Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 80 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take transverse length units in which the wave phase modulation has wavenumber one. Set . A Taylor expansion of the free parabolic propagator givesFor a general real wave phase ,Multiplying the envelope expansion by its complex conjugate and collecting powers of gives the phase-to-intensity conversion near a deterministic phase screen,For , , and , henceThe first-order brightening occurs where the wave phase curvature is negative. Both correction terms average to zero over a transverse period, in agreement with power conservation. If a dimensional modulation is used instead, the two terms are and .
Phase curvature converts a unit-amplitude sinusoidal phase screen into intensity variations; exact paraxial propagation is compared with its quadratic near-screen approximation
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 84 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Treat and its complex conjugate as independent variables in the functional derivative. Integrating the gradient variation by parts, with vanishing boundary terms, givesThe factors follow from and . Thus the cubic-quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 84 2 iii a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use decaying variations with the same complex bulk field one, so that integration by parts produces no variation boundary term. The functional derivatives of energy and renormalized momentum of a condensate areFor the second identity, variation of the two momentum terms and integration of the term each supply , so together they give . It follows thatis exactly the stationary Gross–Pitaevskii solitary wave equation. Thus each solitary wave is a constrained energy critical point with multiplier .
Let parametrize a differentiable family of these waves. Apply the critical-point identity to the variation , keeping the multiplier fixed at its value for that member of the family. Including the complex conjugate variation givesHence the energy–momentum slope of a solitary wave iswherever . At a momentum turning point the parametrized identity remains the correct statement; a globally single-valued energy as a function of momentum is not needed. Differentiating as a composite function would include an extra term, so that composite derivative must not be set to zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 84 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Define the physical velocity potential by , so the superfluid velocity is . The condensate number current isMultiplying the pumped Gross–Pitaevskii equation by and subtracting its complex conjugate gives the density equation. Equivalently, substituting the amplitude and phase and equating imaginary parts yieldsEquating real parts gives the other gain-loss Madelung equations relation,The last term is the quantum potential, retained wherever . Taking a gradient gives the equivalent velocity equationin an irrotational region. In equilibrium and , soThis convention distinguishes the physical velocity potential from the dimensionless quantum phase ; using the latter instead would change the divergence prefactor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 82 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The limiting polynomial has a double root at , so two roots require a Puiseux series. For positive , put and . Substitution and dominant balance giveThus and . The two finite roots have the three-term asymptotic expansionsThis is square-root splitting of a double polynomial root. For negative , the same formulas apply with a chosen complex square root and describe a complex conjugate pair.
The third root is a divergent algebraic root in a singular perturbation. Set : the equation for is . Its nonzero limiting root is . Substituting yields and , henceAs an independent check, Vieta formulas give the sum of roots as : the two finite-root expansions sum to , giving the same large-root expansion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 82 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Away from the velocity-profile corners, and an unstable normal mode satisfies . On the upper half of the jet writeThe exterior solution is selected by decay at infinity. From the given velocity components, the perturbation pressure isContinuity of normal velocity and pressure therefore gives continuity of and pressure matching at a piecewise-linear shear interface:At the slope of jumps from to zero. Using yieldsThe lower interface then follows by parity.
For the even sinuous mode of a planar jet, the derivative can jump at the center: being an even function does not require the one-sided derivative to vanish. The slope jump at is , whereas . ThusSubstitute into the upper-interface relation. With , division by and multiplication by giveCollecting powers of the phase velocity gives the required dispersion relation:These equations can also be treated as a homogeneous two-by-two system in , avoiding division by any potentially zero amplitude or phase-velocity factor.
For the odd varicose mode of a planar jet, , so ; the central pressure matching at a piecewise-linear shear interface is automatic. The upper-interface equation becomes , and thereforeThis phase velocity is real for every , so the discrete varicose mode of a planar jet is neutral and there is no exponentially unstable odd mode.
To determine the unstable even modes, factor the reduced discriminant of the quadratic:The second factor vanishes at zero and has derivative for , so it is positive there. The first factor starts at , is strictly increasing, and tends to infinity. It therefore has one positive zero . The even phase velocities areIt follows thatFor , one member of the complex conjugate pair grows at rate and the other decays. At the speeds merge and there is no exponential growth; for both speeds are real. This is inviscid instability of a triangular jet. The unstable sinuous mode of a planar jet also satisfies Howard's semicircle theorem with and : its speed lies in the upper half-disk centered at with radius .
