Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 1 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use complex inner products linear in the first argument throughout. The spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators states that, for a compact operator on a Hilbert space, its nonzero spectral values are real eigenvalues, each of finite multiplicity, with no possible accumulation point except zero. Moreover,where are the mutually orthogonal eigenspace projections. The operator series converges in operator norm when the nonzero eigenvalues are listed in decreasing absolute value. The sum is at most countable, even if the kernel is nonseparable. Zero need not be an eigenvalue.
First prove that a nonzero compact self-adjoint operator has an eigenvalue of magnitude its norm, without assuming a spectral decomposition. Put and choose unit vectors with . Since , expansion givesCompactness of supplies a subsequence for which converges; the displayed estimate then forces itself to converge to a unit vector satisfying . The vectors and are eigenvectors for and , respectively, whenever nonzero, and they cannot both vanish. This proves the claim.
Self-adjointness gives reality of every eigenvalue and orthogonality of eigenspaces for distinct eigenvalues. An eigenspace for cannot contain an infinite orthonormal sequence: its images under would have pairwise distance , contradicting compactness. The same argument proves that there are only finitely many mutually orthogonal eigenvectors with eigenvalues of magnitude at least any given . Hence all nonzero eigenspaces together have a countable orthonormal basis, and their eigenvalues tend to zero if there are infinitely many.
Let be the orthogonal complement of the closed span of all these eigenspaces. It is invariant under . If were nonzero, the norm-attaining eigenvalue argument applied to that compact self-adjoint restriction would produce another nonzero eigenvector, a contradiction. Thus , and the converse inclusion follows from orthogonality. This establishes the asserted decomposition. On its orthogonal summands the tail of the operator series has norm equal to the supremum of the omitted eigenvalue magnitudes, proving norm convergence.
Finally, a nonzero complex number not among these eigenvalues has positive distance from their set and from zero. Inverting separately on the eigenspaces and kernel therefore gives a bounded inverse. This proves that no other nonzero spectral values occur and completes the theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 12 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a first-order system, it is important to specify the frame in which its coefficients are written. In the simple-pole convention intended here, a Fuchsian linear differential system has, at a finite singular point ,The residue is the matrix , computed entry by entry. Such a point is a regular singular point: on a sector, the coefficient bound and integration along rays give at most power growth of solutions. Intrinsically, a regular singular point means moderate power growth of all solutions on sectors, allowing logarithmic factors. This intrinsic definition is more general than requiring a simple coefficient pole in an arbitrary meromorphic frame.
For , a fundamental matrix on a chosen complex logarithm branch isDifferentiating the matrix exponential verifies . A counterclockwise circuit replaces by , soThis is the residue and monodromy of a constant Fuchsian system. A change of solution basis conjugates . Its eigenvalues are for the residue eigenvalues ; a nontrivial Jordan block supplies the corresponding logarithmic terms in . The monodromy does not uniquely recover , since integer shifts of residue eigenvalues can leave their exponentials unchanged.
The coordinate-independent coefficient is the matrix-valued one-form . With , its coefficient isBeing Fuchsian at infinity means , while being ordinary there means . If the finite simple poles are , subtract their principal parts:Each entry of is entire and tends to zero at infinity. Liouville's theorem therefore gives . Expanding this partial fraction decomposition at infinity yieldsThus the sum of all residues, including the residue at infinity of the one-form, is zero. If infinity is ordinary, and the finite residues alone sum to zero. Treating merely as a scalar function of , without transforming , would give the wrong infinity convention.
Put . The possible finite singular points of are , andA point is removable exactly when as a matrix. At infinity,which is holomorphic at . Consequently the actual set is , with the generic set. The finite residues sum to zero, as follows also from .
Conversely, suppose a Fuchsian linear differential system has its finite singular points among these three roots and has no singularity at infinity. Then extends to an entire matrix function, and ordinariness at infinity gives . By the Cauchy estimate, each entry has zero derivatives of order two or higher, so . The same argument applies to any subset , with additional cancellations at the omitted roots. This proves the requested normal form.
There is a genuine convention limitation: the normal form is not true under intrinsic regular singularity alone in an unrestricted frame. For example, if and , then has fundamental matrix . Its solutions have only power growth, so is intrinsically a regular singular point, and infinity is ordinary. Nevertheless its coefficient has a double pole and cannot equal . The simple-pole convention makes the preceding residue and normal-form assertions correct.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 20 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the nonnegative Laplacian convention and on the unit sphere. In polar coordinates the Euclidean Riemannian metric is , its volume form is , and therefore the Laplacian in polar coordinates isConsequently the required restriction identity isFor the opposite sign convention all eigenvalues below change sign, and the restriction identity changes accordingly.
Let be the vector space of degree- homogeneous polynomials in variables, and let be its subspace of harmonic polynomials. Write for . Substitution in the Laplacian identity givesThus each restricted harmonic polynomial is a spherical harmonic with eigenvalue .
