Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 16 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Marsden-Weinstein theorem says that for a Hamiltonian group action, if is a regular value fixed by the coadjoint action and acts freely and properly on , thenis a symplectic manifold with a unique form characterized by , where includes the level set and is the quotient projection. Its dimension is .
Equip with the standard symplectic formLet the circle group act by . Its generator is , andConsequently the moment map in our convention is . It is invariant, hence equivariant because the circle group is abelian. The level is the sphere of radius ; it is regular, the circle group acts freely there, and properness follows from compactness of the group. The quotient is Complex projective space, by , a scaled Hopf fibration. The Marsden-Weinstein theorem therefore produces a reduced symplectic form on .
To identify it rather than only assert its existence, use the primitiveOn the affine chart choose the local section of the quotient. Direct substitution givesDifferentiating, using , givesThis is the Fubini-Study form from circle reduction. The unit sphere instead produces half this form; our radius is exactly what gives the line-area normalization used above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 27 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The points are -spaced if their circular spacing satisfies for , where is distance to the nearest integer. Ordinary distance on the real line would be insufficient because the complex exponential is periodic.
Let and . Multiplication by this unit-modulus factor leaves unchanged and places the frequencies of in . Put . The permitted Sobolev–Gallagher inequality, in the form needed here, isFor , the arcs about the have disjoint interiors on the circle group. Summing and applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality here follows by expanding and minimizing over . For completeness, the finite-interval Parseval identities follow by expanding the squares: is one at and zero at every other integer . Thus and . We obtain the exponential-sum large sieve boundIf , there is at most one point, and the direct Cauchy-Schwarz inequality bound proves the same assertion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 108 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Szemerédi theorem says that for every integer and every , there is such that, for , every with contains a nonconstant arithmetic progressionEquivalently, every subset of the positive integers with positive upper asymptotic density contains arithmetic progressions of every finite length. Length one is immediate.
The Furstenberg multiple recurrence theorem states that for every probability measure-preserving system, every measurable with , and every integer , there is withHere means a preimage, so invertibility is unnecessary. The Furstenberg multiple recurrence theorem also does not assume an ergodic transformation.
We prove the implication to the finite Szemerédi theorem by constructing the Furstenberg correspondence principle explicitly. Suppose, to the contrary, that for fixed and there are and with , but with no length- arithmetic progression of positive common difference. In the binary full shift , encode as , taking all coordinates outside to be zero. Let be the left shift, , and setThe cylinder set is a clopen set, and . The binary full shift is a compact metric space, so compactness of probability measures on a compact metric space gives a subsequence of these empirical measures with weak convergence of probability measures to a Borel probability measure .
For every continuous on the full shift,Passing to the weak limit shows that is an invariant measure for the continuous left shift. Thus is a probability measure-preserving system. Since the indicator function of is continuous, .
Apply the Furstenberg multiple recurrence theorem to . For some , the clopen sethas . Its continuous indicator function gives . For large , at least one in the defining empirical measure therefore belongs to . The choice of left shift impliesso lies in . This contradicts the assumed absence of arithmetic progressions and proves the finite Szemerédi theorem. Applying the finite Szemerédi theorem on intervals where an infinite set has density bounded below proves the stated upper asymptotic density formulation.
For multiple recurrence for circle rotations, write and , with normalized Lebesgue measure , which is the Haar measure of the circle group. Fix a measurable with and . If is rational, there is with the identity, and gives an intersection of measure .
For irrational , the pigeonhole principle applied to in equal arcs gives with . In particular there are arbitrarily small nonzero returns to zero for the irrational rotation of the circle.
We also need translation continuity in L1 on the circle. Given a measurable , approximate its indicator function in the L1 norm by a continuous on the circle group. Such approximation follows from regularity of Lebesgue measure, or approximation by finite unions of intervals. Translation invariance and uniform continuity givewhere the approximation error is first made arbitrarily small. Equivalently, .