Triangular jet profile and unstable sinuous phase velocities inside the Howard semicircle
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 1 1C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and . The complex conjugates in the PDF giveSince , the locus is the straight line through the origin perpendicular to the position vector of in the complex plane. Equivalently,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 1 1C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A branch of the complex logarithm must be specified to obtain a unique locus. First use the principal complex logarithm. Away from the negative real axis, write with and . Then the complex logarithms of and its complex conjugate are and . Equating real and imaginary parts gives . Consequently the principal-branch locus is the open segment of a logarithmic spiralThe origin is excluded because its complex logarithm does not exist. If the principal value is assigned argument on the negative real axis, a point there equals its own complex conjugate, so its principal complex logarithm would have to equal times itself. That forces the complex logarithm to be zero and cannot hold there; the endpoints remain excluded.
If the printed equation instead means that some values of the multivalued complex logarithms satisfy it, write those values as and , with and . Equality gives , hence , which is compatible with conjugation. Every real is allowed. Under this interpretation the locus is the entire logarithmic spiral , . The PDF does not choose between these branch conventions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 1 2B c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The shifted matrix is still a normal matrix, sinceand has the same expansion except that its first term is , which equals . For the given eigenvector, . Part (b), applied to , therefore gives . Since ,The corresponding eigenvalue of the Hermitian conjugate is the complex conjugate of the original eigenvalue.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 1 2B Solution 2026-10-14
For a complex matrix, its Hermitian conjugate is obtained by transposing and taking entrywise complex conjugates:The defining conditions areFor a square matrix, either one of the two inverse identities in the unitary matrix condition implies the other. A Hermitian matrix may have complex entries, but its diagonal entries are real.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 2 16B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a one-dimensional wavefunction, the probability density and probability current areThe Time-dependent Schrödinger equation with a real potential is . Multiply it and its complex conjugate by and , respectively. Subtracting cancels the real-potential terms and givesThis derives the continuity equation .
For , the specified free-region wavefunction combines a right-moving incoming wave of unit amplitude and a left-moving reflected wave with complex reflection amplitude . Applying the free Schrödinger operator to either plane wave gives . Its time factor has modulus one, soThe density includes the stationary interference pattern; , rather than , is the reflection probability.
For the finite square well, let outside and inside. Write the stationary parts as to the left, inside, and to the right. At both finite potential steps, the wavefunction and its first spatial derivative are continuous. Integrating the stationary Schrödinger equation across a shrinking step proves derivative continuity; a jump of the wavefunction would create an unmatched distributional derivative and is excluded.
Propagate the boundary values at back through the well. The values at zero areMatching them to and , and adding the two equations after division of the second by , givesSince the exterior wave numbers agree, the transmission probability is the current ratio , soWhen , , yieldingClassically an incoming particle of positive energy crosses the attractive well and emerges with its original energy, so transmission is one. The quantum result agrees exactly when is an integer multiple of :These are widths with resonant transmission through a square well; the degenerate width zero also has unit transmission.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 42 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A two-component Weyl spinor is a complex spinor transforming in one of the two inequivalent group representations and of the Lorentz spinor double cover . An undotted left-handed field transforms by a matrix ; its complex conjugate transforms by . Dotted and undotted indices distinguish the two chirality representations. Raising a dotted index uses the invariant epsilon tensor and converts the complex conjugate transformation into the equivalent inverse-adjoint form. Rotations act by the same SU(2) generators on the two chiralities, while boosts have opposite generators, so the two complex representations cannot be identified by a complex-linear Lorentz invariant map.
The antisymmetric invariant tensors and raise and lower spinor indices; proves invariance of the contracted bilinear . The components of a fermionic Weyl spinor are odd Grassmann variables, so this bilinear is symmetric under exchange of the two spinors: the antisymmetric epsilon sign cancels the Grassmann sign. In particular, choosing and gives , generally nonzero. This Weyl spinor bilinear exchange identity permits a Majorana mass term for a single suitable Weyl spinor. With mostly-minus metric signature and , the free massless kinetic term is , and its field equation of motion is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 42 4 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Here L-superfield means a left-chiral superfield: , and its complex conjugate is an antichiral superfield, . Interpret the two barred derivatives as the contracted scalar . The key point is chiral projection by squared supercovariant derivatives. Since the two components of anticommute, any product of three barred derivatives repeats a component and is zero. Thusfor every superfield , even when is antichiral. In particular, is chiral.
