Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 330 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The WKB approximation treats the vertical wavenumber as locally constant over one vertical wavelength. Write , with and . For the stationary internal-wave WKB solution, away from singular or turning levels. A small terrain slope and small perturbations are also needed for Linearized Boussinesq equations.
Let be the perturbation fluid pressure divided by reference mass density, and the buoyancy perturbation. The steady Linearized Boussinesq equations and incompressibility condition areFor an component, elimination gives , and . Substitution into vertical momentum gives the exact stationary Taylor–Goldstein equationThe leading WKB approximation therefore identifiesThe kinematic boundary condition fixes the horizontal wavenumber to for the sinusoidal forcing.
For explicit heights assume a constant positive buoyancy frequency , , and . The latter is a large gradient Richardson number. The linear shear flow has , so the propagation condition is .
For , the first obstruction is the critical level of an internal gravity wave atAs , . The critical-height approach of a stationary wave in linear shear has upward group velocity , so the travel time to diverges: the height is a supremum, approached in the ideal ray model. Here , which can remain small; it would be incorrect to say that the short-wavelength WKB approximation necessarily fails solely because diverges. Nevertheless and displacement , so a finite disturbance eventually violates linearity. Dissipation and overturning also matter near this singular level.
For , the turning height of a stationary wave in linear shear isAt , and the WKB approximation fails. An Airy function matching region describes reflection and an upper evanescent wave. Thus is the highest height of vertical propagation, rather than a sharp cut-off of every disturbance.
The problem initially allows to vary. Without the extra constant- assumption, replace the explicit turning height by the first root of encountered on a propagating branch. A declining can cause a turning level before the negative-shear critical level. The two closed-form heights require the stated constant-stratification assumption.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 330 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take a common constant buoyancy frequency and put . Define to be vertical parcel displacement; the kinematic boundary condition is . In either uniform region the exact Taylor–Goldstein equation givesNo WKB approximation is needed. If the earlier is genuinely nonconstant, the exact regional equation is instead ; its fundamental solutions, not plane exponentials, must be used. For example, let , , , , and let be an outgoing upper solution. Then , , with determined by and . This gives the exact arbitrary-profile field implicitly, while a simple angle-only coefficient requires further stratification assumptions.
Under the common constant- assumption, propagating incident internal gravity waves requireFor co-directed upper flow, the outgoing propagating branch exists for and has . The radiation condition chooses because the laboratory vertical group velocity is positive on the negative intrinsic frequency branch. Define , so .
At the velocity jump, the material-interface jump conditions for stratified inviscid shear flow require continuity of displacement and of fluid pressure. Vertical velocity itself is generally discontinuous: . In terms of displacement the pressure is . The displacement impedance for an internal wave at a velocity jump is . An upward incident component of complex displacement amplitude at , a reflected component and a transmitted component therefore obeyConsequentlyFor a one-pass incident displacement , a real wave field is the imaginary part ofThe incident vertical-displacement amplitude is , the reflected amplitude is and the transmitted amplitude is ; the sign of encodes a phase reversal. The other fields follow from , , and . If a perfectly reflecting terrain boundary is enforced after the return wave arrives, replace the incident coefficient by . The one-pass amplitudes use the permitted neglect of repeated terrain reflections.
For common , . The physical vertical-displacement transmission coefficient is thereforeThe printed coefficient has a different denominator and cannot be obtained for this standard displacement convention. For example, when , there is no interface scattering and the vertical amplitude stays , whereas the printed expression gives . A total displacement magnitude would instead be the vertical amplitude divided by ; with unequal velocities it still does not give the printed expression. The transmission formula needs an explicit correction or a different, presently unspecified amplitude/interface model.
For , choose with : the transmitted response decays as and the same impedance equations give a complex , with . At the steady equation is singular. Oppositely directed upper flow formally supports propagating waves when , but upward radiation then requires and signed ; the positive-angle co-directed formula is not valid there. A real velocity jump can also have Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, which is excluded from this formal steady scattering calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 314 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let the free surface be at and take the Newtonian gravitational potential to vanish at infinity. Mass conservation fixes . The enclosed mass is , and hydrostatic equilibrium requires . With vacuum outside, , givingThe pressure is zero outside. A prescribed constant external pressure would simply add that constant to .
The bulk Eulerian and Lagrangian fluid perturbations obey because the mass density is uniform and the Lagrangian displacement has zero divergence. The linearized Euler momentum equation in the interior isTaking the curl gives . Thus every nonzero-frequency normal mode has an irrotational flow displacement; the simply connected space formed by the interior admits and incompressibility gives the Laplace equation . For a regular center, one spherical harmonic component is , with .
It is essential to retain the surface gravity perturbation of a uniform-density sphere. Although the bulk mass density perturbation is zero, the displaced density discontinuity givesThe Poisson equation implies that is continuous and its outward radial derivative has the jumpUsing regularity at the center and decay at infinity, writeThe derivative jump is , so .
Integrating the bulk Euler momentum equation gives for . At the free surface the Lagrangian pressure perturbation vanishes:Combining these relations yields the Kelvin stellar mode frequencyThe choices of are degenerate because of spherical symmetry. For , is a linear combination of coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system, so is a constant displacement: the zero frequency is rigid translation of the whole isolated body. Such a translation has no restoring force. The constant potential generates no displacement; a radial breathing motion is excluded by incompressibility and a regular center.
The printed irrotational assertion needs the nonzero-frequency qualification, or restriction to the potential incompressible stellar surface modes. It is false for all neutral displacements: has zero divergence, zero normal displacement at the surface, and , so it is a zero-frequency displacement, but . This does not change the Kelvin stellar mode spectrum just derived.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 314 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The separation of the two bodies is , as is fixed by the supplied Kepler third law . The phrase “orbit of radius ” cannot denote the first body's distance from the center of mass in that formula.
Expand the companion's Newtonian potential of a point mass about the first body's center. The constant term produces no force; the linear term produces the uniform acceleration of the center and disappears in the translating frame. The leading differential acceleration therefore comes from the quadrupolar tidal forcingwhere points toward the companion. It is a degree-two solid spherical harmonic. For a circular nonrotating-frame orbit, its time-dependent components have and frequency , because the squared direction cosines repeat twice per orbit. There is also a static component. The real part of one complex harmonic represents the pair of time-dependent components; its normalization and orientation are absorbed into the order-one coefficient . This gives and . The expansion is the leading term for small; spin is being neglected.
For a forced potential flow with the same temporal frequency, the Euler momentum equation becomesUse . The surface gravity perturbation of a uniform-density sphere is unchanged, as is the vanishing Lagrangian pressure perturbation boundary condition. Integrating the equation and applying that condition givesSince , the real surface displacement isIndeed , so the normalization is consistent. This is a particular forced response away from the resonance; arbitrary free normal modes can be added.
Put and . The tidal resonance of a stellar oscillation condition is , henceThe resonance gives for finite nonnegative , with actual forcing requiring . At exact resonance the undamped linearization has no bounded response at the forcing frequency: the time-domain particular solution grows proportionally to times a sinusoid. Thus the frequency-response formula has a pole, rather than describing a finite resonant displacement. Away from that pole, linearization requires the displayed surface displacement to be small compared with ; the leading quadrupolar tidal forcing approximation separately requires small.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 2 13C b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Evaluating the function at the endpoint gives the displacementThereforeThe force-induced displacement is a linear map of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 2 13C b v Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Taking the derivative of the force-dependent energy givesThus the derivative of the additional minimized internal energy with respect to the applied force equals the resulting endpoint displacement. This is the endpoint force derivative of clamped-free beam energy.