Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 46 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For fields with a first-derivative Lagrangian density, suppose an infinitesimal global transformation at fixed coordinates is and , with constant infinitesimal . Noether theorem gives the on shell conserved currentThis follows by varying the Lagrangian, integrating the terms with by parts, and setting the Euler-Lagrange expressions to zero. If spatial boundary flux vanishes, is a conserved Noether charge. Spacetime symmetries are covered by including the induced field variation at fixed coordinates and the corresponding total derivative .
An example of a theory with a Lorentz four-vector is the source-free Maxwell field with electromagnetic four-potential . Under an Abelian gauge transformation,The change in is , so the Maxwell Lagrangian is gauge-invariant. For define and . With signature ,The minus sign in gives the positive electric kinetic term and positive physical field energy; reversing it would reverse the Hamiltonian's sign for the physical modes. The normalization accounts for antisymmetry and yields the conventional equations. Varying gives .
For time translation at fixed coordinates take . Since is constant, , and hence . Thus . The momentum derivative isNoether theorem therefore gives the canonical stress-energy tensor's time-translation currentHere was used. The canonical momentum of vanishes, while that of the lower spatial component is : acts as a multiplier for Gauss law, not a propagating degree of freedom. The density above is not manifestly gauge-invariant, but its charge agrees with the physical energy on the constraint surface and with appropriate boundary conditions.
The gauge-covariant time translation instead has . It is time translation combined with a gauge transformation of parameter . Directly,using the definition of , equivalently its Bianchi identity. The total derivative in is unchanged. The improved current isIt is the gauge-invariant Maxwell stress-energy tensor. In particular,The spatial current is the Poynting vector , so conservation gives . This is the familiar positive local electromagnetic field energy density, expressed entirely in measurable fields.
To compare the currents,The last term vanishes on the source-free Maxwell equations, leaving a stress-energy tensor improvement generated by a stress-energy superpotential. At the charge level,when the surface term vanishes and Gauss law holds. Thus the symmetries yield the same conserved energy under these conditions while the second supplies a gauge-invariant local density. Boundary terms would have to be retained if those boundary conditions were not imposed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ib Paper 2 16B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
For the Dirichlet Green's function, solve with zero endpoint values. Away from , is linear. Continuity at and the derivative jump giveFor nonzero Dirichlet boundary conditions, subtract their linear interpolant. The resulting boundary value problem has solutionIn the final heat equation, a steady state has zero time derivative. Here , , , . Integrating twice and imposing the endpoint values givesIts second derivative and both boundary conditions verify the answer directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ib Paper 2 7A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
The free surface is a material surface, so its kinematic boundary condition isWith constant atmospheric pressure and no surface tension, the dynamic boundary condition for an inviscid interface follows from Unsteady Bernoulli equation:Write , where and are small. Choose the time-dependent potential gauge so the undisturbed right-hand side is . Retaining first-order terms, evaluated at , givesThe incompressibility condition also gives Laplace's equation for .
Set . Substitution of the specified normal mode into the two linearized boundary conditions yields and . Eliminating gives the dispersion relationThe decay factor in a fluid extending to uses . With signed wavenumber the decaying factor is and the right-hand side is . The frequency shift is the advection of a deep-water gravity wave by the uniform current.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 49 3 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take compactly supported metric variations, or impose boundary conditions that remove the integration by parts terms. Let and . Since , the gravitational action varies asApplying integration by parts twice to the derivative terms givesFor the usual stress-energy tensor definition , varying the covariant metric tensor gives . Thus the action's stated normalization impliesThere is no implicit in this gravitational action. This is the normalization of the metric f(R) field equation, rather than the commonly normalized version with on the right.
Finally, the chain rule gives and . Substitution yieldsThis is a metric f(R) gravity variation: the connection is always the Levi-Civita connection of the varied metric tensor, not an independent variable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 66 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take and use primes for spatial derivatives. Two integration by parts operations in the first variation of the elastic filament's bending energy giveThus the Euler-Lagrange equation is , and the fluctuation differential operator is . In the L2 space inner product, its boundary form isThe conjugate endpoint trace pairs are and . Requiring one member of each pair to vanish gives the four standard self-adjoint endpoint conditions for filament bending, applied at both ends:
- Free-free: . Both the bending torque and the transverse endpoint force vanish; position and slope can vary.