Choose a return time so small modulo one that for each ,This is possible because multiplication by each fixed is continuous on the circle group and translation continuity in L1 on the circle applies to the finitely many translates. The union bound now givesThis proves the Furstenberg multiple recurrence theorem for every circle rotation with its normalized Lebesgue measure, including both rational and irrational angles.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 108 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A continuous map of a compact metric space is uniquely ergodic if it has exactly one invariant measure that is a Borel probability measure. The uniqueness requirement ranges over all invariant Borel probability measures.
For an irrational rotation of the circle, let on , and let be any invariant Borel probability measure. For each integer , set . Invariance givesFor , irrationality forces , so the corresponding Fourier coefficient is zero. For it is one. These are exactly the Fourier coefficients of normalized Lebesgue measure . By the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, trigonometric polynomials are uniformly dense in the continuous functions on the circle group; hence and integrate every continuous function equally and are the same Borel probability measure. Since is invariant, the irrational rotation of the circle is uniquely ergodic, with unique measure .
For the irrational skew shift on the two-dimensional torus, writeThe map is invertible, with modulo one, and it preserves as allowed in the question. We first prove the ergodic transformation property by the invariant-function characterization of ergodicity.
Let satisfy . Its expansion in the Fourier basis is in . Direct calculation of the Koopman operator givesUniqueness of the Fourier coefficients therefore impliesFor , the magnitudes of the Fourier coefficients along all distinct indices , , are equal. By the Bessel inequality they are square summable, so every such coefficient must be zero. When , the relation becomes , which forces for . Only remains. Thus every invariant function is constant, and
To prove unique ergodicity, we will establish uniform averages for every continuous function directly. No theorem on unique ergodicity of skew products is needed. Induction on , using the old first coordinate in the second coordinate of , yieldsIn particular, for a Fourier basis element,If and , this is a geometric series in , anduniformly in .
For , we give the finite Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences and its proof. For , extend by zero outside . Fix an integer and set . Every original summand appears times in the identityThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, followed by expansion of the squared window sums, givesConsequently the Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences isThe finite prefactor is important; the order of limits will be with fixed, followed by .
For the irrational skew shift character sequence above, differencing cancels the quadratic term:For every fixed , is irrational, so another geometric series estimate givesuniformly in . With fixed , the Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences therefore impliesLetting proves that the averages of every nonconstant Fourier basis element converge uniformly to zero. The constant character has average one. This establishes uniform equidistribution of an irrational skew shift on all trigonometric polynomials.
The Stone-Weierstrass theorem makes these trigonometric polynomials uniformly dense in . If approximates a continuous with , thenTaking and then proves uniform convergence to for every continuous .
Finally, if is any invariant Borel probability measure for the irrational skew shift, invariance and this uniform convergence giveThus , since continuous functions determine Borel probability measures on a compact metric space. We concludeThe uniform-average proof also shows that every starting point has the same limiting continuous-function averages, a stronger conclusion than the almost-everywhere assertion provided by the pointwise ergodic theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 108 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A continuous transformation of a compact metric space is uniquely ergodic when there is exactly one -invariant Borel probability measure on . We use the usual compact-space convention for unique ergodicity; the compactness and continuity hypotheses matter in the assertion about all starting points.
Let on the circle group, with irrational. Normalized Lebesgue measure is invariant under this irrational rotation of the circle. If is any invariant Borel probability measure, define its Fourier coefficients by . Invariance givesFor , irrationality makes , so ; also . These are the Fourier coefficients of . Hence and have the same integrals against every trigonometric polynomial. Such polynomials are uniformly dense in the continuous functions by the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, so the measures agree on every continuous test function and therefore agree as Borel measures. Thus
For the general uniquely ergodic system, fix and form the empirical measuresOn a compact metric space, the Borel probability measures are compact for weak convergence of probability measures. Any subsequential limit is invariant: for every continuous ,Here is bounded and is continuous, so the identity passes to the limit. Uniqueness of the invariant Borel probability measure gives . Every subsequential limit is therefore , and compactness implies convergence of the entire sequence. Testing against provesIn fact this proves uniform ergodic convergence for uniquely ergodic systems: if convergence were not uniform in , choose and where the discrepancy stays above a fixed positive number. The same compactness and telescoping argument applied to forces a subsequence to converge to , a contradiction. This also makes clear why an almost-everywhere Birkhoff ergodic theorem alone would not establish the requested everywhere assertion. Without the compact-space hypothesis the assertion need not hold: on the discrete space , set and . The only invariant probability is , but the continuous bounded function which is zero at and one on the integer orbit has orbit average one there.
