Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 320 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a regular Lagrangian define the canonical momentum components . Require the velocity Hessian to be invertible locally so that the velocities can be expressed in terms of . The Legendre transform in mechanics definesThe explicit time argument cannot generally be omitted when the given Lagrangian depends on time. Its differential is , since the terms cancel. The Euler-Lagrange equations give , and comparison yields Hamilton's equations:For the time-independent stellar gravitational potential below, is conserved. Its sign convention differs from the binding energy in question 2: here is the ordinary specific orbital energy.
The prescribed nondegenerate prolate spheroidal coordinates require ; equality collapses the coordinate family. Their physical velocity components are , and . Per unit stellar mass the Lagrangian is , so . Its Hamiltonian isThis uses acceleration , as specified, rather than importing the opposite gravitational potential convention.
For the Stäckel potential, use the Hamilton-Jacobi equation with principal function . Axisymmetry makes constant. Write and . Multiplying by and usingseparates it as , where . Each side depends on its own coordinate only and therefore equals a constant, chosen as . Here is the generating function of the gravitational potential, not the gravitational constant. HenceThis proves the conserved axisymmetric Stäckel third integral. Eliminating between the two expressions and using givesAt regular generic phase-space points the three separation constants are independent; special circular or degenerate orbits can reduce their local independence. Thus the model is an integrable Hamiltonian system.
For the intended regular, phase-mixed steady model, Jeans theorem permits a galactic distribution function . At any fixed point, and depend on and only through their squares, and depends only on . Thus is even separately in and , whether or not it is even in . Odd integration proves velocity-ellipsoid alignment in a Stäckel potential:The argument allows azimuthal streaming: it does not require zero mean . The means in the two meridional directions vanish, so the off-diagonal velocity covariance also vanishes. Second moments must exist for this conclusion.
There is a hypothesis behind the printed universal wording. On a generic nonresonant regular invariant torus, a continuous steady distribution is constant along a dense orbit and hence depends only on the torus integrals; this justifies the phase-mixed form. Bare stationarity alone is not sufficient in a degenerate resonant gravitational potential with additional integrals. For example is a Stäckel Hamiltonian: choose , up to a constant vacuum shift. The additional conserved quantity gives a positive normalizable steady tracer for . Its local . At azimuth zero and a regular point where the direction has a radial component, this gives nonzero . This tracer need not itself source the harmonic gravitational potential. It exhibits why the stronger, ordinary phase-mixed three-integral assumption is necessary instead of claiming that every imaginable steady distribution has the asserted alignment.
The geometry follows by multiplying the coordinate-defining equation and evaluating at :Constant surfaces are prolate spheroids, with equatorial semiaxis and polar semiaxis . Constant interior surfaces are two-sheeted hyperboloids. Their common foci lie at . The orbit volume in an axisymmetric Stäckel potential is determined byIts allowed coordinate intervals have turning boundaries or coordinate endpoints. A typical bound orbit with oscillates between inner and outer spheroids, oscillates vertically between hyperboloidal limits, and circulates about the symmetry axis with . The equatorial fold joins the positive and negative branches; it is not necessarily a physical turning point in .
For three incommensurate frequencies, the regular trajectory densely samples its projected allowed volume, with nonuniform occupation determined by its speeds. It does not follow one coordinate surface, and it need not close. Resonant orbits may be closed or lie in a smaller projected set; confines azimuthal motion to a meridional plane (with the usual axis coordinate qualification), and circular or equatorial limits are also lower-dimensional. Smooth Stäckel separation removes the generic chaotic behavior of nonintegrable potentials; it does not assert that every orbit fills a three-dimensional volume.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use , , , and . Locally replace in the preceding annular viscous extension calculation by . Its leading pressure isThe axial liquid stress relative to ambient pressure, together with the two circumferential surface tension forces, transmits a cut forceIt would be incorrect simply to differentiate this and retain an extra gas-pressure term. The sloping inner gas interface also exerts an axial pressure force per unit height, after subtracting the common ambient pressure contribution. For constant gas pressures these terms cancel. The resulting capillary tensile force of a hollow slender thread therefore givesThus the printed axial equation holds even for unequal constant gas pressures; their influence remains in the radial evolution.
