Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 36 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the natural empty-sum convention for cumulative coherence. This is needed for the printed case . For the conclusion is immediate. Otherwise let be its support of a vector, with . The Gram matrix has diagonal entries one because the columns have unit Euclidean norm. Each off-diagonal row sum is bounded byThe last inequality uses monotonicity of cumulative coherence: enlarging an index set only adds nonnegative summands. There are enough indices to enlarge it because .
The Gershgorin circle theorem places every eigenvalue of within distance of one. Since is a Hermitian matrix, its eigenvalues are real, and the finite-dimensional spectral theorem givesThis is the cumulative coherence bound for restricted isometry. The lower bound remains valid when , although it is then nonpositive. No assumption that the matrix is already a near isometry is required. The distortion is bounded by on every order- sparse vector.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 36 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For one-column Gram matrices, unit Euclidean norm of the columns gives . The restricted isometry constant formula therefore gives . For a two-column Gram matrix, put . The difference from the identity matrix has the formup to the convention for the complex inner product. Its characteristic polynomial is , so the eigenvalues are and its matrix 2-norm is . Maximizing over pairs gives , where is the mutual coherence.
Part (b), together with the minimality defining the restricted isometry constant, gives . Every summand defining cumulative coherence is at most the mutual coherence, so . Thus, for normalized columns and ,The upper range matters because the printed definition of cumulative coherence stops at . For , only is needed; the maximum over pairs defining mutual coherence is otherwise empty.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 44 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Write , with . Independent variations of and give the Euler-Lagrange equation . Away from its unique endpoint solution isIntegration by parts cancels the linear fluctuation terms and gives . On the classical solution, the action is the boundary term . Substituting the endpoint derivatives therefore givesThe remaining Gaussian path integral contains two real fluctuation coordinates per mode, so it contributes an inverse functional determinant, rather than its inverse square root. Thus , with the measure normalization fixing the otherwise arbitrary constant.
For Dirichlet boundary conditions, the normalized sine modes have eigenvalues , . Their determinant ratio is the convergent Dirichlet oscillator determinant ratioThe last equality is the sine infinite product. With the prescribed free determinant this givesThe kernel uses the Feynman i-epsilon prescription; at a caustic it is a distributional limit, not an ordinary finite function. Its limit is .
There is a sign error in the printed complex-integral hint. For a positive damping parameter , polar integration gives the regulated complex Fresnel integralThis regulated value, together with the stated free-kernel normalization, fixes the phase consistently.
For and positive imaginary-time length , Wick rotation givesPut with and use the convergent real Gaussian integral. Writing givesThis is the parity-twisted oscillator thermal trace. The complex coordinate describes two independent real quantum harmonic oscillators, each with mass two in these units. Their total energy is ; level has degeneracy , and spatial inversion has parity operator eigenvalue . The plus sign is ; the minus sign is . The alternating trace inserts parity into a bosonic system; it does not change the oscillators into fermions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 45 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take real field coordinates ; for complex scalar fields, split them into real and imaginary parts. Assume a smooth scalar potential and positive, canonically normalized kinetic terms in a relativistic theory. At a classical vacuum, . The Taylor expansion isThus the scalar mass matrix is the Hessian matrix, and its eigenvalues give squared masses of the linearized scalar excitations.
Put . Infinitesimal invariance of the scalar potential gives the identity at every field value. Differentiate with respect to and evaluate at the classical vacuum:Every nonzero infinitesimal symmetry direction therefore lies in the kernel of the scalar mass matrix. This is the classical Goldstone theorem expressed through Goldstone directions in the scalar mass matrix.
Let be the full stabilizer subgroup of . The linear map from the Lie algebra of to field space, , has kernel equal to the Lie algebra of . The rank-nullity theorem givesThere are consequently at least massless scalar directions, namely the tangent directions to the symmetry orbit through the classical vacuum. If the intended is , these are the symmetry-required Goldstone bosons. Exactly that many massless modes occur if the scalar mass matrix is positive definite on a complement of those tangent directions. A nonsingular positive field-space kinetic metric changes normalization, but not the number of zero masses.
