The loaded-carrier balance gives . Substitute the preceding two complex concentrations and collect the current terms:Next carrier conservation givesEliminate between these relations and set . Simplification yieldsHere must be the total carrier protein, as in the conservation equation. Calling it total substrate in the final line of the scan is a typographical inconsistency; total substrate is the different invariant .
For carrier-turnover saturation of passive transport at fixed , write , and . Then , soThe flux is outward when the substrate gradient is reversed and inward when . Saturation occurs because there is a finite carrier population and finite binding-release/conformational turnover: arbitrarily abundant exterior substrate cannot make carriers cycle arbitrarily quickly. This is passive facilitated transport, so no maintained flux remains when the two free concentrations agree. Varying at fixed compares reservoir-controlled steady states or systems with different total substrate; it is not a trajectory preserving one fixed .
Carrier-mediated transport: reversal and saturation at fixed interior concentration
. Details. The cytoplasmic concentration gains a constant influx from outside the cell and loses calcium through a first-order extrusion term . The pump flux moves calcium from cytoplasm into the sarcoplasmic reticulum, saturating with cytoplasmic concentration through a Hill function with scale , maximal rate and exponent . The release flux returns stored calcium to the cytoplasm. It requires both calcium in the store and calcium-dependent activation of release; its two saturating factors have scales and exponents . This represents calcium-induced calcium release. The leak is passive return from the store.
Every internal transfer appears with opposite signs in the two balances, so in the model's compatible volume normalization. Only influx and extrusion change the total. The nonlinear pump and activated release can redistribute this total rapidly and generate oscillations even with constant external input.
Set . For downstream shear , Glen's flow law and the no-slip boundary condition giveHere is the ice rate factor, distinct from the cross-sectional area in the river problem. Integrating this velocity profile through the thickness gives the volume flux per unit valley width:The factor combines the depth-dependent shear stress, integration to obtain velocity, and integration to obtain flux. If reverse shear is admitted for noninteger , the signed version of Glen's flow law is ; the displayed unsigned power presumes the downstream regime.
A typical net ice accumulation curve decreases downstream: snow gain at high elevation, zero at the equilibrium line, and negative values in the ice ablation zone. In a steady glacier with zero volume flux at its head, . If its terminus also has zero volume flux, a natural glacier length is the positive root of , with the integral positive between the endpoints. Such a root requires a suitable given accumulation profile; it is not guaranteed by dimensional analysis alone.
Let be a representative accumulation rate and . ChooseUsing , , , , , both terms in mass conservation have scale . The dimensionless flux isDropping hats gives the required partial differential equation. The parameter measures the surface-thickness slope correction relative to the bed slope. For the linear example , accumulation changes sign at and its integrated balance vanishes at .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ia Paper 3 11A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In Einstein summation convention, the curl of a cross product has componentsThe second line uses the contraction of two Levi-Civita symbols; the last uses the product rule. These components prove the curl of a cross product identity, including both divergence and directional-derivative terms.
Now apply that identity to . On the orientable surface, , , and . Differentiating gives . Taking a dot product with in the curl of a cross product formula therefore gives, on ,Only tangency on the surface is needed; no claim is made that the extension is tangent away from it. The right side is the surface divergence of the tangent vector field.
With the boundary oriented according to Stokes theorem, cyclic invariance of the scalar triple product giveswhere is the outward conormal of a surface boundary. Thus Stokes theorem provesThis is the surface divergence theorem for a tangent field.
For the disc in the plane, take and . The field is tangent on the disc, and . The contraction is , so the surface integral is . On the positively oriented circular boundary, and , so the boundary flux is . Both sides agree.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ia Paper 3 4A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The divergence theorem states that, for a bounded region with piecewise smooth boundary , outward unit normal vector , and a continuously differentiable vector field on a neighborhood of ,The outward orientation fixes the sign of the flux.
