Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 3B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and let be the center of mass. Applying Newton's second law separately to the two point masses givesThus the center of mass has constant velocity, . For the relative position , subtraction givesHere is the reduced mass; it converts the relative motion into a one-body equation of motion.
For the given linear force, the relative position obeys simple harmonic motion, , where . The initial rest condition givesFor , collision first occurs when the relative position vanishes, namely when . ThereforeThe separation cancels because the frequency of this simple harmonic motion is independent of its amplitude.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 73 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A kinematic redshift is the relativistic Doppler effect arising from relative motion of emitter and receiver. In a local inertial frame, recession decreases the received frequency and approach increases it. A cosmological redshift instead compares photons emitted and received by comoving observers at different cosmic times: expansion of the scale factor stretches their wavelengths. It exists even when both observers have zero peculiar velocity. Both are frequency ratios measured by observers, but a large cosmological redshift should not be inserted into a flat-spacetime radial-speed formula to define the galaxy's unique recession speed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 73 1 v a Solution 2026-10-14
Let be the photon frequency in the local comoving frame just after emission. The kinematic redshift gives , and propagation in the FRW metric gives . Multiplication givesEquivalently, . Both redshifts being small is what permits their approximate addition. Here the observer's own peculiar velocity is assumed already corrected to the Hubble flow frame.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 73 1 vi a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For Planck law expressed per unit frequency, put . At fixed temperature, the frequency dependence is . Differentiation givesThe positive interior maximum therefore satisfies , with independent of temperature. The zero solution of the rearranged equation is a boundary, not the interior maximum. Hence the frequency form of Wien's displacement law isThis frequency peak is not divided by the peak wavelength of : the two spectral densities differ by the frequency-to-wavelength Jacobian.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 73 1 vi b Solution 2026-10-14
Motion toward incoming cosmic microwave background radiation produces a blueshift. The photon occupation function of a blackbody depends on , so the same Doppler factor multiplies both frequency and effective temperature. Looking forward along the Sun's peculiar velocity, one obtainsTaking the mean cosmic microwave background temperature as about givesThe numerical total inherits the rounded mean temperature; the robust estimate is the positive millikelvin dipole increment.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 82 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Floquet theory suggests a sequence of instability tongues nearAt these limiting frequencies the unperturbed Floquet multipliers coincide. Each multiplication by changes a Fourier frequency by one, so forcing interactions are needed to couple and . This explains both the sequence of parametric resonances and the successive powers of in their widths.
There is no implication that the exact half-integers themselves lie in every finite- growing interval. The tongue centers generally shift by , which exceeds the width when . It is the narrow intervals near the shifted centers that contain exponentially growing solutions. Frequencies staying a fixed distance from every half-integer are stable for sufficiently small .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 82 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Away from the first parametric resonance, one forcing interaction changes a harmonic frequency by one and produces no resonant coupling of the two conjugate oscillations. Two interactions can couple frequency to frequency , so the next parametric resonance is near and its effect first appears at order . This gives and the appropriate slow time .
Write and . The first correction satisfies , whose bounded particular solution isAt second order,The resonant part of is . Applying the solvability condition in the method of multiple scales givesThe squared slow eigenvalue isThe second instability tongue of a weak Mathieu oscillator therefore has the leading intervalHere the two little- terms describe the respective exact edge locations; the strict inequality in is the leading interior criterion. In particular is unstable, with physical growth rate . The general leading solution for bounded again has , where the matrix exponential of the displayed two-by-two amplitude system evolves arbitrary . Adding identifies the first nonresonant harmonic correction. The leading expression alone has error on .
