Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 344 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
With periodic or sufficiently decaying boundary conditions, integration by parts givesAssume for a stable quadratic free energy; the diffusive smoothing discussed below requires . In a periodic box of volume , use the unitary convention . A real field has . Since the Fourier transform of a derivative converts to , each Fourier mode obeysIt is an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Multiplication by the integrating factor givesThe noise integral is understood as an Itô integral with a deterministic kernel; writing is shorthand for the corresponding Wiener increment. Direct differentiation in the mild stochastic sense checks both the equation and the initial value. The stated Kronecker-delta noise covariance corresponds to this finite-volume normalization. Unlike a conserved order parameter, the zero wavenumber mode decays at the nonzero rate .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 344 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-03
Impose the fixed conserved order parameterwith a Lagrange multiplier . Stationarity ofunder every local variation givesThus the chemical potential is spatially constant at constrained equilibrium.