Assume the struck interval lies within the string, so . The initially stationary straight string has . Write its initial velocity as a Fourier sine series . Then
Thus . Immediately after the strike all the energy is kinetic energy:
The orthogonality integral assigns energy to mode . Since the ideal modes evolve independently, their total kinetic-plus-elastic energies remain constant. Therefore the modal energy of a localized velocity impulse on a string gives
The centre factor selects modes having significant motion at the impact location; the width factor accounts for cancellation across the finite hammer footprint. Parseval's identity ensures . The velocity discontinuities are understood in the mean-square sense and do not alter the energy integrals.
For each sine normal mode, the temporal characteristic equation is , with roots . Since , the first modes are overdamped and all higher modes are underdamped. No integer gives critical damping.
The zero initial displacement excludes the hyperbolic cosine and cosine terms. Hence
where
To impose the initial velocity, let be its Fourier sine series coefficients. Differentiating the expansion at gives for the overdamped modes and for the underdamped modes. These determine all coefficients. Despite the hyperbolic sine, the first modes decay: , so both temporal exponential rates are negative.
Here and . Let
Two applications of integration by parts give
Solving these equations,
Consequently the required amplitudes are
The stated initial velocity is nonzero at the fixed endpoints, whereas a classical solution differentiable there would require zero endpoint velocity. Thus it is understood on the open interval, or as an L2 space initial datum in the usual finite-energy solution. Its Fourier sine series takes value zero at the endpoints; this changes no initial energy or interior initial data.
First decompose the initial dependence using . Only the cosine indices and occur. Expand the remaining factor in a Fourier sine series:
For , two integrations by parts give
Thus even vanish, while for odd . The nonzero double-series coefficients are and . Their separate heat-mode decay factors give
At the bracket is , which recovers the initial profile with the displayed sine coefficients. Each term satisfies the mixed Dirichlet boundary conditions and Neumann boundary conditions.
Set and write . Then
so the two first-derivative contributions cancel exactly, leaving
The Dirichlet spectrum of on this interval is , . If , the linear or hyperbolic solutions cannot satisfy both zero endpoints nontrivially, so no additional modes have been omitted. Thus
To verify normalization, use :
This proves weighted orthonormality and also transfers completeness from the ordinary Fourier sine series. The construction is the cubic-coordinate reduction of a singular Sturm-Liouville operator. The positive constant shifts the entire spectrum down; a zero eigenvalue occurs if , so the no-zero-eigenvalue proviso in part (a)(iii) must be imposed separately if that inverse formula is used here.
Expand in the complete Fourier sine series and apply Fourier inversion. Substitution of part (ii) gives
To check the source normalization, apply mode by mode. It cancels the denominator; the remaining inverse transform gives , and completeness gives
The endpoints vanish termwise. These identities establish the equation in the distributional sense, with classical validity wherever the series and derivatives converge suitably.
The displayed real-axis integrals in the paper are not ordinary convergent integrals at their poles. One definite choice is the Cauchy principal value at each . If a causal solution is wanted, use instead. Its inverse transform is , so the causal solution is
when the past integral exists. The principal-value choice instead uses the time-symmetric kernel . No temporal initial data are given, so homogeneous sine and cosine modes remain permissible additions. This is the causal Fourier resolvent of a point-driven fixed string.
Apply separation of variables with and temporal factor . The spatial eigenvalue equation is
The nontrivial solutions of these Dirichlet boundary conditions are sine eigenfunctions. Normalizing in the usual inner product on gives
with . The superposition principle and the Fourier sine series then give
The constants are the initial-data coefficients . Here physical diffusion means .
Let . The first normalized Fourier sine series coefficient is
Strict positivity follows because , has positive total mass, and everywhere inside the interval. In particular, there is no cancellation that could remove the slowest term. This is the positivity of the first Dirichlet reaction-diffusion coefficient.
For finite initial mass , all coefficients satisfy . The eigenfunction expansion therefore gives the uniform bound
The positive first profile thus controls the long-time behavior. We recover exactly the threshold , with decay below it and unbounded positive growth at every interior point above it. The finite-mass condition is the usual meaning of an initial density profile here; standard positive-time smoothing gives the same conclusion in the usual broader admissible data classes.
The Fourier orthogonality relation on this angular interval is
Projecting the outer boundary condition onto each angular eigenfunction gives
The solution is unique in the class of bounded harmonic functions with the prescribed boundary trace. For continuous boundary data, the difference of two solutions is zero on the boundary and bounded at the vertex, so the maximum principle for harmonic functions makes it zero throughout the sector. Equivalently all its Fourier sine series coefficients vanish. The usual convergence interpretation applies if the data are only piecewise smooth.
For separation of variables, take and divide the reaction-diffusion equation by this product wherever it is nonzero:
Each spatial term depends on a different variable and must be constant. Write and similarly for the other two factors. The Dirichlet boundary conditions give . A zero separation constant permits only a linear function and hence the zero solution; a positive value of likewise permits no nonzero function vanishing at both endpoints. The nontrivial choices are therefore
The temporal ordinary differential equation is
so, absorbing its constant multiplier into ,
The superposition principle and completeness of the Fourier sine series give the stated threefold expansion with these factors. For an initial density , orthogonality also determines the constants:
The separation of variables solution with Dirichlet boundary conditions on the cuboid is
The constants are fixed by the initial density through Fourier sine series. The fastest term again has . When , its growth rate becomes
Thus the precise condition for no exponentially growing term is
For example, gives , while gives : either a sufficiently flat or a sufficiently elongated cuboid suppresses growth despite its unchanged volume. The function decreases to its minimum at , then increases without bound. Hence there are two positive threshold values, with growth only between them; equality leaves one stationary term and all other terms decaying.