For comparison, at fixed , write . The first forced harmonics have coefficients and . Their return to the original harmonic at the next order givesIt is a phase correction, not amplitude growth. Consequently, away from the first two resonance neighborhoods, a general leading solution valid for bounded isNarrower higher-order instability intervals are invisible on this time scale. The detuned resonant calculation above is needed near because both the phase shift and the conjugate-mode coupling then matter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 82 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Set and use the method of multiple scales:Since , the first correction satisfiesThe resonant cosine and sine coefficients must vanish to avoid secular terms. Using the product-to-sum formulas givesThe remaining forcing has frequency and permits the bounded particular correction . The two slow amplitudes carry the two arbitrary constants of the original equation.
For an explicit general leading solution, putThe matrix exponential givesThe error is uniform on bounded intervals of , for bounded initial data. When is imaginary this expression uses ordinary sine and cosine; at its continuous limit is .
The primary instability tongue of a weak Mathieu oscillator has a positive slow eigenvalue precisely whenThese are the leading edges, rather than an exact finite- interval. At the leading endpoints the amplitude matrix is a nilpotent matrix, so the leading solution can grow linearly in and does not decide the exact exponential instability. For completeness, set . The periodic or antiperiodic edge calculation uses a pure cosine when and a pure sine when , with the third-harmonic correction just found. The next resonant coefficient is , soThus the exact growing interval is between these shifted edges. In particular, for positive small the fixed leading value lies just inside it, whereas lies just outside. Interior detunings bounded away from the edges are already resolved by the leading method of multiple scales.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 4 12A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Place the four fixed charges at with , and write the moving particle's position as . Introduce its mass , which is needed for an oscillation frequency but is not named in the question. Let . By Coulomb's law and superposition, the moving particle's potential energy isThe electrostatic potential itself is . Put and . Near the centre, a Taylor expansion givesOn summing over the four corners, linear terms cancel. To quadratic order, and , since . Reflection symmetry removes all odd-degree terms. HencewhereThus the centre has zero planar force and a positive-definite planar Hessian matrix . It is a strict local minimum of the constrained potential energy, so it is a stable equilibrium. More explicitly, conservation of the total energy confines sufficiently small-energy motions within a small neighbourhood of this isolated local minimum.
Keeping only the quadratic potential, the two coordinates obey independent small oscillations:Both planar modes have the same angular frequency, and the ordinary frequency isThe planar constraint is essential to this constrained electrostatic equilibrium. Along the perpendicular axis, , so the same stationary point is unstable to unconstrained normal displacements. That also checks the cancellation of the three-dimensional Hessian trace required by Laplace's equation away from charges; it does not contradict the positive-definite restriction to the given plane.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 76 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Apply the method of multiple scales with independent fast time and slow time , and write . The chain rule gives . At leading order,At first order,A forcing component at the natural frequency produces a secular term in . Thus the solvability condition in the method of multiple scales is orthogonality to both and . Define the fast-phase average, holding fixed, bySince and , the amplitude-phase equations areThey are leading averaged equations, not exact equations for a purely sinusoidal solution of a general nonlinear oscillator.
For the cubic conservative force, , odd symmetry gives , while . HenceIf and , leading initial matching givesand thereforeon bounded slow time intervals for fixed bounded initial data. The positive frequency shift agrees with the increased restoring force of . The zero initial state is the exact zero solution, with irrelevant phase. If a first waveform correction is desired, the remaining first-order forcing is , so plus a homogeneous correction chosen to match the initial data at the next order. This exhibits explicitly why the leading harmonic ansatz is approximate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 3 38A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Substitute into the mixed-derivative equation. Its left side is , so for the dispersion relation, phase velocity and group velocity areThe graph of a function for each velocity is symmetric about , singular at zero, and approaches the horizontal axis as grows. Energy packets travel right while their crests travel left.
At a distant fixed observer , stationary components obey , so . As time increases their wavelength decreases and their frequency magnitude decreases; the crests pass toward decreasing .
For the given initial spectrum the solution isThe value of a regular spectrum at the single point is irrelevant to this integral; a nonzero spatially constant mode is incompatible with the PDE. For asymptotic calculation assume the usual smooth localized spectrum, with sufficient integrability for the following stationary-phase steps.
