centrifugal acceleration. The remaining term is the Coriolis acceleration. A constant rotation axis and an unaccelerated Earth-centred origin account for the absence of an Euler term or a translational-origin term.
For the size estimates, Earth's angular speed isWith drop height , unperturbed free fall gives the fall timeand final speed . Thus the gravitational term has size , the Coriolis acceleration is at most about , and the centrifugal acceleration is at most . These are characteristic sizes , , and in acceleration units; geometric factors can reduce them, and the Coriolis term is zero at release.
For a suitable approximation to the rotational deflection of a falling body, take constant over the short fall, start at rest relative to Earth, and use the zeroth-order velocity inside the small Coriolis term. In the centrifugal term replace by , because . Integrating the resulting acceleration twice, with initial position , givesSince , evaluating at the unperturbed fall time yields the printed first-iterate estimate
The approximation keeps the leading Coriolis contribution and the leading centrifugal contribution enhanced by Earth's large radius. Feeding the Coriolis velocity correction back into the equation produces terms of size , smaller than the retained centrifugal displacement by a factor of order . Replacing by in that term has the same relative error. Here and , so both approximations are well controlled. Strictly, the displayed vector is the position at time : its small upward component is removed by the slightly longer actual fall time. That arrival-time correction changes the retained horizontal displacements only at higher order. Thus the horizontal components of the printed estimate give the landing point on the locally flat surface; its vertical component should not be interpreted as a landing above the ground.
Let point east, north, and vertically upwards. They form a right-handed basis, with . At latitude , in the spherical-Earth approximation,The required cross products areAt , the northerly and easterly displacements are thereforeThe negative northerly component means a southward displacement. With the supplied values, these are approximately south and east. The eastward effect comes from Coriolis acceleration, while the leading southward effect here comes from centrifugal acceleration.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 11A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The rotating-frame derivative formula is . Applying it twice to the position vector, with constant angular velocity, givesSolving for identifies the displayed terms: its left side is the acceleration relative to the rotating reference frame, the first right-hand term is the inertial acceleration, is the Coriolis acceleration, and is the outward centrifugal acceleration.
For a particle of mass , replace by the actual force divided by using Newton's second law. The remaining terms then appear as apparent forces in . There is no Euler acceleration because is constant and no translational acceleration term because the common origin is fixed in the inertial frame.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 311 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Work first in units . Black-hole thermodynamics starts with the laws of black-hole mechanics. For a connected stationary regular Killing horizon, the Zeroth law of black-hole mechanics makes its surface gravity constant when the Einstein field equations and dominant energy condition hold. This parallels uniform equilibrium temperature. For neighboring stationary asymptotically flat four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell black holes, the First law of black-hole mechanics iswhere is the horizon angular velocity and its electric potential relative to infinity. The last terms are rotational and electromagnetic work, analogous to the work terms in . The second law of black-hole mechanics, expressed by Hawking's area theorem, makes the total future horizon area nondecreasing for classical matter obeying the null energy condition and global assumptions such as strong asymptotic predictability. The third law of black-hole mechanics is an unattainability statement: subject to the usual regularity assumptions, the weak energy condition, and a bounded stress-energy tensor, no finite physical process reduces the surface gravity of a regular horizon to zero. It does not assert that extremal black holes have zero area or zero entropy.
Classical geometry alone fixes an analogy, not a nonzero physical temperature. Quantum field theory supplies Hawking temperature . Comparing the area term of the first law with gives for nonextremal holes, and hence the standard Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Restoring physical constants,Here restored is the physical acceleration surface gravity and is the squared Planck length. The first-law comparison determines the area coefficient, leaving an additive entropy constant unspecified; the displayed formula is the usual convention. Its area scaling, rather than ordinary volume scaling, signals that the available thermodynamic degrees of freedom of a gravitating system are constrained by the horizon geometry.
Particle production explains the quantum input. For a real scalar field obeying the massless covariant wave equation, the Klein-Gordon inner product on solutions isThe wave equation makes its current divergence-free, so the product is independent of a Cauchy hypersurface when the boundary flux vanishes. Use suitably normalized wave packets or the appropriate continuum distributions. Asymptotic past and future Minkowski spacetimes give preferred positive-frequency solution mode bases and , normalized by , and . Between those regions, a nonstationary geometry generally has no preferred positive-frequency splitting.
The mode bases are related by a Bogoliubov transformation,The last identities follow from conservation of the Klein-Gordon inner product and are the canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation. Expanding the field in either complete basis and extracting its positive-frequency coefficient givesThus the state annihilated by every hasThis particle number from Bogoliubov coefficients is nonzero when time evolution mixes positive and negative frequencies. It describes one state as vacuum in the early particle basis and populated in the late basis; it does not require an arbitrary choice of a vacuum at each intermediate time. For a finite implementable transformation the state remains a squeezed pure quantum state. In infinitely many modes, a common unitary bosonic Fock space implementation requires additional conditions, such as the beta map being a Hilbert-Schmidt operator; finite wave packet observables need not share every global divergence of an ideal continuum calculation.
