Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 38A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 61 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take the positive constant ratio . The equation of state impliesThis is a polytropic equation of state of index three. Differentiating the pressure and using vertical hydrostatic equilibrium gives . HenceDefine the semi-thickness by and put . Then the constant gas-radiation ratio vertical disc structure iswithThe surface density is the integral across both faces. The supplied polynomial integral gives , so . Substitution yieldsAll coefficients here are local in radial position; the derivation fixes the vertical profile rather than a global accretion rate. The zero-temperature surface is a formal boundary of this bulk model; optically thick diffusion ultimately fails in a thin photospheric layer.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 61 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The first relation is vertical hydrostatic equilibrium. In a thin disc, the central object's gravity near the midplane is ; the pressure gradient balances it. The second is an equation of state combining ideal gas pressure with isotropic radiation pressure. Write , so and ; is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and the mean molecular weight in proton-mass units.
The third is local energy balance: the increase of upward radiative flux with height equals viscous dissipation. Here is dynamic viscosity, not mean molecular weight. A Keplerian disc has shear , so its heating rate is . The fourth is optically thick radiative diffusion, with opacity per unit mass and diffusion directed down the temperature gradient. Midplane symmetry gives and oppositely directed fluxes from the two faces. The four relations express vertical force balance, gas–radiation thermodynamics, local heating, and diffusive cooling.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 48 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Assume positive fluid density, , and write . A perfect fluid with constant equation of state obeys the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation, givingIn the stated units the Friedmann equation is . Multiplication by yields the Friedmann effective potential for a constant-equation-of-state fluid,The allowed region has . The Friedmann acceleration equation is equivalently , including turning points by continuity. Thus a zero-energy mechanical trajectory reproduces the cosmological evolution, with .
For , , the potential increases strictly from negative infinity to positive infinity. Its unique zero givesExpansion from the Big Bang stops there, with negative acceleration, then reverses into a Big Crunch. Both the turning point and the final singularity occur in finite proper time: is integrable near a simple turning point and behaves as a constant times near zero.
For , , increases from negative infinity to and crosses zero atThis is again expansion followed by finite-time recollapse. For , the same increasing curve has asymptote and never meets zero. Expansion continues without a finite maximum; asymptotically and , as spatial curvature dominates the diluted fluid.
For , , tends to negative infinity at both ends. It has a maximum atThere is no turning point. Expansion initially decelerates, then accelerates once , and approaches de Sitter spacetime expansion . Thus positive flat dark-energy expansion is unbounded; negative flat dark energy and positive curvature without dark energy recollapse.
Zero-energy Friedmann potentials showing recollapse, curvature-dominated expansion and positive-cosmological-constant expansion
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 42 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A first-order phase transition has a discontinuity in a first derivative of the equilibrium free energy, such as the entropy or order parameter. It can have latent heat when the entropy jumps. A continuous phase transition has a continuously vanishing order parameter and no latent heat, with singular higher derivatives and a diverging correlation length. The LG theory compares global minima, not merely the points where a local minimum loses stability.
For the uniform quartic Landau free energythe equation of state is . At zero field the stable minimum is for , and for . Thus tuning through zero gives a continuous transition. For a fixed , varying through zero instead switches between the two ordered minima and makes jump, giving a first-order phase transition in the conjugate field.
A temperature-like first-order transition can occur at zero field when and a positive sextic term stabilizes the potential. Write . Stationarity of a nonzero phase gives , while equality with gives . Solving these two conditions yieldsThe order parameter jumps from zero to . At this pointso the competing stationary points are genuinely global minima. This phase coexistence condition differs from the spinodal points and , which mark loss or creation of local stability, not equilibrium coexistence.
If the symmetry permits a cubic term , a positive quartic coefficient does not preclude a first-order transition. For with , stationarity and coexistence give and . This is the first-order transition in a cubic-quartic Landau potential; the symmetry restriction on the expansion is therefore part of the prediction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 42 1 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Critical exponents describe leading power-law singularities as the reduced temperature and the conjugate field tend to zero. Their amplitudes depend on microscopic details, while the exponents are characteristic of a universality class. Define on a selected ordered branch, at zero field, for the singular heat capacity, and . Also define and . In these statements is the order-parameter critical exponent, not inverse temperature.
Assume with and a nonzero positive quartic coefficient . Minimizing the quartic potential gives , hence . Differentiating its equation of state givesso with different amplitudes. At , , giving . The minimized potential is zero above the transition and below, so its second temperature derivative has a finite jump: .
The quadratic fluctuation kernel around the stable uniform minimum is , so . Since is above and below, . Its critical momentum dependence is , giving . Thus the ordinary mean-field critical exponents areThese are predictions of the Landau approximation, whose validity is constrained by the Ginzburg criterion; they need not be the exponents of the fluctuating theory below its upper critical dimension.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 53 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The one-particle distribution function is a scalar function on the future mass shell. Choose its normalization so that, in a local orthonormal tetrad, is the expected photon number in a phase-space cell on a constant-time slice. Spin degeneracy and any phase-space normalization factors are included in ; with an occupation-number convention they would instead appear explicitly in the measure.
More covariantly, the photon number crossing a spacelike element is . The factor reduces to on a local constant-time slice, recovering the cell interpretation. The measure is Lorentz invariant on the mass shell.
A photon carries energy and momentum , while its velocity is . Energy density, momentum density and momentum flux are thereforeThey assemble into the stress-energy tensorThe tetrad momenta are related to coordinate components by the tetrad basis. For an isotropic distribution, angular averaging gives and . Thus the photon gas has pressure , consistent with its massless equation of state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 55 3 ii Solution 2026-10-06
Both gas and radiation pressures are nonnegative, so . Rearranging the constant-fraction result givesThis is the Eddington luminosity for the effective opacity constant of this model. Positive gas support gives a strict inequality, with equality only in the radiation-only limiting case. Exceeding the limit would require a negative gas-pressure fraction, which is incompatible with the assumed equation of state.