For equal pressures, the kinematic boundary condition from the previous calculation becomes . Multiplying by the appropriate integrating factor givesAt closure , so and . HenceThe right side is positive for a genuine annulus. On the gravity-driven quadratic family from the previous part, grows linearly with height and this integral diverges logarithmically. It must then reach the finite positive threshold at a finite height. This explains the expected capillary closure of a falling hollow thread on that freely falling branch without requiring its full coupled profile.
There is a real boundary-data limitation to that expectation. Neither the printed nozzle speed nor the local equations alone guarantee finite closure for every imposed nozzle tension. To see this within the same leading model, define , so . For equal pressures and , both radii decrease and . Ifthen a bootstrap gives and : the maximum accumulated weight is smaller than the assumed tension margin. Consequently the closure integral, including its prefactor, is at most . If this is smaller than , closure never occurs at finite height. For example, in consistent units choose , , , , . Then , the weight bound is , and . Small makes the initial geometry slender. Thus finite closure is the expected freely falling branch behaviour, not a theorem following from nozzle speed alone. If there is no capillary closure by this mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
This is a squeezing motion, not the rotational motion of the previous part. The gap changes at rate . The Reynolds lubrication equation therefore givesThe outer wall also has tangential speed , but its local Couette flow flux is compared with the squeezing flux and does not affect the leading force. Thus at leading order. Periodic pressure gives , because the integral of vanishes over a full circle. Balancing pressure traction on the fixed inner cylinder and using integration by parts,The supplied integral gives the squeeze resistance of an eccentric journal bearing:The fluid tends to pull the inner cylinder upwards with the moving outer wall, so a downward holding force is required when . At concentricity the translation resistance is . The omitted wall-tangential flux and shear traction give smaller thin-gap contributions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 331 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and . For , never vanishes, so an analytic branch of a square root exists along the real flow domain. Take real smooth velocity and buoyancy frequency coefficients, nonzero (chosen positive for the growing-wave convention), a nontrivial regular normal mode, and boundary decay strong enough to remove the integration-by-parts term.
Substitution into the Taylor–Goldstein equation gives the half-power case of the power-transformed Taylor–Goldstein energy identity:For completeness, differentiating yields , which explains the coefficient .
Multiply by and integrate over . The boundary term is zero for the given homogeneous endpoint conditions, or for sufficiently decaying finite-energy modes at infinity. ThereforeSince , , and are real, taking the imaginary part and dividing by givesThe first two terms have strictly positive integral for a nonzero mode. Thus cannot be nonnegative everywhere:This proves the Miles–Howard theorem in contrapositive form. Where , the corresponding gradient Richardson number must fall below somewhere. Failure of this sufficient-stability criterion does not prove instability. The derivation uses ; it cannot be applied unchanged to a neutral singular critical layer.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 336 2 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For fixed , the linear term vanishes at . Put and resolve its neighborhood using . The integral is dominated by the resulting narrow peak:The local Taylor expansion of the logarithm changes it by a vanishing relative amount on this width, while both endpoints are many peak widths away for fixed .
There is no additional breakdown when : the peak approaches , but its distance from that endpoint is , whereas its width is . Thus . The relative logarithm variation over a width is , also improving as grows. For with fixed these separation conditions hold uniformly, including arbitrarily large . In particularThe only endpoint transition requiring a new distinguished limit is the earlier one near , where the peak approaches . Moving toward an endpoint is not by itself a reason for nonuniformity; the peak width must be compared with its endpoint distance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 336 2 a ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The small denominator lies near when approaches . Its two contributions balance when and . Letwith fixed real . Then and in the contributing region. The endpoint transition of a regularized interior pole givesIndeed, the leading scaled integral is . The upper endpoint can be sent to infinity at leading order because the omitted tail contributes only to the original integral. At the result is : only one half of the narrow peak lies in the domain.
This formula provides the required matching. For , , giving . For it tends to , giving , the limit of the interior-peak approximation. These are overlap regions with , not assertions that the fixed- remainder is uniform to arbitrarily large .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 336 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The three distinguished limits are the outer expansion at , an intermediate asymptotic region at , and an inner expansion at . The middle scale resolves the coefficient change from to ; the narrower scale resolves the unmet left boundary condition. The original equation is understood on with a continuous extension to the boundary. As explained below, imposing a classical second derivative at would be too strong for this degenerate ordinary differential equation.