- Clamped-clamped: . Position and slope are fixed, with reaction forces and torques permitted. These are clamped boundary conditions.
- Hinged-hinged: . Position is fixed, but the endpoint rotates without bending torque.
- Torqued-torqued: . Slope is fixed by an endpoint torque, while translation is free and transverse force vanishes. The torque is a reaction, not an additional condition setting to zero.
Each pair annihilates the boundary form for all in the domain. Conversely, the remaining two endpoint traces can be chosen freely: requiring the boundary form to vanish against every such forces an adjoint-domain function to satisfy the same two conditions. This proves self-adjointness, rather than just formal symmetry, on the corresponding fourth-order Sobolev space domain.
The count four concerns these elementary homogeneous choices. Identical-end boundary conditions do not restrict all self-adjoint operators to these four possibilities. For example, , at both ends, with any fixed real , also annihilates the boundary form: the remaining expression is . This Robin boundary condition supplies a continuous family beyond the four listed pairs.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 66 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For each of the four standard pairs, integration by parts givesConsequently the eigenvalues are nonnegative. For a positive eigenvalue , the eigenvalue equation is . Its four characteristic roots are , soHere are coefficients, avoiding a collision with the filament bending modulus . The regular finite-interval self-adjoint operator has compact resolvent; applying the spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators to a shifted inverse supplies a complete orthonormal basis of eigenfunctions.
For clamped boundary conditions at zero, a clamped--clamped bending mode can be writtenAt , writing , the two remaining boundary conditions areThe determinant is . Hence the positive wavenumbers obeyEquivalently, intersect with . Numerical root bracketing givesThe entire sequence has the useful large- descriptionIndeed, put in and use and .
The apparent root in the determinant equation is spurious for the clamped problem: at zero eigenvalue, is a cubic polynomial, and its four clamped conditions force . For other endpoint choices, zero-energy filament modes must be treated separately from the trigonometric formula. The free-free kernel consists of affine functions, the torqued-torqued kernel consists of constants, and the hinged-hinged kernel is trivial. Including those kernels is necessary for a complete eigenfunction expansion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 67 3 Solution 2026-10-07
Assume . Since the drift is positive, the fast mode decays to the right; the matched asymptotic expansion has a left boundary layer at of width , and the outer expansion uses the condition at .
Write . The first two equations for the outer expansion areEnforcing and , defineThen the outer asymptotic expansion isTo derive the correction, set . Cancellation of the homogeneous terms leaves ; integration and give the expression above.
In the left boundary layer, set and . The equation becomes . Put and . The leading inner equation and matching give , , , hence . At the next order,Since , put . The matched inner correction satisfying isFor verification, the differential operator maps to . The large- common part is , precisely the small- outer expansion in the overlap .
Adding the inner expansions and outer expansions and subtracting their common part gives the first-order composite expansion for a positive driftThis is uniformly correct through on . It satisfies the left boundary condition exactly; at the right boundary the remaining error is exponentially small. Polynomial growth in the inner correction is harmless because it is multiplied by the decaying exponential. For the smooth nonvanishing drift, the next matched terms are uniformly .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 46 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the mostly-plus Minkowski metric, and write for equality on the constraint surface. Assume that the mechanical constraints are locally independent. They are first-class constraints whenThus their Poisson brackets vanish on the constraint surface, and their Hamiltonian flows preserve that surface. The structure functions of a constraint algebra may depend on the phase space point. The finite real span of the constraints is a Lie algebra if it closes with constant structure coefficients, in a suitable choice of generators. The Jacobi identity then gives the usual conditions on the structure constants of a Lie algebra. With general structure functions the finite real span need not close, even though the Poisson bracket of all smooth functions is itself a Lie bracket.
To see the gauge invariance directly, let generate a canonical gauge transformation:The variation of the phase-space action integrand isThe second term cancels without using the equations of motion. Taking to vanish at the temporal boundaries leaves the action invariant. Arbitrary functions therefore relate different descriptions of the same physical motion. This reasoning also works with structure functions; constant structure coefficients are only needed for the finite-dimensional Lie algebra claim.
