Cooling of an initially uniform square 2026-10-20
For a square of side initially at constant temperature , held at zero boundary temperature for , the heat equation with has solutionThe double Fourier sine series of the initial constant gives the coefficients. The spatial modes are Dirichlet Laplacian eigenfunctions, so separation of variables gives their decay rates. At late times the mode dominates, giving the displayed profile; the next nonzero decay exponent is . At early times the series approaches the constant at each interior point and in L2 space, while the boundary remains at zero. An instantaneous change to the boundary condition therefore need not produce a solution continuous at the initial boundary in space-time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 1 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Multiply by the sine product and integrate over the square. Fourier orthogonality gives squared norm , and thusThereforeThis double Fourier sine series equals one at interior points. At boundary points every summand vanishes, consistent with the endpoint value of the sine extension.