Angular momentum of a homogeneous harmonic polynomial Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For a homogeneous harmonic polynomial of degree in three dimensions, the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions gives , where . The orbital angular momentum identity therefore gives . This constructs angular momentum eigenstates directly from polynomials.
Euler relation in thermodynamics 2026-10-06
For a single-component equilibrium system with extensive internal energy , scaling its entropy, volume and particle number together gives . The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions therefore gives . The first law of thermodynamics identifies these derivatives as , respectively, proving . Dividing by volume yields the entropy density formula . This step fixes the entropy normalization rather than merely identifying its differential. Differentiating the Euler relation and subtracting gives the Gibbs-Duhem equation . The argument requires extensivity; it is not an assumption about arbitrary nonadditive systems.
Gibbs-Duhem equation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-18
The Gibbs-Duhem equation constrains changes of the intensive quantities describing one uniform thermodynamic phase. For a mixture with independently specified component amounts, its molar form isHere is entropy, is volume, is temperature, is pressure, is the amount of substance of component , and is its molar chemical potential. This assumes a simple compressible system whose bulk internal energy is an extensive quantity; additional work coordinates require additional terms.[ref]
Thermodynamics and Chemistry by Howard DeVoe. Howard DeVoe, Thermodynamics and Chemistry, second edition, version 10, §9.2.8, printed p. 240, equations 9.2.42–9.2.44
The proof exposes the source of the constraint. For internal energy , replication of the whole thermodynamic phase by a factor gives . The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions and the fundamental differential of internal energy therefore giveTaking the differential of the first equation produces all the terms in the second, plus . Subtraction proves the Gibbs-Duhem equation. Thus the constraint comes from two descriptions of the same state function, rather than an assumed microscopic interaction model.
At fixed temperature and pressure, divide by and introduce the mole fractions :The chemical potentials cannot be varied independently. In a two-component mixture, put and . Within a smooth single-thermodynamic phase region with ,One chemical potential fixes the other's change, but determining its absolute value still requires a reference value. This does not say : equality at phase coexistence concerns the same chemical species in different thermodynamic phases. Nor does the constraint say whenever temperature and pressure are fixed; changing composition still contributes to the Gibbs free energy.
Homogeneous function Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
A function is homogeneous of degree when rescaling its arguments by a common scalar rescales its value by , whenever the arguments and that power are defined. For integer over a vector space, one can require every nonzero scalar; a homogeneous polynomial gives an example. On a domain stable under positive real rescaling, the positive-scaling version allows real . Degree-one positive homogeneity is the convention used for norms and many convex functions. The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions turns this scaling law into a differential identity for a differentiable function.
Let where is twice differentiable and homogeneous of degree one. If the Kähler Hessian is invertible, the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions identities give , then and . Multiplication by nine gives the no-scale identity. A positive degree-one need not induce an invertible or positive Kähler metric: gives a rank-one metric for . The Hessian matrix itself always has the radial null vector , whereas the Hessian matrix of can be invertible. In a larger theory the relevant full inverse metric, or a decoupled block, must obey the identity.
Write , where is a squarefree polynomial and a homogeneous polynomial of degree . A projective point is a singular point precisely whenIf is a nonsingular point of an algebraic curve, its projective tangent line isThe coefficients are not all zero, and the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions gives , so the line passes through . Changing the representative of the projective point only rescales the equation.
The strong form of Bézout's theorem says that two projective plane curves of degrees , with no common irreducible component, have finitely many intersections andEach intersection multiplicity is a positive integer. At ,This is the criterion for a transverse intersection of plane curves. In particular, an intersection at a singular point of either curve contributes at least two.
There is a nonsingular point of an algebraic curve on , since part (b) makes its singular locus finite whereas a projective curve has infinitely many complex points. Apply a projective transformation taking one such point to , and use for the transformed homogeneous polynomial. As in part (b), is nonzero and has no common irreducible component with .
The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions and its differentiated identities giveandSince is nonsingular on , at least one of is nonzero. Because , the polar curve is also nonsingular at , and these identities show that . Hence .
This additional intersection is separate from all the singular points of . Thus Bézout's theorem givesThe improvement comes from making the polar curve tangent at a chosen nonsingular point, thereby reserving at least two of the available intersections.