Two qualifications are needed for the literal assumptions. A subgroup fixing the classical vacuum need not be the full stabilizer subgroup. For example, take acting on a real triplet and with . At , the scalar mass matrix is : there are two massless modes. Choosing satisfies the printed invariance condition but would incorrectly predict three. The full stabilizer subgroup is .
Even with the full stabilizer subgroup, symmetry does not exclude an accidental massless scalar. Take rotating , with an invariant singlet , andAt the full continuous stabilizer is trivial, but the scalar mass matrix is . One zero direction is the Goldstone boson; the other is an accidental massless scalar at quadratic order. The proof establishes the symmetry-required count, not unconditional equality with the total number of massless fields. The statement concerns global internal symmetry; gauging it changes the physical interpretation through the Higgs mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 1 Solution 2026-10-07
We take algebras to be unital and modules to be unital. A finite-dimensional semisimple algebra over the complex numbers is one whose regular left module is a semisimple module, that is, a direct sum of simple modules. We use the basic finite-dimensional equivalences: this is equivalent to a zero Jacobson radical, and the Jacobson radical of any finite-dimensional algebra is a nilpotent ideal.
The Artin–Wedderburn theorem here says that there are positive integers withThe nonisomorphic simple modules are the standard column modules of the factors, of dimensions , and the factor sizes are unique up to reordering.
Here is a proof. Decompose the regular left module as with pairwise nonisomorphic simple modules . These are all the simple modules: any simple module is generated by a nonzero vector and is therefore a quotient of the regular module. The Schur lemma gives for and . For the latter assertion, an endomorphism has an eigenvalue over , and the kernel of its difference from that scalar is a nonzero submodule, hence the whole simple module. ConsequentlyEvery regular-module endomorphism is right multiplication by its value at , so . Taking opposite algebras and using matrix transposition gives the asserted decomposition with .
For a matrix algebra , the matrix units show that its only simple module is : the spaces are isomorphic through , and a nonzero vector in one of them generates one copy of the column module. Simplicity makes that copy all of . In a product algebra, the mutually orthogonal central idempotents decompose every module into its factor modules; a simple module uses exactly one factor. This proves the module assertion and also uniqueness, since the primitive central idempotents and the dimensions of their simple modules determine the factors.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 52 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Let primes denote radial derivatives of the equilibrium and put . The linearized continuity, adiabatic pressure and Poisson equation areTake the time derivative of the Poisson equation and substitute continuity. Integration in radius givesCentre regularity excludes a changing point mass at the origin, so andThe perturbed self-gravity must be retained; this calculation does not make the Cowling approximation.
The radial linear momentum equation is . Differentiate it in time and use the preceding equations:The equilibrium has and . The remaining terms simplify asConsequently the radial stellar oscillation equation isThe derivative acts on the full variable coefficient ; discarding would change the result.
For , . Substitute and multiply by . Combining the two terms proportional to into a total derivative gives the radial stellar pulsation equation,
Set , and . The Sturm-Liouville operator isFor regular physical perturbations, is finite at the centre and at the free surface. For a nonzero-frequency mode the fluid displacement is , so vanishing Lagrangian pressure perturbation is equivalent to . With and finite , this gives . Zero-frequency modes use the same displacement boundary condition directly. Assume bounded , positive in the interior and the usual finite-energy endpoint domain. Integration by parts givesThus this physical self-adjoint differential operator has real eigenvalues . The endpoint domain is essential: the fact that vanishes does not by itself allow arbitrary singular trial functions. The regular free-surface realization of the Sturm-Liouville problem is the one used here.
The Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle gives the fundamental squared frequency as the infimum of the weighted stellar pulsation Rayleigh quotient,The infimum is over admissible finite-energy functions satisfying the physical endpoint conditions. If this quotient is nonnegative for every such function, all radial frequencies are real and there is no exponentially growing radial mode. A negative value for even one trial function proves a negative eigenvalue and an exponentially growing solution, because . A zero lowest value is marginal and needs separate treatment of neutral motion.