On the sphere of radius , the outward unit normal vector is . Thus . Multiplying by the surface area givesFor the second calculation, use the product rule in Cartesian coordinates:The field remains continuously differentiable at the origin when . Indeed, for its Jacobian matrix entries are , all tending to zero as ; its derivative at zero is also zero because . The divergence theorem therefore applies to the entire ball. In spherical coordinates, it yieldsin agreement with the direct surface integral.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 73 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work at one radius and write . Use the surface density to fix the mass density normalization and introduce the height scaleChoose the dimensionless variablesThe pressure and temperature scales make the hydrostatic and ideal gas equations parameter-free. The flux scale fixes the heating coefficient at , and the choice of makes the diffusion coefficient unity. Direct substitution gives the universal ordinary differential equationsFor example, the dimensionless coefficient in the temperature equation is .
Let the upper free surface be at , so its physical semithickness is . Midplane symmetry and the radiative-zero disk surface conditions giveThe last condition is precisely . The unknown surface position and the two positive midplane values are determined as part of the normalized boundary value problem. Symmetry makes even and odd; already follow from the equations and are not additional independent boundary conditions.
The zero conditions do not mean zero surface flux. Integrating the heating equation gives . Near a regular surface with finite outgoing flux, dividing the hydrostatic equation by the temperature equation yields . Thus , and , so mass density also vanishes. The apparent singular quotient in the diffusion equation has a finite regular limit. All boundary conditions and equations are independent of the physical parameters: this is homologous vertical structure of a constant-opacity alpha disk.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 73 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The first equation is vertical hydrostatic equilibrium: the upward pressure gradient balances the central mass's vertical gravitational force. For , the point-mass acceleration is , where Keplerian rotation gives . The disc's self-gravity and vertical inertia are neglected.
The second equation is local thermal balance. The divergence of the vertical radiative flux equals viscous dissipation. In the convention of this alpha disk, , and the dominant Keplerian shear has . ThereforeThe radiative flux increases from zero at the symmetric midplane to a positive outgoing value at the upper surface. Radial heat transport, thermal advection and rapid storage of thermal energy are excluded from this local balance.
The third equation is radiative diffusion, equivalentlyIt applies to optically thick material, with the opacity per unit mass and the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. Here constant electron-scattering opacity represents Thomson scattering; the formula uses a diffusive, nearly thermal radiation field. Positive upward flux requires temperature to decrease upwards.
The final equation is the ideal gas pressure law, with mean molecular weight in proton-mass units. Writing gives . The pressure is gas pressure because radiation pressure is assumed negligible. The four equations express vertical support, local heating balance, diffusive cooling and the gas equation of state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 73 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Consider a local shearing sheet centered at a circular orbit. Take uniform mass density, background velocity , rotation and a weak uniform vertical magnetic field . HereUse ideal magnetohydrodynamics, neglect viscosity, magnetic diffusion and vertical stratification, and take incompressible axisymmetric disturbances proportional to . They have horizontal velocity and field perturbations. Let be the magnetic perturbation in velocity units, the Alfvén speed and the Alfvén frequency. Magnetic pressure can be included in the perturbation's total pressure; the horizontal Lorentz force for this mode is the magnetic tension term .
Linearizing momentum and induction givesThe term winds a radial magnetic perturbation into an azimuthal one. Omitting it would remove the shear's magnetic energy source and give the wrong stability criterion.
A useful elimination that also covers neutral modes introduces the fluid displacement . Frozen-in flux gives , while the Eulerian perturbation velocity is , , because the displacement samples the gradient of the basic flow. The equations become the spring model of magnetorotational instability:For the stated time dependence, their determinant isThus the ideal magnetorotational dispersion relation isIt follows without dividing by , so the neutral stability boundary is included.
To analyze it, put and . ThenFor a hydrodynamically stable rotation law, , the sum of the two roots is positive. Their product is negative precisely when . One squared frequency is then negative, giving an exponentially growing mode and its decaying partner. Therefore the magnetorotational instability, or MRI, has criterionAngular velocity must decrease outwards, although specific angular momentum may increase outwards and satisfy Rayleigh's circulation criterion. This is why a Keplerian disc can be stable to the axisymmetric hydrodynamic disturbances of Question 2 yet unstable once magnetic coupling is introduced. At zero magnetic frequency the unstable root becomes neutral, while sufficiently large magnetic frequency restores stability. For increasing angular velocity, with , this ideal vertical-field instability is absent.