A nonsingular point of an algebraic curve is an inflection point of an algebraic plane curve, or flex, if its projective tangent line has contact of order at least three:Here the projective tangent line must not be a component of . Ordinary tangency has contact order two.
Let , where is a homogeneous polynomial of degree . Its Hessian curve is defined byEach entry has degree , so a nonzero has degree . By the Hessian criterion for a flex, the flexes are exactly the points of . The stated no-common-component assumption and Bézout's theorem therefore giveThis counts distinct points; higher contact can use more than one unit of intersection multiplicity at a single point.
For completeness, the Hessian criterion for a flex follows by putting and , with . The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions gives and , whenceThe restriction already has vanishing constant and linear terms. Its quadratic term vanishes exactly when the intersection multiplicity with the tangent is at least three, proving the criterion.
For the bound is the actual maximum number of flexes of a smooth plane curve: a general nonsingular curve has only contact of order three, and the corresponding intersections with its Hessian curve are simple. One way to see genericity is to vary a point and a line through it, a three-dimensional family. Contact of order at least four imposes four independent linear conditions on the coefficients of a degree- equation for . Thus the locus of equations with such contact is a proper exceptional locus. Locally, if the curve is , its Hessian curve restricted to is a nonvanishing factor times ; contact exactly three gives a simple zero.
A nonsingular plane conic has no flexes, agreeing with the formula at . A line is excluded from this formulation: its tangent is itself and its Hessian matrix is zero, so the no-common-component hypothesis fails. The formula is therefore intended for , rather than giving the meaningless negative value at .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 3 12B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The divergence theorem states that for a continuously differentiable vector field on a bounded region with outward unit normal and suitably regular, possibly piecewise smooth, boundary,For a differentiable homogeneous function, differentiate at to get Euler theorem for homogeneous functions:Only positive near one is needed for this derivative, so no interpretation of noninteger powers at negative is required. Applying the product rule gives . The volume integral of a homogeneous function is thereforeThe condition is needed for division; at that degree the divergence theorem instead gives only zero net boundary flux. The field must also be regular on the region, or singularities must be treated by excision and limiting boundary terms. Neither issue arises for the polynomial in the final calculation.
Write . In the cone, and . The polynomial has degree four. Its direct volume integral isOn the lateral cone the outward normal is proportional to , so is proportional to . Thus the lateral contribution vanishes. The cap is , , with outward normal , soMultiplying by reproduces , verifying the formula. The cap edge and apex have zero surface measure, and the piecewise smooth version of the divergence theorem applies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 62 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
To distinguish the moment quantity from the gravitational constant, write it as . Newton's equations give and . Differentiating provesAverage from to , divide by , and apply the supplied long-time boundary condition. The result isThe PDF's intermediate formula omits this minus sign. It cannot follow from the preceding derivative identity: an attractive inverse-square circular orbit already has and , contradicting the printed positive-sign version. The later homogeneous-potential relation is consistent with the corrected sign.
Interpret as the total pair potential energy, with each pair counted once, for example . The printed pair sum leaves one particle index unspecified; an ordered-pair convention with the corresponding factor absorbed into has the same degree of homogeneity. Under a common dilation of all positions,Differentiating with respect to at one is the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions. Since , it givesSubstitution into the correctly signed averaged identity proves the virial theorem for a homogeneous pair potential:For , the conserved total energy can be evaluated using these averages:Use the kinetic temperature convention , where for three-dimensional thermalized particles, or the same positive coefficient as a kinetic-temperature definition. At fixed particle number and interaction parameters,Thus the equilibrium heat capacity is negative precisely whensubject to existence of the bounded equilibrium sequence assumed by the virial theorem. At the virial energy is zero and this derivative vanishes. At the written power-law potential is constant, its force vanishes, and the bounded-motion virial condition excludes nonzero kinetic energy; division by is not permissible. The Newtonian case recovers .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 5 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a box of a Young diagram, its hook of a Young diagram contains that box, all boxes to its right in its row, and all boxes below it in its column. Its hook length is . The hook graph of a partition is the diagram with each box labeled by its hook length. Write for the hook product of a partition. The hook-length formula is
Pad to rows and use the beta set of a partition , so and , where . We prove the beta-set hook-product identity row by row. For , put ; then . The are distinct integers in , and none equals a beta number. Indeed, if then , whereas if then . Exactly beta numbers lie below , so the remaining integers in that interval are precisely these . ThereforeThis gives the equivalent Specht module dimension expression .