In the outer expansion, set . The leading equation is . Enforcing the right boundary condition gives . Because , the next equation is particularly simple:An integrating factor, or the substitution , gives . ThusThe error statement is for bounded away from zero. The left limiting form is through the terms needed for matching. A logarithm in the correction makes a pure integer-power inner ansatz inadequate.
For the intermediate asymptotic region, put and . The transformed equation isThe leading is a constant fixed to by matching. There is no order- forcing, so that homogeneous constant is zero after matching. At order , , giving . Matching for with the outer expansion fixes . HenceThe switchback term is larger than an ordinary constant correction and must be retained. The highest derivative term first changes this middle solution at order , so it does not alter the displayed result.
To locate the inner expansion, compare the derivative terms for . Their ratio at a layer width is , so the square-root-degenerate endpoint layer has . Put and . After dividing by the common leading factor, the equation through order isBoth orders therefore have the same homogeneous operator . Its derivative mode is proportional to . Using and the supplied elementary integral, defineThe intermediate asymptotic region gives the overlap value as . ThereforeIt satisfies the left boundary condition exactly to the retained orders, and its large- limit matches the middle result in . The outer and middle limits match with . These three formulae include all terms through , including the logarithmic switchback; the omitted terms in the middle and inner regions need not be .
For a check on that last point, continue the middle equation by one order. Its term obeysThe integration constant is selected by the outer limit. Its value at is , so the inner matching amplitude has a next correction . This independently explains why an remainder is appropriate.
If a single additive composite expansion is useful, combine the three formulae and subtract their two common overlaps. Writing and interpreting at zero givesIt is zero at , gives at , and reproduces all three retained expansions. It does not assert an error uniformly through the nested regions.
Finally, near zero . Thus the solution has a finite nonzero first derivative but generally a second derivative diverging like . This is compatible with the equation for : the vanishing coefficient of multiplies that singular derivative to give a finite limit. If one instead required and the differential equation pointwise at , the left condition would force . The normalized equation's other coefficients have only integrable singularities, so uniqueness for the initial value problem with would give the zero solution, contradicting the right condition. Explicitly, write the normalized equation as a first-order system for with an integrable coefficient matrix; its integral equation and the Gronwall inequality force a solution with zero initial vector to vanish. The continuous-endpoint interpretation is therefore essential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 340 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use localization and cancellation of the assumed interval-adapted wavelet basis: at scale , every detail wavelet has support diameter at most , L1 norm at most , and annihilates polynomials of degree less than . These bounds also apply to the modified boundary wavelets; a restriction of an arbitrary whole-line wavelet without the cancellation-preserving boundary construction would not suffice. The finitely many coarse scaling functions can be treated separately.
Write with as above. Because , we have . Choose in the support of a function of , and let be the degree- Taylor polynomial of . The Hölder-Taylor remainder bound givesFor this is the Hölder seminorm bound. For , the integral Taylor remainder is bounded using , whose magnitude is at most .
The vanishing moments remove from the inner product. Applying the remainder estimate and the L1 norm bound on the localized support yields the wavelet coefficient decay for Hölder functionsThusHere depends on the fixed wavelet family, the exponent and boundary construction, but not on . The proof uses the assumed regularity and moments; it does not identify the minimal Daubechies wavelet order with its differentiability order, which need not coincide.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 341 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Lagrange interpolation polynomials at and areTheir integrals giveThus the coefficients are exactly those of a collocation Runge-Kutta method. More explicitly, with stage slopes , the degree-two polynomialsatisfies , , and . These are the collocation Runge-Kutta method equations, and . For an implicit Runge-Kutta method, the nearby stages exist uniquely for sufficiently small under Lipschitz continuity; see stage solvability of an implicit Runge-Kutta method.