Choose the homologous trial function , which corresponds to radial velocity proportional to . Its gradient contribution is zero, andThe denominator is positive. HenceThis pressure-weighted radial instability criterion is sufficient, not necessary: another trial function can detect instability even if this one does not. For a constant stellar adiabatic exponent it recovers instability below . At constant , the homologous mode is neutral. For constant , in a normally stratified hydrostatic equilibrium, so the quotient is positive and the star is radially stable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a decreasing integer tuple , let . Then is a partition and the highest-weight classification of rational GL representations definesThis is a determinant twist of a Schur module. Every irreducible rational representation becomes polynomial after multiplication by a sufficiently large positive determinant power, which clears all matrix-entry denominators. The polynomial degree decomposition and Schur–Weyl duality then identify it with a Schur module. Undoing the twist gives exactly one decreasing integer tuple . Distinct tuples have distinct highest torus weights, so these are the complete pairwise nonisomorphic irreducible rational representations.
The Weyl character formula specializes toIt is a symmetric Laurent polynomial in the eigenvalues. Equality extends from the dense set of diagonalizable matrices to all invertible matrices: both the character and the expression in the characteristic-polynomial coefficients are regular functions on . For a polynomial representation this also extends to every endomorphism of . For a general rational representation, the printed claim at singular endomorphisms needs this qualification: for example is undefined at a singular matrix. The displayed formula is valid on , and on all of when .
To compute the degree, set with distinct and take . For and , the leading coefficient of an exponential alternant isIndeed, expand every exponential in powers of . The first nonzero determinant uses the distinct powers ; its coefficient is the product of the two Vandermonde determinants divided by . Taking the same expansion in the denominator cancels the powers and the factors, giving the Weyl dimension formulaThis proof works for negative as well, since determinant twists have dimension one.
Every finite-dimensional rational module is completely reducible. The characters of its irreducible constituents are linearly independent: each Schur Laurent character has its highest dominant monomial with coefficient , and only lower weights besides it. In a finite relation, choose a lexicographically highest remaining weight; its coefficient must vanish, and iterate. Therefore equal characters give equal multiplicities of every irreducible constituent, proving rational modules with the same character are isomorphic.
Finally the symmetric algebra of has the formal torus characterEach factor sums the symmetric powers of a one-dimensional weight space; the exterior square has weights for . The permitted Schur identity makes this . In each fixed scalar degree there are only finitely many terms, so complete reducibility and character independence apply degree by degree without a convergence assumption. Thus the multiplicity-free symmetric-algebra model for polynomial GL representations contains each irreducible polynomial representation exactly once. The word irreducible is necessary: arbitrary reducible polynomial modules, such as two copies of the trivial module, do not each occur once in a multiplicity-free sum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 57 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Apply the modulo operation to the eigenvalues of . The product eigenstates have ordinary eigenvalues , respectively, and residues modulo . The resulting observable isUse the entanglement-assisted nondemolition parity measurement from part (a). Equal local meter records give ; unequal records give . Its conditional quantum measurement maps are and , with normalization by their probabilities. The quantum nondemolition measurement preserves every vector within each degenerate eigenspace, including superpositions of and . Measuring the two system spins separately would destroy that even-sector coherence and would therefore not realize the same Lüders rule instrument. The nonlocal eigenvalue again becomes known only after local operations and classical communication compares the local records.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 58 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the quantum Fourier transform convention , where . Reindexing the shifted sum givesThus the cyclic shift operator has these eigenvectors, with eigenvalues . This is cyclic shift diagonalization by the quantum Fourier transform, and it implies with .
