Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ia Paper 3 9A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume sufficient smoothness and a regular boundary for the integrations below, with outward. Put , so on . Expanding the Dirichlet energy givesBy Green's first identity, the middle integral isThus the Dirichlet principle follows with an explicit remainder:Equality means is constant on each connected component; its zero boundary value forces that constant to be zero.
Now let solve the heat equation and set . Differentiation followed by Green's first identity givesUnder time-independent Dirichlet boundary conditions, on , while in . ThereforeIf equality holds at a particular time, continuity makes throughout at that time. Its boundary values are still , so uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem implies . Conversely has and gives equality. This proves the full equality criterion for Dirichlet energy dissipation for the heat equation.
For the dynamic boundary condition for the heat equation, substitute directly into the boundary term. The interior equation is unchanged, soThis is Dirichlet energy dissipation with a dynamic heat boundary condition. It remains valid when vanishes, because no division by is used. The last part preserves energy monotonicity; its stationary states need not have the earlier prescribed Dirichlet data. For example, with strictly positive on a connected boundary, a stationary harmonic state has zero outward normal derivative and is constant, as follows by applying Green's first identity to that state itself.