Write , , and interpret powers of componentwise. The Butcher order conditions through degree three are verified directly:For the last equality, . However, the necessary degree-four Butcher order condition fails:Consequently, for sufficiently smooth ordinary differential equations, the local truncation error is and the order of a Runge-Kutta method is exactlyThis is the two-stage Radau IIA method; the conclusion follows from the explicit calculations rather than its name.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 341 5 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and . The interior piecewise-linear hat functions areThey are a basis of the continuous piecewise-affine functions vanishing at both endpoints. The support of a function for each hat only overlaps those of neighbouring hats, so the stiffness matrix is a tridiagonal matrix. Direct integration gives the derivative contribution on the diagonal and on adjacent diagonals.
For the potential contribution, symmetry about gives . On the overlap of and , their product is symmetric about , and its integral is . This is the affine-weighted hat mass matrix calculation. Consequently,and all other entries vanish. The exact right-hand side isThus, with , the requested scalar equations areAt the endpoints the coefficient multiplying the zero boundary value is simply omitted. Since , its point values are not even well defined; replacing by would require an additional quadrature rule convention and regularity hypothesis, not present here. The exact Ritz method uses the displayed integrals. The finite element interpolation estimate and Céa lemma, using , give an energy norm error; the Aubin–Nitsche duality argument gives in the L2 norm on this interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An impenetrable hard wall imposes the Dirichlet boundary condition . Choose the bulk complex argument to be zero and write a stationary solution as with as . The dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation becomesMultiplication by and use of the bulk limit yield the first integralfor the increasing wall profile. Integrating gives the hard-wall condensate healing profileThe PDF's expression without the factor is correct for the normalized number density , not for the dimensional number density defined at the start of the paper. For example, a bulk number density must approach , whereas the literal printed expression approaches . If both number density and coordinates in this part are understood to have already been normalized, the same result reads and the dimensionless width is . These are two descriptions of the same profile, not different physical healing lengths.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take a singly quantized vortex of positive circulation. The superfluid velocity is , where is the complex argument of the condensate. Since , quantized circulation gives . Insert the radial Thomas–Fermi approximation for a condensate into the cylindrical volume integral, excluding the core :Integrating the logarithmic and quadratic terms separately givesThe logarithm is the familiar long-range flow contribution of a quantum vortex; the comes from the declining trapped number density. If the bucket truncates the cloud, put and the same integration gives , provided . A vortex of integer winding number has and multiplies this flow energy by . The core radius acts as a cutoff of order the local healing length; its internal gradient and interaction energies are not computed by this shell estimate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For repulsive interactions , the Thomas–Fermi approximation for a condensate neglects the density-gradient kinetic energy away from boundaries and vortex cores. The stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation then gives wherever the condensate is present. At the axis , henceHere and the support is also restricted to the physical bucket . The next parts' explicit outer cutoff assumes ; if the wall truncates the parabola and the corresponding integrals must use , not the natural trap radius. A hard-wall boundary layer or the smooth trap-edge healing region is beyond the Thomas–Fermi approximation for a condensate. For an untruncated radial profile, the total particle number is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 2 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In a rotating reference frame at angular frequency , the relevant energy difference is approximately . The vortex-free state has zero circulation and zero corresponding angular momentum. For , the preceding shell estimates reduce toTherefore the thermodynamic vortex-nucleation frequency for the first positive quantum vortex isThe common factors cancel explicitly, although the trap radius and core scale still depend on number density. In the strict leading-logarithm limit, . The finite constant is the one obtained from the stated Thomas–Fermi shell integral; a resolved vortex core and readjustment of the number density at fixed particle number can change the nonlogarithmic constant. This is an energetic threshold, not a dynamical guarantee of nucleation: a surface barrier can delay entry. Higher positive winding numbers have flow energy proportional to and angular momentum proportional to , so their analogous threshold is larger in this approximation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 343 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a straight singly quantized quantum vortex, use cylindrical distance from the line and writeThere is no dependence along the vortex line. Substitution into the normalized stationary equation gives, before separating real and imaginary parts,Consequently the wave amplitude and phase-gradient equations areThe second equation can also be written , which remains convenient at the core.
To specify what is meant by radial velocity, use the condensate number current. The time-dependent equation has kinetic operator and therefore number current . Its hydrodynamic superfluid velocity in these units is , so and . In that convention the requested pair isIf instead velocity is defined as the complex argument gradient itself, the preceding pair is the corresponding convention; the distinction matters because the printed kinetic coefficient differs from that of the normalized conservative equation in Question 1.
