Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 69 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The dispersion symmetry elimination of a boundary trace uses the symmetry of the dispersion relationFor , , so the global relation is valid at . Since , it givesSubstitution into the contour integral representation produces an unwanted integral . Its integrand is analytic in and decays on closing the contour upwards; Jordan lemma makes this integral zero for . Hence the Fokas method eliminates the unknown normal derivative:All quantities here are determined by the prescribed initial and Dirichlet boundary data up to time .
For verification and for numerical evaluation it is useful to evaluate the spectral contour integrals, giving a half-line drift reflection kernel. Putand define the half-line drift boundary kernelFubini's theorem, the Gaussian Fourier transform and contour deformation give the equivalent causal formulaFor the reflected initial term, on the contour; the evaluated Gaussian supplies the necessary large- decay. If is not integrable, truncate the initial conditions first, evaluate, and pass to the limit using Gaussian bounds. No extra exponential-decay assumption on the original data is needed for this kernel formula.
The boundary kernel follows particularly simply fromThis calculation independently checks both the sign and the coefficient of the boundary forcing.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 70 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The unknown Neumann boundary condition can be removed by the Fokas method. Evaluate the global relation for the half-line free Schrodinger equation at :Consequently . In the representation from part (a), the last term has integral , by the Cauchy integral theorem and Jordan lemma. It is analytic in the upper half-plane, and the exponential decays on the closing first-quadrant arc. Hence an expression involving only the given data isOne may replace by in the upper limit defining : the contribution of boundary times closes to zero in , since then decays there. Using makes causality transparent.
For an explicit proof of uniform convergence, it is useful to apply boundary lifting before inversion. Set , , , andThe compatibility condition gives . The Fourier sine transform of satisfies , with initial value . The integrating factor therefore gives the equivalent representationThis last integral is absolutely and uniformly convergent for , under concrete sufficient hypotheses , decay of the boundary terms, and . Indeed, two integrations by parts give for . Another integration by parts, this time in , givesThus the initial term is uniformly and the forcing term uniformly . For , use and the bounded time integral. An integrable majorant proves the claimed uniform convergence and permits evaluation at both boundaries.
At , Fourier sine inversion gives . At , the integral vanishes, giving , including the compatible corner. To verify the equation, note that and the transformed equation impliesAdding the lifted part gives . Under the stated smoothness, this holds classically in the interior; differentiated spectral integrals can first be Gaussian-regularized, or read in the sine-transform sense and then identified with the smooth solution. Uniform convergence of itself does not require claiming uniform convergence of every differentiated integral at the corner.