Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 2 34E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The spectral equation isThis is the KdV Schrodinger spectral problem. Differentiating it with respect to givesFora direct differentiation, followed by substitution of the two preceding identities, yieldsThereforeComparison with givesThis is the reusable KdV Schrodinger spectral problem Wronskian identity.
Now take to satisfy the Korteweg-De Vries equation and , where . Both and its derivative decay at infinity, as does , so integration of over the real line givesThe normalization was used in the last equality. Hencewhich is the Isospectrality of the KdV discrete spectrum.
With the KdV equation and , the Wronskian identity saysDecay at infinity makes the constant zero. Thus between zeros, and continuation across the isolated zeros givesMultiplying by and integrating,The first integral is zero by differentiating the normalization. Integration by parts turns the last integral into , soTo evaluate this, differentiate in and use it to writeIts integral is by decay. Hence