Regularity of a unit-charge core gives with . Integrating the current equation from the origin, with no point source or singular radial flux, givesThe integral is , so the radial flow near a driven vortex core isFor the phase-gradient convention, . Gain exceeds loss in the depleted core, hence this regular flow is outwards for . The real wave amplitude equation also gives , independently consistent with the linear core behaviour. A nonzero integration constant in the radial-current identity would create a singular and is excluded.
Finally, the literal boundary from the preceding part cannot apply to a multiplicity-one vortex: its complex argument changes by around a large circle. Even with has different limits along different rays. The usual intended vortex condition concerns the wave amplitude approaching its bulk value, with the winding complex argument retained; it is not a constant complex-field limit. The local equations and core slope derived here do not establish a global stationary vortex satisfying that literal boundary. In a driven system the far-field radial flow and oscillation frequency may also require selection, so no global zero-flow vortex is asserted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 345 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use a two-sided top-hat line plume with full width , upward speed , and reduced gravity uniform across the plume. Fluxes are measured per unit span along the line source: the volume flux is , the kinematic momentum flux is , and the buoyancy flux is . If the inward edge speed is , where is the entrainment coefficient, the two exposed edges giveThese are the volume conservation, momentum conservation, and buoyancy flux balances for a Boussinesq approximation plume in an unstratified ambient. Entrained ambient fluid supplies neither vertical momentum nor reference buoyancy.
A pure plume has no persistent source length scale. Since a line-source has dimensions , dimensional analysis gives constant , , and . Substituting constant into and the momentum balance determines the coefficients:Thus and when width is full width and velocity and buoyancy have top-hat profiles. If width means half-width, instead. Other prescribed profile shapes change these numerical factors; the linear growth laws remain the same. The point-source in Question 1 has different dimensions, so its law must not be used here.
Let be local contaminant concentration and let be horizontally integrated plume concentration. Its conserved amount per unit span is . The dilute contaminant is a passive scalar; the maintained plume is unaffected by its impulsive release. A one-dimensional effective transport closure takes the integrated scalar flux to beThe constant advective speed and the eddy diffusivity scaling follow from the line-plume scales. The entrainment coefficient alone does not determine the scalar dispersion coefficient: this Fickian closure for the integrated variable is an additional modelling assumption. Mass conservation then gives the displayed transport equation in the PDF. With this effective closure and advective speed chosen as , ; if , then , with independent dimensionless mixing coefficient .
There is a second possible closure convention. If one instead applies local diffusive flux to horizontally averaged plume concentration , its integrated diffusive flux is . For , the total scalar flux is then . The same printed equation is obtained with , rather than . Thus the printed and should be regarded as effective coefficients unless the averaging and closure conventions are specified; no equality between and the velocity prefactor is universal.
Assume , , an initial impulse at the origin, no further contaminant input, and zero endpoint scalar flux for . For a similarity solution, putSubstituting into the advection-diffusion equation givesDecay at infinity makes the integrated constant zero. Hence , and normalization with the gamma function gives . The resulting gamma impulse solution for linearly increasing diffusivity isIts integral over is . Its flux is , which vanishes at both endpoints for . The scale shrinks to zero as , so the normalized solution has weak convergence of probability measures to the required unit source impulse. The mass at the boundary is a full unit impulse on the half-line, not half of a whole-line impulse.
For the integrated quantity, , and consequentlyThis verifies the printed location for horizontally integrated plume concentration. It is a maximum because the derivative changes from positive to negative there. The normalized profile is a gamma distribution with shape : its expected value is and its variance is , so neither the mean position nor the spread should be mistaken for the modal position.
The PDF changes from “integral” to “averaged” concentration in its final request. A genuine horizontally averaged plume concentration divides by the growing width , and is thereforeIt is normalized by , not by . When , its interior maximum isWhen it decreases from a finite boundary supremum; when it is singular at the ideal point source and has no positive interior maximum. A finite source regularizes that singularity. Thus the final printed maximum is correct for the integrated variable , or for an “average” using a fixed reference width, but is not generally the maximum of the local mean . Both quantities have been given rather than silently identifying them. If , the smooth similarity formula is replaced by the advected impulse ; positive eddy diffusivity is essential to the gamma profile.