For a closed string, choose and periodic fields. A convenient Nambu-Goto phase-space action isHere and are Lagrange multipliers. The Nambu–Goto phase-space constraints are and , with canonical Poisson bracketsLet . Differentiating the periodic Dirac delta function givesThe opposite signs in and cancel these terms, so . Replace the original constraints by the equivalent chiral densitiesTheir mixed Poisson brackets vanish. Choose opposite Fourier orientations for the two sectors:The chiral constraint algebra of a closed string isEach is the Witt algebra: the vector fields on a circle satisfy . Fourier expansion identifies each real algebra, with , with the Lie algebra of vector fields on the circle. The two commuting copies give , not a quantum central extension.
For an open string, allowed boundary conditions must remove the endpoint term in the variation of the action, consistently with the allowed endpoint variations. The spatial boundary term isIt expresses the open-string endpoint momentum flux. In the temporal gauge for a string , take a boundary-adapted parametrization with at the ends. Fixing gives , a Dirichlet boundary condition. At the other end allow arbitrary spatial variations; for nonzero these require , a Neumann boundary condition. Also in this temporal gauge for a string, so . The constraint at this free-end string boundary condition reduces to . Hamilton's equation consequently gives there. Since , the free endpoint has spatial speed one. This is the null motion of a free string endpoint.
A straight rotating string with one fixed endpoint supplies the required solution in at least two spatial dimensions. Set , , andTake . The Hamilton's equations become , which holds because both second derivatives give . The Nambu–Goto phase-space constraints are satisfied byThe endpoint at stays at the origin, while at and the endpoint moves around a circle of radius with angular speed . At each time the whole string lies on a straight radial segment. Its spatial proper length isThe velocity is everywhere perpendicular to the segment, so this also equals the sum of local rest-frame lengths. The induced worldsheet metric becomes degenerate at the null free endpoint, as expected for the limiting free-end solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 74 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For fixed , set and impose the data at one at each order. The leading equation gives , hence . At the next two orders,The boundary conditions give the three-term outer expansionIts ordering fails when , locating a boundary layer of thickness at zero. Put and . The rescaled equation isIts leading equation is . Matching to the positive outer value one fixes the sign and integration constant:At the next order the bracket vanishes identically, leavingThe general solution is . In the overlap its expansion isThe outer solution re-expressed on this scale has the corresponding terms . Thus matched asymptotic expansion determines , consistently in both displayed orders, and the two-term inner expansion isThis positive branch tends continuously to zero at , with a square-root cusp. An infinite endpoint derivative is compatible with the degeneracy of the original equation's coefficient.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 74 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Keep the prescribed outer slip velocity fixed when perturbing the unsteady Prandtl equation. Cancelling the base equation and retaining terms linear in the disturbance gives the linearized unsteady Prandtl equationThe no-slip boundary condition supplies at the wall; the fixed outer velocity supplies at infinity. There is no prescribed zero normal-velocity disturbance at infinity: a finite displacement-related value is permitted.
With the frozen parallel profile , , the coefficients are invariant under translations in and . Normal modes therefore separate those variables. For the mode convention used here the equations areEliminate to obtain the Prandtl normal-mode equationwith a bounded far-field . Requiring would incorrectly eliminate the proposed outer profile. For real and real , complex conjugation of the equation and its boundary conditions replaces by . This proves the stated eigenvalue symmetry. The paired modes have the same temporal growth rate , so choosing positive wavenumber loses no real physical disturbance.
Here the prescribed parallel profile is a local frozen-coefficient model. A nontrivial arbitrary with and constant outer slip is not generally an exact steady solution of the unforced unsteady Prandtl equation; its base equation would require . The following stability calculation uses the simplifying local model stipulated for the mode analysis.
Set . Away from the critical point the dominant equation is , whose solutions are multiples of . Choosing the coefficient to be zero below and one above it satisfies the wall and tangential far-field conditions. The choice makes continuous across the joining point; also makes its first derivative continuous. Its second derivative jumps. Thus it is a valid leading outer solution away from , but viscosity must smooth the join in a critical layer in a shear flow.