For the decimal application put . This is irrational: if with positive integers , then , contradicting unique prime factorization. Writing with and gives . Its leading decimal digit is seven exactly whenThe half-open upper endpoint correctly excludes powers whose leading digit is eight, including .
The indicator of is not continuous, so an extra step is needed. For any , choose continuous functions on the circle with and , by tapering in small neighbourhoods of the two endpoints. Applying the everywhere averaging result to these functions traps the lower and upper limits of the interval frequency between their integrals. Letting proves everywhere interval frequency under an irrational rotation. ConsequentlyThis is the leading-seven case of Benford frequencies for powers of an integer.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 301 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use a local first-derivative Lagrangian density with sufficient differentiability, and let variations have compact support or vanish at the spacetime boundary. If the phrase “a function of the field” were read literally as forbidding derivatives, the equation below would reduce to ; a propagating field requires derivative dependence. Varying the action givesIntegration by parts and arbitrary interior variations yield the Euler-Lagrange field equation,The boundary condition is part of this derivation; if boundary variations are allowed, their separate boundary equations must also be imposed.
A variational symmetry of a Lagrangian density is an infinitesimal field change for which off shell. Equality to zero is sufficient but is not necessary: a divergence changes only the boundary contribution to the action. For fixed-coordinate field variations,Equating the two expressions proves the scalar-field form of the Noether theorem:Thus every differentiable one-parameter variational symmetry gives a conserved current, and its Noether charge is constant when the spatial boundary flux vanishes. This is the Noether current for a first-derivative scalar field; the same identity applies to several real components by summing over them. Identically conserved improvement terms can change its local expression without changing the charge under the same boundary assumptions.
For an active spacetime translation, and . If the Lagrangian density has no explicit coordinate dependence, , so . The Noether current is , whereThese four translation currents are the canonical stress-energy tensor, also called the energy-momentum tensor. The sign in follows from the chosen active translation; the translation charges themselves can be labelled by .
For the free real scalar field, take the standard kinetic term and mass term. Its Lagrangian density and Klein-Gordon equation areHere , so . Raising the charge index gives the four-momentum of a free real scalar field,The first is total energy, and the three components of the second are physical spatial momentum. With signature , ; this explains the opposite sign if the conserved quantities are instead written with lower spatial indices. For example, a plane wave proportional to has momentum density along , confirming the sign. All charges require convergence of the integrals and vanishing boundary flux, or periodic boundary conditions in a finite box.
For the complex scalar field, treat and as independent variables when varying, equivalently use their two real components. The global phase symmetry of a complex scalar field is , for constant . Both the kinetic term and are invariant. This is a global internal symmetry of a classical field theory with circle group ; a spacetime-dependent phase would require a gauge connection.
Choosing this orientation for the phase parameter gives the Noether charge of a complex scalar field:To check conservation directly, the Euler-Lagrange field equations are and their complex conjugates, assuming a real differentiable potential. Hence . Reversing the phase-parameter orientation reverses the current and charge, which is merely a convention. For a scalar carrying electric charge , the physical electric charge is after electromagnetic coupling. In a neutral theory the same global charge can instead label an internal conserved quantum number; the density alone does not identify it automatically with electricity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 108 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Rudolph measure rigidity theorem has an essential ergodicity hypothesis. If a Borel probability measure on the circle group is invariant under both and , is ergodic for the semigroup generated jointly by these maps, and either map has positive Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, thenEquivalently, a jointly ergodic common invariant measure other than Lebesgue measure has zero entropy for both maps. Joint ergodicity means that every set invariant modulo under both maps has measure zero or one. Positive entropy without this hypothesis is insufficient: , with a Dirac measure, is a common invariant measure of positive entropy and is not .