The growth rate isFor , differentiation with respect to sets , yielding the maximum growth rate of ideal magnetorotational instability:For Keplerian rotation, , soThus the fastest growth is on an orbital timescale. The field strength selects its wavelength, , rather than the maximum ideal growth rate. At fixed , growth does approach zero as ; retaining the finite maximum in that limit requires shorter wavelengths, which magnetic diffusion can eventually exclude. Unstable wavelengths satisfy in this local model. A finite disc must accommodate such a wavelength, so a sufficiently strong field can suppress the available vertical modes through excessive tension.
Physically, a bent field line acts like a spring joining neighboring fluid elements. The inner element rotates faster and pulls the outer element forward, transferring angular momentum outward. The inner element loses angular momentum and moves inward; the outer element gains it and moves outward. In a rotation law with outward-decreasing angular velocity, these motions increase their angular-velocity difference and the magnetic coupling produces further separation. A weak restoring spring therefore creates a feedback instability by enabling angular-momentum exchange. Without that exchange, each displaced element keeps its angular momentum and a positive epicyclic frequency restores its orbit. Strong magnetic tension instead prevents the separation. The free energy is the differential rotation, not the initial magnetic energy.
The instability provides an important route to turbulence and angular momentum transport in sufficiently conducting accretion discs. The radial flux of azimuthal momentum includes the stressThe first term is a Reynolds stress and the second is the magnetic contribution from the Maxwell stress tensor, with the sign appropriate to momentum flux. For the growing branch, take real and positive. The linear equations give and . The last sign follows from . Thus both the velocity and magnetic contributions carry angular momentum outward. The associated energy extraction is . Inward accretion can then accompany outward angular-momentum transport, and dissipation of the resulting fluctuations heats the disc. This gives a physical mechanism behind an effective turbulent-viscosity description such as an alpha disk, whereas microscopic viscosity alone is generally too weak for rapid accretion.
Finite hydrodynamic swing amplification compared with the growing MRI branch in a Keplerian disc
. Details. MRI is an exponentially growing magnetic instability of outward-decreasing angular velocity; hydrodynamic shearing-wave amplification is transient and does not by itself establish sustained turbulence. Nonlinear saturation, field regeneration and transport efficiency depend on field geometry, boundaries and thermodynamics. Poor conductivity or important nonideal magnetic effects can suppress or modify the ideal instability, so the local dispersion relation is a mechanism and growth criterion rather than a universal prescription for the saturated stress.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ib Paper 1 15B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
No: ordering the attractive potentials does not impose the proposed ordering of reflection probabilities. Take and let denote the particle mass. Choose everywhere andThese satisfy every stated ordering and support condition. The incoming energy is ; the interior wavenumber in the finite square well is .
Here is an explicit matching calculation. For a general well of width , take exterior waves on the left and on the right. Shifting the incident phase in this way does not change the reflection probability. Continuity of the wavefunction and its first derivative gives the propagation relationInverting it and adding the two equations after dividing the derivative equation by yieldsThe incident and reflected exterior waves have the same speed, so their flux ratio isFor the chosen parameters and . ThusThe zero potential has no reflected component. This proves the failure with explicit probabilities. More generally the same expression vanishes at , explaining resonant transmission through a square well and why increasing attractive well depth does not monotonically control reflection.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ib Paper 1 17A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Define source strength here as the volume flux through a small sphere around the source. For incompressible potential flow, and the governing conditions areEquivalently the Laplace equation holds away from the source, with local behavior . The boundary condition expresses impermeability. The method of images uses an equal source below the plane:The image singularity lies outside the fluid, the two vertical derivatives cancel on the wall, and the source has the specified outward flux.
Let . On the wall and the tangential radial velocity is . With ambient pressure , the steady Bernoulli equation in this irrotational flow givesThe fluid pressure is reduced everywhere on the wall except at its axis and in the infinite-distance limit. The finite hydrodynamic force is the excess over the uniform ambient-pressure force. Integrating its magnitude over the plane yieldsPutting gives the last integral as . HenceRelative to ambient pressure on the other side, the boundary is attracted toward the source. This is the hydrodynamic attraction of a plane wall to a point source.