At , , the phase has stationary points , . Their values are and their second derivatives are . Expanding quadratically and using the oscillatory Gaussian integral gives the stationary phase leading termFor real data this is twice the real part of the positive-frequency term. If a stationary coefficient vanishes, the formula instead asserts that its contribution has smaller order. At , the phase derivative is , so there is no real stationary point and no corresponding wave packet. For smooth compactly supported spectra away from zero, repeated integration by parts gives decay faster than any power of . More general spectra require endpoint/tail control; absence of stationary points alone does not justify that stronger rate for arbitrary .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 64 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The bounded classical solution is the heat-kernel convolutionThe two-dimensional heat kernel has integral one. Boundedness of permits differentiation under the integral for , proving and . Its approximate identity property gives , locally uniformly since is continuous. This bounded solution satisfies the required Gaussian-growth bound.
For heat-equation uniqueness under Gaussian growth, let be the difference of two solutions, so and on a finite time interval. Choose and a slab . The positive comparison solutionsatisfies . For any , its faster spatial growth makes on a sufficiently large lateral cylinder boundary. At the initial boundary, . The heat equation maximum principle applied to proves the same inequality inside. First allow the cylinder radius to increase, then let . Repeating these slabs proves uniqueness on every finite interval with the stated uniform growth bound. No spatial integrability of is required.
At time , this is Gaussian filtering with covariance , hence per coordinate. With the angular-frequency Fourier transform convention , the Gaussian filtering Fourier multiplier isFor merely bounded , this identity is understood through tempered distributions. The multiplier leaves the zero frequency unchanged and attenuates large frequencies exponentially: it suppresses rapid noise fluctuations but blurs image edges. In cycles-per-length frequency , the multiplier is .
For the printed Perona-Malik equation, retain the supplied conductance , which includes an extra factor . In one dimension write and . Then , withThe forward-backward threshold for gradient-weighted exponential diffusion is thereforeAt and the coefficient vanishes, giving degenerate diffusion. Increasing increases the forward-diffusion range. Small nonzero slopes smooth, while large slopes formally sharpen; a negative coefficient produces short-wave growth and ill-posedness, so this is a dynamics explanation, not a general existence theorem for arbitrary data. Replacing the printed conductance by would give threshold , but that is a different equation.
The four-neighbour mean expansion follows by Taylor expansion: opposing first and third derivatives cancel, soIf for every sufficiently small , division by and passage to the limit give . This is a pointwise conclusion; it does not assert harmonicity in a whole neighbourhood.
For the area median over the disk, the disk-median curvature expansion, at a point where , isConsequently the analogous median fixed-point condition yieldsThis is the vanishing of the level-line curvature at : to second order the level line is straight there. It need not be a straight segment. For example has zero disk median at the origin for every radius, by odd symmetry, but its zero level line is the cubic . Vanishing curvature on an entire connected regular level arc would force that arc to be straight. The factor is for the disk's uniform area measure; a circle-boundary median has a different scale factor, while producing the same zero-curvature equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 67 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Assume and . For , use the method of multiple scales with and complex amplitudesAt first order the forcing equations areThe product has frequencies . Its coefficient is , while it has no coefficient. Removing the secular terms givesThe leading initial conditions give and . Put , . The primary parametric resonance of a two-to-one oscillator pair is governed byFor , choose . Solving with yieldsIf , let ; replace by and by . On the boundary , take the continuous limit:Thus exponential growth occurs when and , on the scale . Equality is a marginal case that can produce linear slow growth: for the displayed initial phase excites it, whereas for it does not. If , stays identically zero and the other oscillator is exactly uncoupled. The leading amplitude is constant; its backreaction is a higher-order effect on this time scale.
These are leading approximations for bounded slow time , hence , while the amplitudes stay . First-order corrections can enforce the initial velocities exactly; the leading formula alone has an initial-velocity mismatch. In the unstable case the expansion must not be extrapolated through arbitrarily large amplification, where weak coupling and omitted terms cease to be uniform.