The standard Young tableaux of shape form the dimension count for the Specht module. The largest entry must occupy a removable corner. Deleting it bijects tableaux with the disjoint union of standard tableaux of the shapes obtained by deleting a corner, provingSet a term to zero whenever is not a partition: this includes equal adjacent rows and an attempted deletion from a zero row. The empty diagram has dimension .
For an algebraic proof that the proposed formula has the same recurrence, establish the Vandermonde shift identityIts left side is an alternating polynomial in the , because permuting the variables permutes the summands and changes the sign of every Vandermonde factor. It is therefore divisible by . The quotient is symmetric in and homogeneous of total degree one in , so has the form . At , . Differentiating in at zero and using the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions gives , so . This proves the identity as a polynomial identity, including repeated coordinates.
Take and . Since , it gives . For , this is exactlyThe summand is the proposed dimension for ; if two beta numbers collide its Vandermonde is zero, and if its coefficient is zero, so no negative factorial is needed. For the empty partition, and , giving initial value . Induction now proves the hook-length formula from the tableau recurrence.
For the final sum, tuples with repeated coordinates contribute zero. Sorting each distinct nonnegative tuple with sum gives one beta set of a partition of size , since subtracting the staircase removes from the sum. Conversely every partition of , padded to rows, supplies exactly ordered tuples, with the same squared summand. Hence the square-sum identity for shifted partition coordinates isThe middle equality uses the Artin–Wedderburn theorem for the group algebra and the complete classification of its simple modules by Specht modules. It explains why the last identity is a representation-dimension count rather than an accidental cancellation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 307 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The exponent in the original PDF is with real , not the produced by the local TeX. Use that authoritative expression. PutThe domain conditions ensure a real Kähler potential and positive Kähler metric. There are no gauge multiplets specified, so the scalar potential is the supergravity F-term potentialThe Kähler covariant derivative of a superpotential and metric entries areState the inverse with its indices explicitly, since transposing the off-diagonal complex entries would change the answer:Here , so the displayed upper-index array is the transpose of the ordinary matrix inverse of the displayed lower-index array.
Substitution shows that the cross terms involving cancel and that the sector givesThe first term cancels the universal negative term. Thus the no-scale supergravity potential isThis positivity is an algebraic cancellation, not an assumption that the individual Kähler derivatives vanish.
Choose the supergravity auxiliary field convention . Direct multiplication givesA conventional common phase or overall sign on the auxiliary fields changes none of the vanishing conditions. A supersymmetric configuration requires every to vanish. First implies , then implies , and implies . Since , at a finite point of the physical domain this is possible only when , followed by . Consequently If , every finite configuration has a nonzero auxiliary field, so any finite vacuum breaks supersymmetry. The printed request cannot hold for arbitrary parameters without this exception: , is a zero-energy supersymmetric family with both and unfixed.
With the stipulated vanishing vacuum expectation value of , define . The potential reduces to . Its derivative along is , so a finite stationary point must have . Such a point is a global minimum of the full nonnegative potential, since both squares vanish at . The finite zero-energy vacuum for a single exponential superpotential therefore satisfiesFor nonzero , write and . The modulus and phase conditions areThe function increases up to and then decreases to zero; its maximum is . Hence a finite minimum exists exactly whenThere is one positive solution for , two for , and one coalesced solution at the upper bound. The formal solution at is outside . At each allowed , the phase fixes modulo . Equivalently , using the real branches of the Lambert W function and retaining only .
At any of these nontrivial minima, . The auxiliary fields becomeThis is a supersymmetry breaking Minkowski minimum in which the nonzero auxiliary field belongs to . Both real components of are exact flat directions of a scalar potential at the minimum. They change the metric and auxiliary-field magnitudes but not the zero potential. Generically the two real components of are fixed. At the coalesced solution , the radial quadratic restoring term vanishes, but the leading restoring term is quartic; this is not an additional exact flat direction of a scalar potential. The matter field likewise has a positive leading quartic potential, not an exact flat direction of a scalar potential, despite its zero quadratic mass here.