The right side is chiral too. Because is even, the graded derivation rule gives . Constant and do not contribute derivatives. Consequentlyso applying the chiral constraint to the equation imposes no additional incompatible condition. This is the holomorphic closure of chiral superfields; a generic nonholomorphic right side would not satisfy it.
Both sides have zero Grassmann parity and are Lorentz scalars: the two dotted derivative indices are contracted with the invariant epsilon tensor, and is a scalar superfield. Moreover, each covariant derivative anticommutes with every supercharge, so its squared contraction commutes with the supercharges. Hence the equation transforms covariantly under supersymmetry. It is the chiral field equation of motion of the Wess–Zumino model with superpotential , for which , using the normalization in the PDF. With mass dimensions , , and , each side has dimension two. No component field equations of motion are needed for this consistency argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 76 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The dominant balance for algebraic roots separates one small root of a polynomial from three large ones. For the small root of a polynomial, write in . Comparing coefficients gives , soThis is a real analytic function of real near zero, since the derivative with respect to of is one at .
For the large roots of a polynomial, use the real cube root and set . The transformed equation isIts three nonzero leading roots of a polynomial are , with . Writing gives , hence . ThereforeThe choice is the second real root of a polynomial; the other two form a complex conjugate pair for either sign of . The nonzero transformed roots of a polynomial are simple, so their Taylor series in exist locally and exhaust the three large roots of a polynomial. Together with the small one these give all four roots of a polynomial for sufficiently small nonzero . At itself the rational equation has only the finite root zero; the other three escape to infinity. Multiplying by has not introduced roots at , since those points do not solve the multiplied equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 4 39B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For , part (a) gives and the right-side polynomial is . On the scalar test equation , put . Its characteristic equation isThe linear stability domain contains every for which both roots have modulus strictly less than one. For real , the roots are positive; their larger numerator is less than three while their denominator exceeds three, so both are less than one. At the repeated root is , also strictly inside the unit circle. For , the roots are complex conjugates and their product isThus in every case both roots lie strictly inside the unit disk. Repeated roots there are allowed, since polynomial factors times their powers still tend to zero. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 1 2C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The polar form of a complex number and the roots of unity givesince . Using the complex conjugate to compute the squared complex modulus,The residue runs through every class modulo , already with . The cosine is even, so the nine angles give five distinct values, represented by . They are distinct because cosine is strictly decreasing on and these representative angles lie in that interval. HenceEvery listed value is attained by choosing and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 1 1C ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Away from the negative real axis, the complex conjugate has principal complex argument . ConsequentlyTaking the complex modulus gives , hence . The remaining equation is , soOn the negative real axis, both and have principal complex argument , so the left-hand side has modulus , not two. There are no additional solutions there. The printed second term is the principal power of , not the complex conjugate of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 1 8B a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let with nonzero. For a real symmetric matrix, , where the star denotes the conjugate transpose. Consequently equals its complex conjugate and is real. The eigenvalue equation givessince . Allowing a complex eigenvector in this argument is essential: reality of an eigenvalue must be proved, rather than assumed in advance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 29 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a prime , the divisor sum defining the real weight is . If , the second term vanishes and the first is one. Thus , while for every integer because is real and the sum is squared.
Put . With the Fourier transform convention in the question, Fourier inversion givesThe function is smooth and has compact support. Using integration by parts times, with zero endpoint terms, provesChoose an integer to obtain for . In particular every polynomially weighted absolute integral of is finite.
For the double integral, useDifferentiating the second formula gives . absolute convergence from the rapid decay permits Fubini's theorem. The derivative energy constant for a smooth sieve cutoff is thereforeThere is no complex conjugate in this integral: the two factors both become , which is real. The constant is positive; in fact the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality applied to gives .
Here is the basic structure of the smooth divisor-square sieve asymptotic, with enough uniform estimates to specify the error. Write and . Expand the square and count multiples of the least common multiple in an arbitrary interval of length :The sum is effectively restricted to . Each count is , independent of the interval's position, so the total error is .
The Fourier representation of a smooth Selberg weight readsHence, with ,The four local terms correspond to the prime dividing neither divisor, only the first, only the second, or both. This is the Euler product for a smoothed divisor-square correlation. Factor it aswhereThe local factors of are when for small fixed . Thus is a holomorphic function near , and evaluating each local factor at zero gives exactly one. Consequently and there.
The pole expansion now yieldswhen . Integrating the error against the rapidly decreasing transforms gives . The complementary tails are harmless uniformly: absolute values in the original divisor series giveAny prescribed power decay of is available, so these tails and the tails of the limiting kernel are after choosing sufficiently many applications of integration by parts. The same absolute bound justifies the original exchanges of infinite sums and integrals. Using the evaluated double integral,We conclude, uniformly over all interval locations,This proof does not assume that the interval starts near the origin.