Near the join, . If the layer width is , matching gives . The advection side of the mode equation scales as and scales as . Balance gives . Equivalently, the eigenvalue correction balances , so the quarter-power critical layer hasSubstitution, retaining the leading terms and cancelling their common factor, gives
At order outside the layer,A solution consistent with the chosen lower branch and the wall conditions is below the join. Above it a particular solution is ; a multiple of represents an arbitrary amplitude renormalization and may be set to zero. Matching consequently requiresThe corresponding derivatives match as , on the positive side and as zero on the negative side. The matching statements require that growing homogeneous corrections be absent.
To symmetrize these different end conditions and remove and , chooseThe polynomial is itself a solution of the transformed homogeneous equation. Direct substitution, using , givesThe derivative is third order, as required by the original mode equation. Initially the two ends are along the rotated rays with real . Continuing them to the real axis is compatible with the asymptotic end conditions: the decreasing homogeneous correction behaves exponentially as and still decreases throughout the rotation from angle to zero. Thus the supplied real-axis spectral normalization uses the same recessive conditions; a complex coordinate change should not be mistaken for a real stretching alone.
For each supplied real eigenvalue , the phase-speed correction isThe mode factor has temporal magnitude . ThereforeAmong the listed indices, gives positive growth ; give decay. Hence the frozen non-monotone flow has high-wavenumber instability of a non-monotone Prandtl layer, with arbitrarily rapid linear growth as the positive wavenumber increases. The normal-mode calculation demonstrates linear instability; it is not by itself a claim about the final nonlinear state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 75 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An acoustic analogy is an exact rearrangement of the fluid equations into a chosen linear propagation operator acting on an acoustic variable, with everything left over placed on the right as effective forcing. The rearrangement becomes a sound-prediction method only after a reference medium, boundary conditions and approximations to the forcing are specified. In particular, a right-hand-side term need not represent independently generated sound.
Use Einstein summation convention and write . Differentiating the continuity equation in time and taking the divergence of the momentum equation eliminates :Set and . Since , the constant has zero Laplacian. The prescribed reference mass density and reference speed of sound are independent of time, soCombining the two identities givesOnly conservation of mass and conservation of momentum have been used; no equation of state or energy equation was needed. Spatial variation of creates no omitted derivative in this identity, because it multiplies a time derivative. The double divergence of the momentum flux tensor has the structure of an acoustic quadrupole.
For a localized flow, choose the reference fields to match the stationary surrounding medium: and outside the flow, with chosen so there. A uniform surrounding fluid permits ambient constant mass density and adiabatic sound speed, giving the familiar homogeneous wave equation. A nonuniform surrounding fluid calls for its actual stationary reference profiles, extended sensibly through the flow region. This makes the acoustic variable vanish in the unperturbed exterior and minimizes artificial contrast terms. In a uniform isentropic exterior the leading acoustic relation also makes vanish to first order. In a stratified exterior, propagation and entropy-advection effects can remain in , as the next part demonstrates.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 6B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The chain rule gives and . The coefficients of and are and . Their integer roots are and . Thus choose characteristic coordinates , , whose Jacobian determinant is . The coefficient of is , so the equation becomes , equivalently .
Integrating the transformed hyperbolic partial differential equation gives . Along the coordinates are , so the zero boundary condition gives for every real . Along they are , so , hence . The constants cancel and the unique resulting solution isIt directly satisfies both boundary conditions and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 9F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and measure Lionel's fortune in unit stakes. This is gambler's ruin: the fortune moves by with probability and with probability , stopping at or . Let be the expected value of the absorption time starting at . It is finite: from any interior state, a run of wins or losses has a fixed positive probability of absorption within steps, giving a geometric bound on survival over successive blocks. First-step analysis therefore givesFor , the homogeneous solution of the recurrence is , and a particular solution is . Put . Imposing the two endpoint boundary conditions gives the expected duration of biased gambler's ruinConsequently the expected number of games isThe denominator and numerator have matching signs, so this is positive. As a check its continuous limit at is , the expected duration of symmetric gambler's ruin.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 58 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take a static, nonrotating, nonmagnetic spherical equilibrium with and . Use a fluid displacement . Write for Eulerian fluid perturbations. The Lagrangian pressure perturbation and corresponding mass density change obey , . Linearizing mass conservation, the Euler equations for an inviscid fluid and Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity givesThere is no equilibrium acceleration to multiply a perturbed mass density. The adiabatic process condition, with composition carried by the parcel, closes the system:These are the complete linear adiabatic stellar oscillation equations, including the perturbation of self-gravity. Neglect of heat exchange is appropriate when oscillation periods are short compared with relevant thermal relaxation times; it does not determine nonadiabatic excitation or damping.