There is an alternative source-strength convention: if denotes the coefficient in rather than total volume flux, replace the flux above by . Then , , and . The physical result is identical once the normalization is fixed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 65 4 viii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In a compact starburst galaxy, stellar feedback can approach the radiation-pressure limit of a dusty starburst, , so stronger luminosity drives a galactic outflow rather than allowing indefinitely increasing star formation rate. Optically thick starburst-disk calculations give a characteristic infrared flux near ; with and an emitting area of order , this corresponds to and would consume of gas in only . Feedback and a finite fuel supply produce a characteristic upper scale for compact bursts, rather than a universal ceiling on the total rate independent of star-forming area and gas supply.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 2 13A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and . Direct differentiation givesThus the partial differential equation reduces to an ordinary differential equation precisely when . The profile then satisfies . Regularity and zero radial flux at the origin make the integration constant zero. Wherever , , so using . Requiring the front at selects . Point release requires , givingAlthough diverges at the front, tends to zero, so this compactly supported profile satisfies the equation in the weak solution sense.
The compact radial cubic-diffusion profile conserves the total population:Consequently . The front radius grows as , while the central density decays as . The conserved mass concentrates at the origin as .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 3 6A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
With no chemotaxis, the stationary oxygen equation is . Symmetry and the two prescribed surface values giveBy Fick's first law, the vertical oxygen flux is . Thus each face supplies an inward flux per unit area, and the total influx is , equal to the integrated consumption across the layer. The profile is physically nonnegative only if ; otherwise the constant-consumption approximation must be modified.
For bacteria retained in the fluid, impose zero bacterial flux at the faces. The stationary bacterial equation says that is constant, hence zero. Integrating gives , with fixed by the total bacterial population. Substitution into the oxygen equation provesZero bacterial through-flux is the boundary assumption behind this equilibrium relation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 1 10E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For neighbouring comoving observers separated by a small physical distance , the recession velocity is , where is the Hubble parameter. During the photon's travel time , the local Doppler effect gives . Integrating along the ray gives the cosmological wavelength-redshift relation:The same ratio stretches the arrival interval of successive wave crests and of successive emitted pulses: . Each photon loses a factor in energy because . Thus energy arriving through the sphere per unit observer time has one factor from cosmological redshift and one from time dilation:This is the total power crossing the sphere; division by its area would give the observed flux.
For a continuously differentiable vector field on a neighborhood of the closure of , the divergence theorem statesHere is the outward unit normal vector; the right side is the outward flux through the boundary.
For any bounded volume with piecewise smooth closed boundary and outward unit normal vector , Gauss's law in integral form isThus the outward electric flux equals the enclosed electric charge divided by the vacuum permittivity. To prove it, apply the divergence theorem to the electric field and use its given divergence:The classical proof assumes the requisite differentiability of the electric field. For piecewise smooth charge densities, one may apply the divergence theorem piece by piece and cancel the internal fluxes.
For a bounded region with piecewise smooth boundary, suppose is a continuously differentiable vector field on an open neighbourhood of its closure. The divergence theorem, with outward unit normal vector , isThe surface integral measures total outward flux. Edges and isolated vertices have zero surface area and do not affect the integral.
Pair each point of the square's boundary with . The vector field obeys , whereas the outward unit normal vector changes sign: . Corresponding arc length elements are equal. Thus the two contributions to the flux cancel, proving without evaluating any boundary integral thatThe same cancellation appears in the divergence, which is an odd function of over a region symmetric under . To justify using the planar divergence theorem despite the lack of differentiability at the origin, remove a disk of radius . The vector field is continuously differentiable on the remaining region, its divergence has zero double integral by this symmetry, and the magnitude of the inner flux is at most , since there. Letting recovers the result. This is flux around a removable point singularity.
Let be a bounded region with a piecewise smooth closed boundary, and let be a continuously differentiable vector field on an open neighbourhood of its closure. With the outward unit normal vector, the divergence theorem statesThe boundary surface integral is the total outward flux. All boundary components are included; on the boundary of a cavity, the outward unit normal vector points into the cavity.