For , the binary encoding is , with the more significant qubit. The required diagonal phase isso . The allowed-gate circuit is thereforeIn execution order, apply the inverse QFT, then the two phase gates, then the forward QFT. There is no extra global phase. Reversing the Fourier sign convention would conjugate both phase gate parameters.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 58 4 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For , the Pauli X gate and Pauli Z gate act on different qubits in , so they commute. Their product is a Hermitian matrix and squares to the identity operator. Its eigenvalues have modulus one; equivalently it is a unitary operator. Therefore its spectral norm isThe qualification is necessary because the qubit labelled one does not exist for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 58 4 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The product of the data Pauli Z gates has computational-basis eigenvalueUse the parity circuit from part (ii), apply the target unitary gate , and then uncompute the parity with . For every basis input,This equals on the data, with the ancilla qubit returned to zero. The compute-phase-uncompute construction therefore gives an exact linear-size circuit:This is a Pauli-string phase by parity computation, an instance of simulation of a computable diagonal Hamiltonian. Part (i) also explains it by , whose exponential restricts correctly to the target- subspace. If no extra line is desired, accumulate parity into the last data qubit, apply there, and undo the CNOT gates, for gates. Both constructions implement the global phase as well as the relative phases exactly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 63 7 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A stability analysis asks whether perturbations in an evolution remain bounded on a fixed physical time interval by a constant independent of the mesh. For a linear update , the basic requirement isThis permits physical growth bounded by ; it need not require every step to be a contraction. Consistency of a numerical method measures how well its stencil reproduces the differential equation, whereas stability of a numerical method controls the accumulated defects. For a well-posed linear problem, the Lax equivalence theorem connects stability and convergence for a consistent approximation in the specified norm.
On the whole line or a periodic grid, constant-coefficient stencils commute with translations. The Fourier modes diagonalize such spatial operators, turning a scalar one-step scheme intoThe Fourier symbol is found simply by replacing a shift by . The Parseval identity makes this modal calculation a norm estimate: if at every resolvable frequency, then the discrete norm cannot increase. More generally, a uniform gives and a fixed-time stability bound. All frequencies matter, including those near the grid scale; a small-wavenumber expansion establishes consistency but cannot test the entire stability range.
For the heat equation, put and . The Forward Euler diffusion scheme hasThe condition for every is exactly . This illustrates a parabolic time-step restriction . The Backward Euler diffusion scheme instead haswhich is contractive for every . The Crank-Nicolson diffusion scheme hasand is likewise unconditionally stable. However, its high-frequency amplification approaches for large , so it need not damp rapidly decaying modes effectively and may produce alternating transients from nonsmooth data. An A-stable time integrator can stabilize a diffusion semidiscretization with left-half-plane spectrum, but damping and accuracy remain separate questions.
For transport , define the hyperbolic Courant number . Forward Euler with a centered spatial difference gives and . It is unstable under a fixed nonzero CFL ratio. For , the upwind finite difference scheme hasThus is the stable range. Upwinding for negative reverses the spatial difference and gives . The Lax-Wendroff advection scheme gives a second-order example:It is stable for , but that result does not imply monotonicity or exclude oscillations at shocks. The Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy condition has a domain-of-dependence interpretation for explicit hyperbolic schemes; the Fourier calculation supplies the sharper algebraic stability criterion for the particular stencil.
For multilevel methods, each frequency gives an amplification polynomial and a companion matrix. Every amplification root must lie in the closed unit disk, with unit-modulus roots simple. Uniformity across frequencies and meshes is essential: one also needs control of the associated matrix powers, for example through a uniformly bounded diagonalization or the uniform power bound from separated amplification roots. A repeated unit root generates a Jordan block and polynomial growth in the number of steps. The same issue occurs for systems: checking only eigenvalue moduli of a nonnormal Fourier amplification matrix is insufficient. For instancehas unit eigenvalues but no fixed-time mesh-uniform bound as . For a hyperbolic system with a constant coefficient matrix admitting a uniformly bounded characteristic diagonalization, scalar modal estimates for each characteristic speed do give a system estimate. A positive energy symmetrizer provides another route. Frozen-coefficient Fourier tests for variable coefficients are useful local diagnostics, but a global estimate must also account for coefficient variation and boundary terms.