To count these spherical harmonics, give polynomials the Fischer inner product . Multiplication by is adjoint to , so multiplication by is adjoint to the ordinary signed Laplacian . In these finite-dimensional inner product spaces, the orthogonal complement of is exactly . Hence the Fischer decomposition isMultiplication by is injective, while restriction of a homogeneous polynomial to the sphere is injective: homogeneity recovers its value at every nonzero point. Counting monomials now gives the eigenvalue multiplicitywhere the second term is zero for .
It remains to establish that these are all the eigenvalues and their full multiplicities. Iterating the Fischer decomposition expresses every restricted polynomial as a sum of the restricted harmonic polynomials. Restricted polynomials separate points and contain the constants, so the Stone-Weierstrass theorem makes their span dense in continuous functions on the sphere, hence dense in its L2 space. The Laplace-Beltrami operator is self-adjoint, and the distinct numbers strictly increase for . Its different eigenspaces are therefore orthogonal. Any additional eigenfunction, or any additional vector in one of these eigenspaces orthogonal to its known spherical harmonics, would be orthogonal to a dense subspace and hence zero. The standard compact elliptic spectral theorem then shows that the spectrum of the round sphere is precisely with multiplicity . For this gives multiplicity one at zero and two at for . If the degenerate case is included, has two points and its Laplacian is zero on a two-dimensional function space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 20 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the following skew-symmetric matrix, whose columns reduce modulo three to four of the specified nonzero tetracode words:Set , , and define the full Euclidean lattices . Their determinants have absolute value , sinceFor arbitrary positive real numbers , put and . This is the tetracode length-isospectral lattice construction. We prove equality of the length multisets by an explicit bijection, not just equality of the shortest lengths.
Modulo three, both lattices have image . The matrix has rank two over ; its four column lines are precisely the four lines in . Also modulo three, so . Each nonzero tetracode word has exactly one zero coordinate. Every therefore has some coordinate divisible by three. Moreover, all four coordinates of have the same parity, because every entry of either is odd.
For , choose the least index with and set . The coordinate reflection bijection for tetracode lattices will show that . First, , so . Second, positive-lattice membership implies . HenceThe expression in parentheses has th coordinate zero and every other coordinate even, by the common parity and . Thus . Together the congruences modulo three and four say , which is precisely .
Conversely, if , the same reflection has unchanged reduction modulo three, and now . ThusIts th coordinate is and its other coordinates are even multiples of two, so it vanishes modulo four; it vanishes modulo three as well. The reflected vector is in . The chosen index is unchanged by reflection, including for vectors reducing to zero, so this map is an involution between the two lattices. It preserves every and therefore preserves . The two lattices have the same length spectrum, including every multiplicity, for every positive choice of weights.
To prove a genuine failure of isometry, chooseThese four numbers are linearly independent over : changing the signs of the independent square roots in the multiquadratic field isolates each coefficient of a rational relation. If an orthogonal transformation maps to , thenand . Comparing rational coefficients of the independent in the diagonal entries gives . Consequently is diagonal with entries .
Such a coordinate sign change must preserve modulo three. For each zero coordinate , there are exactly two opposite nonzero tetracode words. Preserving their line requires the other three signs to be equal. Taking two different zero coordinates forces all four signs to be equal. Thus or , either of which would imply . ButThis contradiction proves and are not isometric. Allowing affine isometries changes nothing: translating the image of zero back to zero reduces them to the orthogonal case.
For the flat tori, take period lattices equal to the dual lattices:The standard spectrum of a flat torus lemma states that its characters of a real torus are indexed by the dual of its period lattice. Here they are for , with Laplacian eigenvalue . These characters give a complete orthogonal basis, so our length-preserving bijection proves that and are isospectral manifolds. The second standard lemma is that an isometry of flat tori lifts to an affine isometry of their Euclidean universal covers. Its orthogonal part maps the period lattices to one another, and therefore maps their dual lattices to one another. This would give the impossible isometry . Hence and are isospectral non-isometric flat four-dimensional tori.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 3 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A highest-weight vector is a nonzero weight vector such that for every positive root . Its weight of a representation is a highest weight. For an irreducible finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation, this is the unique highest weight of a representation, and generates the module; a reducible module can have several highest weights of different summands.
Here is an existence argument for every nonzero finite-dimensional module . For each simple root, its root operators and coroot form an sl2 subalgebra associated with a root. The classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations shows that this coroot acts diagonalizably with integral eigenvalues. These commuting coroots span the Cartan subalgebra, so simultaneous diagonalization gives a finite weight-space decompositionChoose a real linear functional on the weight lattice span that is positive on every simple root, hence on every positive root, and choose a weight maximizing among the finitely many weights of . If and , thenso belongs to if nonzero. For positive , that would contradict maximality because . Thus every nonzero is a highest-weight vector. Every nonzero finite-dimensional module therefore has a highest weight. The zero module has no nonzero vector or weight, so it is the vacuous exception to the literal unrestricted wording.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 33 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Hecke operators organize modular forms simultaneously by their transformation law and their Fourier coefficients. Work with , its space of weight- modular forms, and its cusp form subspace, with even . Odd weights give zero spaces. The normalization below makes the first coefficient of equal to the th coefficient of , which is the key link between operators and arithmetic.