The Host equidistribution theorem states that if are relatively prime integers and is invariant and ergodic under , with , then for -almost every the sequence is an equidistributed sequence for Lebesgue measure. Explicitly, for every continuous on the circle,The non-ergodic form assumes invariance and positive entropy for almost every component in the ergodic decomposition . Applying the ergodic theorem of Host on each such component gives the same almost-everywhere conclusion for . More generally, its conclusion holds on the part supported on positive-entropy components. A positive value of alone does not eliminate zero-entropy components.
To deduce the joint version of the Rudolph measure rigidity theorem, suppose ; if only has positive entropy, interchange the roles. Write the ergodic decomposition as . Since commutes with , its pushforward measure sends a ergodic component to a ergodic component . On each component, is a factor of a measure-preserving system with fibres of size at most three. We use the standard entropy preservation under a finite-to-one factor:The reason for this standard entropy fact is that, conditional on a complete factor point, every finite orbit name has at most three possibilities; its conditional entropy is bounded by , and division by the orbit length gives zero relative entropy.
The component at is almost everywhere; this follows from commutation and the componentwise ergodic averages. The component entropy function is therefore invariant under both and . Joint ergodicity makes it constant almost everywhere, and affinity of entropy under ergodic decomposition identifies the constant as . Thus almost every component has positive entropy, exactly the condition required in the non-ergodic Host equidistribution theorem. It follows that -almost every point equidistributes for under .
For any continuous , invariance under and the dominated convergence theorem now giveContinuous functions determine Borel probability measures on the circle, so , proving the deduction.
For the normal-number example, let be independent fair binary digits and defineThis Cantor Bernoulli measure is supported on the middle-third Cantor set . If is the Bernoulli shift, then on the circle. Consequently is invariant and ergodic: a invariant event pulls back to an invariant event, which has probability zero or one.
Take the ternary digit measurable partition . Its block partition of length has, up to null endpoints, positive-measure atoms under , each of measure , and all other atoms have measure zero. HenceApply the Host equidistribution theorem with , . For -almost every , the sequence equidistributes for Lebesgue measure, so is a normal number in base by normality and equidistribution under integer multiplication.
The ternary expansion of -almost every such contains only and , so the frequency of digit is zero rather than . The ambiguous ternary endpoints form a countable null set and can be removed. Therefore is not a normal number in base . We have proved the stronger almost-everywhere existence statement
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 302 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For a Matrix Lie group, the exponential map of a matrix Lie group is the convergent matrix exponentialIts domain is the Lie algebra , and for every real when . Because multiples of the same matrix commute, and . Thus take to obtain the image of a one-parameter subgroup.
Here is the precise classification of nontrivial one-parameter subgroups. For , the smooth group homomorphism has a closed kernel . A closed subgroup of is zero, for some , or all of . Indeed, if positive elements have infimum zero, their integer multiples approximate every real number, so closedness makes the subgroup all of ; otherwise the infimum is attained and is its least positive generator. The last possibility is excluded by . Give the image the quotient topology and smooth structure from . Its inclusion in is an injective immersion, since never vanishes. Consequently it is a Lie subgroup, withIn the periodic case is also a parameter interval covering the image, with endpoints understood modulo .
Two qualifications matter. If , the image is the trivial group, a third possibility omitted by the wording “two”. Also, a general one-parameter subgroup need not be closed or embedded: an irrational winding in a two-torus is an example, where is a planar rotation. The classification uses the intrinsic immersed Lie subgroup structure, rather than assuming that the matrix subspace topology is the topology of .
For the real special linear group, differentiating at the identity shows that its Lie algebra consists of traceless matrices. Conversely for a traceless matrix. HenceChoose the standard basis of the real sl2 Lie algebra,Their squares have the required values. Direct matrix multiplication gives the Lie bracketsWriting , these specify all the nonzero Lie algebra structure constants: , , , together with their negatives on reversing the lower indices.
The three requested exponentials areThus the first two images are isomorphic to the additive real group, while the last is , the circle group. The PDF gives here; the local TeX's is a transcription error.