Write the equation as with the positive Sturm-Liouville operator from part (a). A Sturm-Liouville eigenfunction expansion therefore gives , where weighted orthogonal projection gives
Here the product-to-sum formulas reduce the integral to half the sum of the integrals of and . Consequently
At , use the continuous limits of the terms. The coefficients are , so the resulting endpoint series converges. Completeness is the ordinary Fourier sine series completeness after . For an independent check, solving with zero endpoint values gives
Its numerator vanishes at zero, and it has the same orthogonal projection coefficients. Positivity of proves uniqueness.
Use the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation for a uniform slender elastic beam, small deflection and small slope, neglecting axial tension, shear deformation, rotational inertia of a cross-section and damping. Let be Young's modulus, the second moment of area about the neutral axis, and the mass per unit length. If density instead denotes mass per volume, replace this by . The bending stiffness is ; the small-slope curvature is . The bending and kinetic energies are
Twice integrating the variation of by parts gives the restoring load per unit length. Newton's second law therefore gives
At a pivot, displacement is fixed but slope is free; zero end bending moment gives . This also follows from the natural boundary term in the variation.
With separation of variables, gives
Choose the time normalization . Initial rest removes the sine time term, so . The spatial characteristic roots are , giving
The two conditions at give and , hence . At , addition and subtraction of give and . Nontrivial positive-frequency modes therefore have and . Thus the simply supported beam normal modes are
The zero-frequency cubic solution also vanishes under these four endpoint conditions, so is not an additional mode.
For the specified release, small slope requires . Expand the initial deflection in the Fourier sine series. Its coefficients are
Writing , the resulting motion is
Only odd normal modes occur because the initial profile is symmetric about the midpoint, and their amplitudes decrease as . The frequencies grow as , so the motion is dispersive and is not a single shape multiplied by one cosine. Nevertheless the ideal undamped solution is exactly periodic with period . At all odd-mode cosines vanish, so the bar is instantaneously straight; at it has the opposite initial deflection. The first mode dominates displacement, with third-mode amplitude only of the first.
There is initial curvature incompatibility at a moment-free beam end: the prescribed parabola has , whereas a moment-free pivot requires zero curvature at an endpoint. Therefore the data do not define a classical solution with curvature continuous through the two end-time corners. They do define a finite-energy weak solution after release of the forces or end moments that prepared the initial shape. The sine expansion represents that solution: its displacement reproduces the initial parabola, each mode satisfies the released endpoint conditions, and gives finite bending energy. One must not differentiate the initial series twice at its endpoints and assign the interior parabola's curvature there. This qualification leaves the modal displacement prediction intact.
Figure 1.
Original modal evolution after releasing a parabolic elastic beam deflection
. Details.
For nonnegative nonzero integrable initial data on , the first coefficient in the normalized Fourier sine series is strictly positive, because the first sine eigenfunction is positive throughout the interval. For with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions, the first decay rate is . Every higher rate exceeds it by , so smoothing for positive time and the spectral gap imply uniformly. Thus all interior points share the growth/decay threshold ; the endpoints remain zero. At equality the limiting profile is nonzero and stationary.
For the radial Laplace operator on , require a finite value at the origin and . The map preserves the norm from to and sends to . The regular endpoint condition becomes . The self-adjoint realization therefore corresponds to the ordinary Dirichlet boundary conditions for the one-dimensional second derivative. Its eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are displayed above, with understood by a limit. Their squared weighted norm is . Completeness and orthogonality follow from the Fourier sine series on .
On , integration by parts gives the displayed Fourier sine series. For normalized Dirichlet eigenfunctions , indexed from , it has the form , with and . Its Rayleigh quotient for is , since and . Reflection symmetry forces , because that first excited eigenfunction is antisymmetric about . Thus the first excited state's contribution to the error is exactly zero; the first nonzero correction is .
For with zero vertical-side values on , the Fourier coefficient obeys the Cauchy-Euler differential equation . Boundedness at removes the negative indicial root, leaving . Bounded top coefficients give absolute convergence of the Fourier sine series below the top boundary.
On a shell with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions, put and . The radial heat equation in three dimensions becomes , with zero values at both endpoints. Expanding in a Fourier sine series gives the displayed solution, with . Each radial mode decays at the square of its wave number. The positive inner radius makes division by harmless throughout the shell.
Stress-free convection growth-rate polynomial Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For a fixed-temperature layer with stress-free boundary conditions, a vertical Fourier sine series has , where is horizontal wavenumber. The coupled vertical velocity and temperature amplitudes satisfy the displayed quadratic for their growth rate . Its roots are real for positive Rayleigh number, while both roots have negative real parts for negative Rayleigh number. Setting gives the free-slip convection neutral curve.
For with fixed endpoints, initial displacement zero and initial velocity a Dirac delta at , the Fourier sine series coefficient of that velocity is . Each coefficient evolves by . Here . At critical damping, replace by ; for an overdamped mode replace it by . The initial conditions hold in the sense of distributions.