For with positive determinant, the determinant-normalized slash operator for modular forms isThe automorphy factor identity proves . Positive scalar matrices act trivially. Let be the integral matrices of determinant . Left multiplication by reduces their first column, by Bezout identity, to with ; the determinant then gives . A row shear makes . These are unique determinant-n matrix representatives for Hecke operators, so defineRight multiplication by any element of permutes these left cosets. The slash operator for modular forms identity therefore proves that has the same modular transformation law as . Each summand is holomorphic on the upper half-plane. Its cusp behavior follows explicitly from the coefficient calculation below, so preserves both and .
Insert in the sum. The finite sum over is zero unless , in which case it is . Writing leaves the term with multiplier . Thus the Fourier coefficients of a composite-index Hecke operator areFor use . In particular the constant coefficient becomes , so cusp forms remain cusp forms, andfor a prime number . The absence of negative powers proves cusp holomorphy. Notice that no primality assumption is needed in the composite-index formula.
The Hecke multiplication relations can be derived directly, rather than assumed from the coset description. On Fourier series define auxiliary maps and . They need not separately preserve , but . With , the coefficient formula givesMultiplying on the left by , the term in the sum contributes ; the terms with become . Together with the sum this is exactly . Hence the Hecke prime-power recurrence from q-shift operators isFor coprime , substituting the coefficient formula twice gives a sum over and with coefficient . The divisors correspond uniquely to a divisor , so . The prime-power recurrence, by induction on the smaller exponent, givesCombining the coprime and prime-power formulas provesIn particular the Hecke operators commute, and the modular Hecke algebra is generated by the prime operators.
The analytic reason for simultaneous diagonalization is the Petersson inner productwhich is positive definite on and convergent because of exponential cusp decay. Here is the adjoint argument. For a matrix , set . The left cosets in are represented by with . Unfolding this finite coset sum in the Petersson inner product givesUnder , hyperbolic area is unchanged and the determinant factors in the slash operator for modular forms giveThe integration group becomes . Folding this finite cover back to identifies the adjoint with the correspondence for . For , the matrix is again integral with determinant ; scalar matrices act trivially, and adjugation permutes the double cosets making up . The real normalizing factor is unchanged. Thus this proves that Hecke operators are self-adjoint for the Petersson inner product:The valence formula for the modular group makes a finite-dimensional vector space. Commuting self-adjoint operators on a finite-dimensional inner product space have a common orthogonal eigenbasis: diagonalize one operator, use commutativity to preserve each of its eigenspaces, and repeat within those spaces. Therefore has a basis of Hecke eigenforms, with real Hecke operator eigenvalues.
If is a common Hecke eigenform, say , its first Fourier coefficient cannot vanish: would imply for every . Normalize . Then the Hecke operator eigenvalue is precisely the Fourier coefficient . The Hecke multiplication relations becomeConsequently the coefficients are multiplicative at coprime indices, and their local generating function satisfiesThis gives the Euler product of a Hecke eigenformin a half-plane of absolute convergence. The Fourier coefficient bound for a cusp form already supplies such a half-plane; Question 4 improves it to .
The L-function of a cusp form also has an analytic description independent of the Hecke eigenform condition. Termwise Mellin transform in an initial right half-plane givesAt infinity the cusp form decays exponentially. Modular inversion gives , so at zero it is . The integral therefore converges locally uniformly for every , continuing to an entire function. Changing to provesFor a normalized Hecke eigenform, the Euler product of a Hecke eigenform and this functional equation describe the same completed L-function of a cusp form.
There is also an integral arithmetic structure. One standard consequence of the level-one dimension formula and the valence formula for the modular group is the integral triangular basis of level-one modular forms: if with , choose respectively. Thenform a basis of , and the terms form a basis of . Their first nonzero terms are with coefficient one and all coefficients are integers. Successive elimination of coefficients of shows that these cusp basis elements generate exactly the lattice of rational cusp forms with integral Fourier coefficients. The composite-index coefficient formula preserves this lattice, so each has an integral matrix on it. Its characteristic polynomial is monic with integral coefficients. This proves that Hecke eigenvalues are algebraic integers; self-adjointness also makes every root of that characteristic polynomial real. The field generated by the eigenvalues is a finite totally real number field: a finite set of operators spans the finite-dimensional rational modular Hecke algebra, and every conjugate of each eigenvalue remains a root of its real-rooted characteristic polynomial.
Two basic examples connect the operator theory to familiar modular forms. The normalized Eisenstein series has coefficients proportional to . At a prime number its coefficient formula useswhere the second term is zero unless . This follows by writing with and summing a finite geometric series. It proves , and the Hecke multiplication relations give . Meanwhile implies , because . Thus the Ramanujan tau function is multiplicative and satisfies . For example, gives . This illustrates how Hecke operators turn analytic Fourier coefficients into a coherent arithmetic system.