For gravitational collapse, the future is not globally Minkowski: it contains a black hole. The relevant late out-basis includes modes reaching future null infinity together with modes entering the future event horizon. Modes on infinity alone are not a complete Cauchy basis. Nevertheless the same mode-mixing calculation determines the outgoing particle flux. Near a nonextremal horizon, the logarithm in the tortoise coordinate converts regular early null coordinates into the Hawking exponential ray mapwhere is the early affine null coordinate and is late retarded time at infinity. Backward propagation of a late outgoing mode gives a factor for . Its positive- and negative-frequency Fourier integrals differ by analytic continuation around the logarithmic branch. With a convergence regulator they reduce toTaking gives the thermal ratio of Hawking Bogoliubov coefficients, . Combining this with the canonical normalization yields the bosonic occupation . Late-time wave packets turn formal continuum coefficients into a finite number flux.
A Schwarzschild black hole has , so this spectrum has . The exterior curvature potential partly reflects the outgoing modes. Its transmission probabilities are the greybody factors, giving, for one massless scalar species in the stationary late-time approximation,Thus the horizon temperature is universal, while the spectrum received at infinity is not a perfect featureless blackbody radiation spectrum. The derivation assumes the near-horizon quantum state inherited from a regular collapse vacuum and ignores rapid backreaction over the timescale of the packets. Exponentially blueshifted precursor frequencies indicate the usual short-distance assumption in the semiclassical calculation, not an independently demonstrated quantum-gravity description of the endpoint.
The outgoing positive energy flux drives black-hole evaporation. At leading order for a large isolated Schwarzschild black hole, area scales as and temperature as , giving and a lifetime of order , with the coefficient depending on species and transmission factors. Its negative heat capacity of a Schwarzschild black hole, , means that it heats up as it loses mass and cannot be in stable canonical equilibrium with an unlimited thermal reservoir. The approximation fails when quantum-gravitational scales are reached and does not fix whether the endpoint is complete evaporation, a remnant, or something else.
Area loss does not contradict the classical area theorem, because the quantum stress-energy tensor need not obey the classical null energy condition; negative horizon energy accompanies the positive outgoing flux. The appropriate thermodynamic statement is the generalized second law, involving . Finally, Hawking radiation raises the black hole information paradox: if a pure quantum state completely evaporates into an exactly thermal mixed quantum state and its partners disappear, the result conflicts with ordinary unitary time evolution. Early outgoing radiation can be mixed simply because of its entanglement with interior modes while the complete state remains a pure quantum state; that fact alone is not information loss. Resolving the fate of all correlations through the evaporation endpoint requires more than the leading semiclassical flux calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Linearity of Stokes flow and rotational symmetry, including reflection in mathematics invariance of the spherical geometry, determine the possible rigid motions before any calculation. Translation is a polar vector; its linear dependence on a single vector must be . A traceless second-rank tensor cannot produce a polar vector by an isotropic linear map: tensor contraction with the identity matrix vanishes and tensor contraction with the totally antisymmetric tensor vanishes because is a symmetric second-rank tensor. Angular velocity is an axial vector. Neither nor a symmetric can produce one by an isotropic linear map. Products such as are excluded by Linearity of Stokes flow. Thus .
Use the Unscaled Papkovich–Neuber representation, with harmonic functions and :Indeed and because each potential is a harmonic function. Put and . The decaying harmonic functions with the necessary angular dependence are , and . The last is a harmonic function precisely because . A Stokeslet is excluded by the force-free condition, and a rotlet by the torque-free condition. TryThe resulting Stokes flow isAt , the coefficient of fixes ; the remaining constant vector gives . In the mode, matching gives and . Therefore the complete two-mode tensorial squirmer flow isThe boundary condition is satisfied in the laboratory frame, so the Stokes flow tends to zero at infinity. The potential dipole in the mode gives an irrotational flow and decays as ; the leading mode is a stresslet, decaying as . Neither carries a net force or torque. Direct surface integral averaging with the surface slip velocity formula gives the same translation, providing an independent check. Uniqueness of Stokes flow then identifies this decaying solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , , and . Applied forces and couples below are forces and torques on the solid; by force balance their values are also the strengths exerted by that solid on the fluid. This fixes the signs in Faxén's first law and Faxén's rotational law. To hold the passive sphere fixed, set its translation and angular velocity to zero in those laws. The incident two-mode tensorial squirmer flow givesOnly the stresslet part has vorticity:Consequently, for fixed as ,The leading force is the radial stresslet force. Its next correction, , comes from the incident potential dipole. The next correction, , contains both the swimmer's field and the Laplacian term in Faxén's first law. If the relevant coefficient vanishes, these next terms must be retained instead of calling the vanished term a nonzero leading approximation. Further exchanges in the method of reflections for Stokes flow are smaller still.
The passive sphere reflects primarily a Stokeslet with strength . At the swimmer, its velocity is . The unchanged surface slip velocity adds the free swimming velocity to the incident-flow contribution in Faxén's first law. ThusThe leading change is ; its next correction is the displayed term. Finite-radius Faxén's first law corrections, the passive sphere's reflected stresslet, and its rotlet contribute at order to translation.
For a Stokeslet at the origin,The curl of the first term is ; that of the second is also , before multiplying by . Hence . At the swimmer use displacement . The leading force is parallel to , so its Stokeslet has zero vorticity there. This eliminates the putative rotation. The potential dipole itself has no vorticity, but the holding force it induces is not radial. Applying Faxén's rotational law to its reflected Stokeslet yieldsThe passive sphere's rotlet and reflected stresslet can affect that last order, so they cannot restore the larger missing rotation. When , the boxed coefficient is zero and the higher-order terms determine any rotation.