For the pressure and buoyancy modes, separate angular dependence using spherical harmonics:The horizontal amplitude has dimensions of length. Angular differentiation gives , and tangential momentum gives . Define the adiabatic sound speed, stellar buoyancy frequency and Lamb frequency byThe adiabatic mass density relation becomes . Substitution produces a radial form of the full oscillation equations for nonzero :The apparent factor is evaluated through its defining gradient at the centre rather than by dividing two zeros.
Regularity at the centre excludes singular solutions. At a free surface the Lagrangian pressure perturbation vanishes, ; outside the star the gravitational perturbation decays as . For a model with mass density tending to zero at its surface, continuity of and its radial derivative gives . If the equilibrium mass density jumps to vacuum, include the displaced-surface mass sheet: the outward-minus-inward derivative jump is , so the interior condition is . An atmospheric boundary condition can replace the ideal free surface.
These conditions make an eigenvalue, not an arbitrary local sound frequency. With conservative boundary conditions the adiabatic operator is self-adjoint, giving real ; negative values describe instability. The frequencies depend on , self-gravity, stratification and boundaries, as well as angular degree and radial order. In a spherical nonrotating star they are degenerate in . For homologous equilibrium structures, their scale isthus the typical oscillation time measures inverse square root of mean mass density, while individual frequencies probe the interior adiabatic sound speed and stellar buoyancy frequency profiles.
For radial modes, write . Eliminating the pressure and gravitational perturbations gives the radial stellar pulsation equationThis is a Sturm-Liouville problem. Multiplication by and integration, with vanishing boundary terms, gives its Rayleigh quotientFor constant , makes both numerator contributions nonnegative. At , a homologous displacement is neutral; for constant the same trial displacement makes the quotient negative. For the uniform-density stellar model, constant is an exact mode and . With varying , the integral criterion, rather than a universal pointwise threshold, controls radial stability.
The Cowling approximation neglects while retaining the equilibrium gravitational field. It is useful for short-wavelength modes, but is not needed for the full derivation above. In a locally slowly varying region, take both remaining amplitudes proportional to and retain the leading derivative terms. ThenEliminating either amplitude gives the acoustic-gravity propagation relationPositive is oscillatory propagation; negative means an evanescent wave. The high-frequency branch, , describes stellar acoustic modes, restored chiefly by compressibility and pressure. At frequencies well above , this gives . The low-frequency propagating branch in stable stratification, , instead describes stellar gravity modes, restored by buoyancy. At there is no such nonradial gravity-wave cavity.
A stellar acoustic mode is trapped between an inner turning point near and an outer reflecting region. Low- modes penetrate deeply; radial modes reach the centre. Higher-degree modes turn farther out. Standing waves require the WKB quantization conditionwhere the phase depends on the central or turning-point behaviour and surface reflection. For high radial order and small degree, the leading acoustic travel-time result is the large frequency separationThe term is the leading central angular phase shift; smaller frequency separations depend on detailed interior gradients. The near-surface mass density stratification sets the acoustic cutoff frequency. In a plane-parallel isothermal atmosphere with mass density scale height , . Modes below this cutoff can reflect and form a cavity; waves sufficiently above it escape and need an outgoing-wave boundary condition. Nonadiabatic damping, driving and rotation alter real-star mode properties, but the adiabatic frequency problem isolates their dependence on the equilibrium structure.