For , both leading oscillations have frequencies , so their quadratic product contains only frequencies . There is no first-order resonant coupling: the solvability condition in the method of multiple scales gives and , a frequency shift without first-order amplitude growth. The constant and second-harmonic corrections can feed back into the fundamental at second order. Consequently the first possible growth scale from this second-order resonance from quadratic oscillator coupling isThis identifies the possible slow scale, not a guaranteed instability for every parameter or initial state. In particular, the first-order frequency shift may detune the second-order resonance unless appropriately tuned; a second-order amplitude analysis would decide actual growth.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 54 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In the local short-wavelength approximation, derivatives of the slowly varying coefficients are smaller than derivatives of the phase. For the perturbation , replace by and by in the torsional Alfvén wave equation. Cancel the common nonzero amplitude and to obtainThus the local dispersion relation is an Alfvén wave relation with Alfvén velocity . The approximation requires wavelength small compared with the background variation scales. A wave vector exactly perpendicular to gives zero leading frequency, so cannot simultaneously obey the assumed large-frequency limit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 54 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The linearized azimuthal Euler momentum equation isFor the time dependence and , it givesThis expresses conservation of the displaced element's specific angular momentum. It applies directly to nonzero-frequency modes, with the zero-frequency limit taken in the displacement formulation.
The radial advective acceleration supplies , while the pressure force perturbation is . Eliminate and retain the vertical equation. Under the Cowling approximation, , soThe continuity equation gives . The Lagrangian adiabatic relation , with , givesHere is the radial epicyclic frequency. These formulas define the axisymmetric adiabatic displacement operator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 54 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , and . Since , the pressure and mass density perturbations are and . Integrating the pressure-gradient term by parts in the mass density-weighted inner product givesThe boundary term vanishes for regular admissible displacements because vanish there and . Completing the pressure square giveswhereThis effective-potential stratification coefficient is real. All coefficients of the bilinear form are real, so : the operator is symmetric on the stated boundary domain, giving the usual self-adjoint realization of the stellar normal-mode problem.
Set and use . The Cowling energy principle for a rotating barotropic star isThe Rayleigh quotient tests stability. If for every admissible displacement, no mode has , so there is no exponentially growing mode. If an admissible trial displacement has , the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle puts negative spectrum below zero; in the usual discrete stellar mode problem this gives a mode with , . Equality allows neutral modes, rather than establishing strictly positive frequencies. A locally negative coefficient alone is not a complete instability proof: a trial function must also control the pressure and other positive terms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 71 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The dimensional linear friction coefficient is . Put and . In overdamped particle dynamics the laboratory velocity is , whereas the trap-frame velocity is . The particle enters the optical tweezers at and leaves at when the trap overtakes it. Write for this support width. The printed subtraction in the later definition of the width is a sign error: the distance between these endpoints is their sum. We use in the circular calculation.
For a bounded continuous force, the strict conditionensures finite passage through a translating optical trap: the trap-frame coordinate decreases throughout the interaction. If is encountered from the right, the deterministic trajectory cannot pass this stationary trap-frame point for a locally Lipschitz force; it approaches or stays at a locked state. At a smooth maximum the critical passage time diverges. More generally the passage criterion is on the traversed interval together with a finite integral below. Separating the trap-frame equation givesThese formulas account for both portions of the optical tweezers, including motion against the trap direction.
The forward-displacement result uses the ordinary localized potential energy interpretation of an optical trap: and has the same value outside both ends, hence . Compact support of the force alone does not ensure that condition. Under the equal-endpoint condition,for a nonzero force and a passing trajectory. This is forward displacement from a translating localized potential. A zero force gives zero displacement. If the force is negative everywhere on its support, it instead gives ; thus an arbitrary compactly supported force does not satisfy the printed assertion.