Boundary conditions change the allowable modes and can change the conclusion. A periodic calculation is exact only for a periodic closure. On a finite interval with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions, the centered diffusion matrix is diagonalized instead by the discrete sine transform. On interior points its eigenvalues are before scaling by . Thus the exact fixed-grid Forward Euler restriction iswhich tends to the whole-line threshold as the grid is refined. Backward Euler and Crank-Nicolson remain stable for all nonnegative . An appropriate Neumann boundary condition uses cosine-type modes and includes a constant mode with eigenvalue zero. The constant mode must be preserved, rather than forced to decay; depending on the boundary stencil, the natural discrete inner product may have endpoint weights.
For hyperbolic transport, the continuous and discrete boundary closures must respect the direction of propagation. If on , prescribe the left inflow value; prescribing an independent outflow value can overdetermine the problem. The energy method exposes this directly:Homogeneous inflow is dissipative, while forced inflow contributes data to the estimate. A compatible upwind boundary update has the same one-sided information flow. For diffusion,The last term vanishes for homogeneous Dirichlet or Neumann conditions. With Robin boundary conditions of dissipative sign it contributes a further nonpositive term. A non-dissipative boundary can produce genuine PDE growth, which a valid stability estimate should represent rather than incorrectly suppress.
Even a perfectly stable interior symbol cannot detect every defective boundary closure of a difference scheme. As a concrete counterexample, leave a stable explicit heat stencil on all grid points away from the left endpoint, but replace its first interior row by , still keeping . The interior Fourier symbol is unchanged, yet makes the finite-interval update unstable. The faulty boundary-adjacent row creates a mode absent from the periodic interior calculation. Thus the entire finite update matrix, or an energy estimate including its boundary rows, must be examined.
A more systematic boundary stability of a finite-difference method analysis transforms time and any tangential spatial variables, then looks for modes with and on a half-line. The interior dispersion relation selects decaying spatial modes; the boundary equations must determine their coefficients without admitting a nonzero growing homogeneous mode. A uniform inverse estimate for the boundary system, expressed by the Uniform Kreiss--Lopatinskii condition, also rules out arbitrarily weak boundary control near limiting frequencies. Merely excluding one obvious unstable mode is weaker than proving a mesh-uniform estimate. Discrete summation by parts and suitable boundary penalties offer an energy-based alternative.
Finally, nonlinear scalar conservation laws can develop discontinuities, so linearized Fourier stability is only one part of the analysis. A monotone conservative scheme, such as the Engquist-Osher method under its CFL restriction, has an invariant state range and L1 contraction of a monotone conservative scheme, with a discrete entropy inequality selecting admissible shocks. These complement the Fourier and boundary estimates. For an evolution problem, the meaningful outcome is a stability bound in a specified norm, uniform over the chosen mesh family and compatible with the actual boundary and initial data.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 66 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For each of the four standard pairs, integration by parts givesConsequently the eigenvalues are nonnegative. For a positive eigenvalue , the eigenvalue equation is . Its four characteristic roots are , soHere are coefficients, avoiding a collision with the filament bending modulus . The regular finite-interval self-adjoint operator has compact resolvent; applying the spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators to a shifted inverse supplies a complete orthonormal basis of eigenfunctions.
For clamped boundary conditions at zero, a clamped--clamped bending mode can be writtenAt , writing , the two remaining boundary conditions areThe determinant is . Hence the positive wavenumbers obeyEquivalently, intersect with . Numerical root bracketing givesThe entire sequence has the useful large- descriptionIndeed, put in and use and .
The apparent root in the determinant equation is spurious for the clamped problem: at zero eigenvalue, is a cubic polynomial, and its four clamped conditions force . For other endpoint choices, zero-energy filament modes must be treated separately from the trigonometric formula. The free-free kernel consists of affine functions, the torqued-torqued kernel consists of constants, and the hinged-hinged kernel is trivial. Including those kernels is necessary for a complete eigenfunction expansion.