For a general generator, put . Direct multiplication gives . If , the eigenvalues give an unbounded exponential image. If but , it is a nilpotent linear map with exponential , again unbounded. If , the power series instead giveswith least positive period . Its image is a continuous image of a circle and is compact. Equivalently, is a real complex structure and is similar over to the rotation generator. Therefore the exact criterion for compact one-parameter subgroups of SL2R isFor a nonzero generator only the strict inequality remains.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 117 4 a Solution 2026-09-28
For , writeThe orthogonality of complex exponentials converts the linear configuration count intoExpand the difference between the products for and by changing one factor at a time. A typical term iswhere each is either or . The assumed uniform norm bound controls the first factor by . The substitution preserves an integral over the circle group, so Hölder's inequality and the three supplied bounds giveEach of the four terms is therefore , and henceThis is Fourier stability of a linear configuration count.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 302 1 a Solution 2026-09-28
The matrices are rotations about the third coordinate axis. Direct multiplication givesand . Thus they form a one-parameter subgroup of the orthogonal group , isomorphic to the circle group.
A group homomorphism is a multiplication-preserving map , so . A group isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism; its inverse is automatically multiplication-preserving as well.
For the real general linear group, the identity matrix has nonzero determinant. If have nonzero determinants, multiplicativity of the determinant gives . Associativity is inherited from matrix multiplication, and every such matrix has an inverse, with . Hence the given set is a group.
For the special orthogonal group, the identity is included andwhen both factors are special orthogonal. Moreover is again orthogonal and has determinant one. Thus is a subgroup. The orientation-preserving general linear group is also a subgroup: the identity has positive determinant, products preserve positivity, and inversion replaces the determinant by its positive reciprocal.
Now take an element of the special orthogonal group in two dimensions. Orthogonality and determinant one implyHence , , and the unit length of the first column gives . There is an angle , unique modulo , such that , . ThereforeDefine the map from the circle group byIf and , matrix multiplication gives . Thus it is a homomorphism. The entries determine uniquely, proving injectivity, and the parametrization proves surjectivity. This establishesThe use of the unit complex number, rather than an unrestricted real angle, removes the ambiguity: angles add modulo , exactly as unit complex numbers multiply.
Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2019 3 a Solution 2026-10-18
Under with constant real , the field and its complex conjugate acquire opposite phases. These cancel in , , , and . The Lagrangian density therefore has the particle-number phase symmetry, a global circle group .
For a spacetime-dependent real ,Writing , the change in the Lagrangian density isThis is not generally zero or a boundary term. Thus the symmetry is global, with no arbitrary local phase symmetry. A compensating gauge field and gauge-covariant derivative of a charged scalar field would be required to promote it to a local redundancy.
For a connected source, first integrate on its universal covering Lie group. The resulting map descends to the original group exactly when it kills the discrete kernel of the covering map. For the circle group, a real-linear map integrates to a circle endomorphism exactly when , since must map into itself. This is a global period condition invisible to the zero bracket of the circle's Lie algebra.
Write a point of Real projective space as a nonzero vector modulo real nonzero scaling. The map to Complex projective space sends its class to the complex line through that vector. A free right action of the circle group is where ; the two possible roots differ by a real sign and therefore give the same projective point. Local smooth square-root branches prove smoothness. Over , the fibre coordinate is ; over , it is . On the overlap , the transition function of a principal bundle is . Its phase winds twice. Ordinary scalar multiplication by instead has a kernel of order two and is not a free action of a group.
Special orthogonal group in two dimensions 2026-10-18
Every real orthogonal two-by-two matrix of determinant one has the unique formIndeed the first column is a unit vector, the perpendicular second column has one of two signs, and positive determinant selects the displayed one. The map from the circle group is bijective and satisfies by direct multiplication, proving a group isomorphism. Writing parametrizes these matrices as planar rotations, with the angle defined modulo .
Stone theorem for the circle group 2026-10-14
A strongly continuous unitary representation of the circle group splits as an orthogonal sum of character subspaces. The projections are . Character orthogonality makes them mutually orthogonal, and Fejér sum shows their ranges span the represented Hilbert space. The self-adjoint generator has integer eigenvalues, with domain given by .