There are two complementary explanations of the forward displacement from a translating localized potential. The forward push slows the relative passage and therefore acts longer, while the backward pull speeds up the relative passage and therefore acts for less time. An exact potential energy balance makes the same point: along the trajectoryThe moving optical trap supplies the positive work lost to linear drag, although the initial and final potential energy are equal.
For , a uniformly convergent expansion of the passage integrals givesFor a localized potential energy well the first integral vanishes, soThe displacement decreases quadratically with the trap speed, rather than linearly. Without the equal-endpoint assumption the general expansion above remains valid.
For repeated kicks from a circular optical trap, let and interpret the force profile locally along the arc. This description requires a tangential constraint, a nonoverlapping force support , and, if the straight profile is used geometrically, a small support compared with . The condition alone does not specify that latter width hierarchy. During an encounter the particle advances by and the trap advances by . Between encounters the deterministic particle is stationary and the trap travels the remaining relative distance . Thus the time between corresponding points of successive encounters isHere and are revolution frequencies, not angular velocities; the printed relation fixes this convention. The encounter frequency is , so the same result follows from .
The precise condition for the stated approximation is , in addition to finite passage and separated encounters. A sufficient high-speed regime is with fixed , for which the asymptotic displacement divided by tends to zero. ThenThis condition controls the encounter frequency correction; there is no need to discard the finite interaction time without accounting for the support width.
For the triangular optical-trap response, set . In the passing regime , the approach side has velocity and the trailing side has velocity . ConsequentlyWith and , the repeated kicks from a circular optical trap formula becomesFor the usual ideal triangular-well dynamics locks at the cusp: the forces on its two sides direct the trap-frame particle towards the cusp. This is understood as the sticking limit of a rounded potential or of the overdamped differential inclusion at its discontinuous force. The particle follows the trap, giving . At it can remain at a fixed point of the trailing segment and also has . Thus the physical triangular optical-trap response is continuous at threshold, even though the isolated passing-kick displacement diverges there. For ,and the more general kick approximation requires .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 74 1 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Apply the stationary phase method to the real part of the exponential integral for the Bessel function of the first kind. With fixed, use oscillatory phase and oscillatory integral amplitude . The unique stationary point is , with second derivative . Its contribution isThe leading endpoint terms of the exponential integral are imaginary and do not contribute to its real part. Hence the large-argument asymptotic expansion of the Bessel function of the first kind isThis is an additive asymptotic formula: a relative ratio is inappropriate at zeros of the leading cosine. The envelope decreases like while the oscillation frequency approaches one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 74 2 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For conservative forcing in averaged oscillator equations, , the average determining vanishes. If , thenwhose period average is zero. Thus to this order, while a position-dependent force generally shifts the oscillation phase and frequency. The exact equation also conserves the energy , consistent with the absence of amplitude drift for bounded orbits.
For the cubic position force, . ThereforeThe leading oscillation is . For positive it is a softening cubic oscillator, obtained by weakly perturbing a harmonic oscillator. The weak-force condition is ; the constant is the leading harmonic amplitude, not a claim that the exact waveform remains sinusoidal.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 64 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The standard thin-disk dissipation flux, summed over both faces, follows by substituting the Keplerian accretion disk profile into the viscous heating rate:The Stefan–Boltzmann law gives because there are two emitting faces. Local radiative equilibrium consequently gives the effective-temperature profile of a zero-torque diskHere is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The scale is not the temperature exactly at the inner boundary: the zero-torque inner boundary condition makes that formal temperature zero. Maximizing shows that the maximum effective temperature of a zero-torque disk occurs at , with .
At equal central mass and accretion rate, characteristic effective temperatures scale as . Thus, comparing corresponding values of ,The neutron-star disk is about 180 times hotter. The Planck law and Wien displacement law move its characteristic emission to about 180 times higher frequency, or 180 times shorter wavelength. A white dwarf disk commonly emits in optical and ultraviolet bands, while the hotter neutron star disk can emit in X-rays. Absolute bands require an actual accretion rate; the relative shift follows directly from the stated scaling.
