Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 7 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For each rotation, unitarity givesAveraging and using self-adjointness of yields the Dirichlet form of the Kac collision operatorThe velocity integral is necessary: its omission from the printed right-hand side would leave a function of rather than a scalar. This identity applies to every function, with complex modulus when necessary, and is nonnegative.
If , every nonnegative angular integral is zero, so for almost every angle. Strong continuity in angle extends equality to every angle. The coordinate-plane Givens rotations generate the special orthogonal group , hence is invariant in under every element of this group. To identify its shape rigorously despite almost-everywhere representatives, average over the normalized Haar measure of . This averaging leaves unchanged, while transitivity of the rotation group on each sphere makes the average a radial function. Thus almost everywhere.
Conversely, every radial function is fixed by every coordinate-plane rotation, and so by . ThereforeThis is the radial kernel of the Kac collision operator. The rotation correction is essential to this conclusion: with the literal printed map, even in dimension two is not fixed. At its printed-map angular average is the average of , strictly greater than its value .
Radial kernel of the Kac collision operator 2026-10-06
Zero Dirichlet form of the Kac collision operator forces invariance under every pair rotation; strong continuity upgrades almost every angle to every angle. Coordinate-plane rotations generate the special orthogonal group, whose action is transitive on each sphere for . Averaging over normalized Haar measure therefore identifies the invariant functions with radial functions. Conversely radial functions are fixed by every pair rotation.