Finally choose this one fixed smooth cutoff. primes above in contribute one each to the nonnegative weight, and at most primes lie below . Thereforefor all sufficiently large , uniformly in . The bounded range follows by increasing the fixed constant and using the trivial interval bound . Thus the short-interval prime upper bound from a smooth divisor weight is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 60 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The space of test functions is : its elements are smooth functions with compact support. For a fixed compact set , put and use the seminorms . The space of test functions carries the usual test-function inductive limit topology of these spaces. In particular, a sequence converges precisely when its supports eventually lie in one compact set and every derivative converges uniformly. Thus means that a common contains their supports and for every .
A distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space of test functions, and denotes their space. We use complex-linear, bilinear pairings . Equivalently, for every compact set there are and a nonnegative integer such thatThe usual weak convergence of distributions is if for every test function. This specifies the convergence used below; it does not require convergence in any norm.
The distributional derivative is defined byThe derivative map sends continuously to itself, with . The preceding continuity estimate therefore proves that is again a distribution. This definition extends the ordinary derivative of a smooth function, by integration by parts.
Choose the translation of a distribution convention . Its action on a test function isFor fixed , the translated test functions have translated compact support and unchanged derivative sup norms, so this defines a distribution. For the differentiability of distribution translations, apply the Taylor theorem in integral form:All supports lie in one slightly enlarged compact set for , and the same identity for every derivative proves uniform convergence. The continuity of now givesThe minus sign in the translation parameter is necessary for this convention.
For (a), choose a test function with . If , then is a test function, since the zero integral makes it vanish beyond both ends of the compact support. If , then . Decompose to obtainConversely, these constant regular distributions have zero distributional derivative. This also proves the general fact that a distribution with zero derivative is constant.
For (b), choose a cutoff function equal to one near zero. Every test function decomposes asThe quotient extends as a smooth function at zero, and it has compact support. If , the definition of multiplication of a distribution by a smooth function gives . Conversely, . Thus the kernel of multiplication by a coordinate is exactlyIn particular, derivatives of the Dirac delta distribution are not additional solutions: .
Now write and , where . The characteristic roots of a constant-coefficient differential equation are the distinct roots of a polynomial of , with multiplicities . The distributional regularity of a constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation can be proved without assuming regularity in advance. Put and . Since the are coprime polynomials, polynomial division and Bezout identity give polynomials such thatFor example, invert modulo , sum the resulting expressions, and absorb a remaining multiple of into one coefficient. For , the kernel decomposition for coprime polynomials therefore givesThe Leibniz rule for multiplication of a distribution by a smooth function implies . Repeatedly using a distribution with zero derivative is constant shows that a distribution with th derivative zero is a polynomial of degree at most : subtract the polynomial primitive of its constant st derivative, and induct on . Consequently the most general exponential polynomial solution of a constant-coefficient differential equation isEvery displayed term is annihilated by , so all coefficients are allowed. For the linear independence of these functions, on a relation, apply ; on times a polynomial of degree less than , each remaining factor acts invertibly on that polynomial space. Hence the th polynomial must vanish. Every distributional solution is an analytic function, and in particular a classical solution. For real coefficients and real-valued distributions, take complex conjugate coefficients at conjugate characteristic roots of a constant-coefficient differential equation, or equivalently use the corresponding real sine and cosine forms.
For the last equation, the operator is : the coordinate multiplies the result of differentiation. The kernel of multiplication by a coordinate says precisely thatChoose the retarded fundamental solution of a constant-coefficient ordinary differential operator , where is the Heaviside function and is the analytic solution of withSuch exists uniquely by the elementary initial value problem for a constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation; alternatively the residue construction in the next solution gives it explicitly. The distributional jump formula for a Heaviside product isIt follows by induction from , using integration by parts. With the chosen initial derivatives, every lower-order jump term vanishes and the leading coefficient gives . Subtracting reduces the last equation to the homogeneous one. Thus the coordinate-degenerate constant-coefficient differential equation has exactly the solutionsThere are independent constants. For , derivatives through order match at zero, while the derivative of order may jump; for , the function itself may jump. An arbitrary distribution concentrated at zero cannot be added, because its image under the nonzero leading derivative would contain a nonvanishing highest derivative of the Dirac delta distribution.