The exceptional parameter cases must also be stated. If or , no finite zero-energy minimum with exists. The same holds when . Because the derivative is nonzero at any positive-energy point on , none is a finite minimum there; the energy approaches zero along the runaway . If , all physical at give supersymmetric zero-energy minima. Thus an unconditional finite minimum or unconditional breaking would be a false claim for the printed arbitrary parameters.
For the homogeneous model, assume is twice differentiable, of degree one in the real moduli , and that its Hessian matrix for is invertible on the sector considered. Differentiate :The two Euler theorem for homogeneous functions identities in the question implyMultiplying by the inverse gives , so contracting once more yieldsThis is the no-scale identity from degree-one homogeneity. It does not assert that every degree-one function gives a positive or invertible metric: for example has a rank-one Kähler Hessian, and its inverse is undefined. The inverse hypothesis is necessary.
For complex moduli with , the same derivatives are the mixed Kähler metric; choosing real parts with a factor of two only introduces factors that cancel in the contraction. If is independent of these moduli, , and their contribution is . It cancels the universal , leaving no scalar potential from this isolated no-scale sector. Other chiral sectors can still contribute positive terms. For this conclusion in a larger theory, the displayed metric must be the appropriate decoupled no-scale block, or the full inverse metric must itself satisfy the corresponding identity; arbitrary mixed additions to do not inherit the cancellation automatically.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 34D i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For a simple homogeneous thermodynamic system, internal energy is extensive: . Euler theorem for homogeneous functions and give , henceAlso , so at fixed ,At coexistence gas and liquid have the same temperature, pressure and chemical potential. Integrating along the intervening isotherm gives . Integration by parts, with endpoints at the same coexistence pressure , gives the Maxwell constructionThe horizontal line at replaces the mechanically unstable loop of the van der Waals isotherm. The extensivity argument presupposes the ordinary thermodynamic limit and neglects macroscopic interface contributions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 310 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the physical volume of a region with fixed comoving coordinates, so , and write . The first law of thermodynamics is . Use extensive quantities: under replication, . The Euler theorem for homogeneous functions givesSetting yieldsThis is the entropy form of the Gibbs-Duhem equation; it fixes the normalization by extensivity, rather than adding an arbitrary volume-independent entropy constant.
For equilibrium expansion of the same region, the first law and the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation implyTherefore , establishing cosmological entropy conservation for adiabatic equilibrium evolution. Here “comoving volume” means a patch moving with the cosmological fluid; its physical volume changes. The corresponding coordinate volume is constant. The local TeX's in the continuity-equation hint is a transcription error: the PDF correctly has .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 4 35A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The fundamental thermodynamic relation isBecause is extensive, the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions givesSubstitution into the Gibbs free energy therefore yieldsFor a one-component equilibrium phase, the intensive chemical potential depends on the intensive state variables and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ii Paper 2 37B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Differentiatewith respect to . The chain rule givesSetting proves the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions
Work on an open domain with and , where the displayed square root is real and differentiable. Split with and . For the first term, the chain rule givesso .
For the second term, set . Its first partial derivatives areThey show , the degree-one case of Euler theorem for homogeneous functions. Differentiating that identity with respect to each variable yieldsThe mixed partial derivatives agree here by the chain rule. Multiplying these equations by and , respectively, proves the second derivative identity for a degree-one homogeneous function:Adding the results for and verifies the partial differential equationEquivalently, for positive , so the same proof follows directly from its homogeneous function property. The statement is local to a domain where the given expression is defined; it does not require assigning values on .
Let . The product rule and the chain rule give the partial derivativesHence the terms containing cancel:This also follows from the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions, because for .
The scaling relation says that is a homogeneous function of degree . Fix and differentiate the identity with respect to the positive parameter . The chain rule givesSetting proves the Euler theorem for homogeneous functions identityDifferentiate once more with respect to , using equality of the mixed partial derivatives for the assumed twice continuously differentiable function:At this is the second-order Euler identity for homogeneous functions:The repeated parameter differentiation accounts for the factor , rather than .
Assume the homogeneous function is differentiable. Applying the multivariable chain rule to gives, for near ,Setting proves Euler theorem for homogeneous functions:Only positive near are needed, so the derivation remains valid even when a noninteger makes the printed phrase “all real ” require qualification.
