For , put . Repeated integration by parts gives . The hemispheric thick-limit results areThe second row assumes fixed surface temperature; the third assumes fixed absorbed radiant flux. In the vertical-ray approximation the first of these rows becomes , and the surface temperature factors are the inverse fourth roots.
Thus increasing makes the atmosphere colder at every fixed , decreases outgoing radiation at fixed , and requires a warmer surface at fixed absorbed radiant flux. The case is isothermal and gives exactly, including finite optical depth.
There is an essential approximation limit. The extension of the integral to infinity is valid for fixed as , and is not uniform for arbitrarily large at fixed . The vertical integrand peaks at , so one needs that peak well above the surface in optical depth, with a negligible tail beyond . For example, at the thick formula predicts for but approximately for . This artificial increase contradicts the exact monotonicity: in the finite-optical depth expression every atmospheric emission factor decreases with . At fixed finite , the exact limiting outgoing radiant flux is the transmitted surface term , rather than factorial divergence.
Assume a stable, lossless elastic body with the usual symmetry of the elasticity tensor and boundary conditions that eliminate the surface terms in integration by parts, such as a traction-free outer surface. Its elastic stiffness operator is then self-adjoint. When density varies spatially, the precise eigenproblem is generalized:Here abbreviates the pair of mode labels. Equivalently, is a self-adjoint operator in the mass inner product. Stability makes real and nonnegative. Modes at different eigenvalues are orthogonal, and an orthonormal basis can be selected within each degenerate eigenspace. Completeness permits expansion of a suitable displacement field in these mass-weighted elastic normal modes.
Insert the expansion and project onto . Mass normalization diagonalizes both the acceleration term and the restoring term. For a symmetric stress glut tensor supported away from the boundary,The symmetry of the stress glut tensor removes the antisymmetric part of the displacement gradient, leaving the strain. The result is one independent forced oscillator per mode, with the stated excitation integral. If the modes instead have mass norm , that integral is divided by . A source touching the boundary requires the corresponding surface forcing to be retained rather than silently dropping it.
Rigid translations and rotations can be zero-frequency modes of a free body. Their strain vanishes, so an internal symmetric seismic moment tensor does not excite them through this coupling. Attenuation, radiative boundaries or other non-self-adjoint effects require modifications of the simple conservative expansion.
The independent identically distributed central limit theorem states that for independent identically distributed random variables with finite mean and positive finite variance ,For , continuity, strict monotonicity and the endpoint limits of the cumulative distribution function give a unique . Then . Thus has the uniform distribution on , by the probability integral transform.
For , when , and it is zero otherwise. Therefore its probability density function is : the exponential distribution of rate one. By integration by parts, and , so .
The variables are independent because they are separate measurable functions of independent random variables. The probability integral transform makes all of them identically distributed as , even though the need not be identically distributed. The displayed is exactly . The central limit theorem therefore gives
Substitute , giving . The nonnegative integral becomesFor an integration by parts gives ; its boundary term vanishes because exponential decay dominates . Hence it is finite, proving integrability and
On its absolute value is at most , which has integral , by integration by parts or the substitution . The function is measurable and this majorant is integrable, so .
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2019 1 b Solution 2026-10-25
For a Lagrangian density depending on , , and , direct variation givesTake to have compact support, so every boundary term vanishes. One integration by parts for the first-derivative terms and two for the second-derivative term yield the Euler-Lagrange field equation with second derivativesThe plus sign on the last term is essential. For the action in a, it is particularly transparent to vary the Laplacian directly:Thus the classical equation of motion isHere is the biharmonic operator. Substitution of the plane wave givesA real classical solution combines complex-conjugate plane waves. Quantization assigns the positive branch to the excitation energy, giving the required dispersion relation. The negative-frequency branch supplies the creation operator part of the field, rather than negative excitation energy. Independently, the Hamiltonian in a gives , , confirming the same sign.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2020 3 a Solution 2026-10-25
Keep for the cubic coupling and for the external source. Expanding the interaction part of the scalar field path integral yieldsA functional derivative of the source exponential inserts . In particular, , so can be replaced by . The functional derivatives commute and can be taken outside the free path integral. Resumming the exponential series givesThis is a formal perturbation series; a real cubic scalar potential is unbounded and the expression does not assert a stable nonperturbative vacuum state.
To evaluate the free Gaussian path integral, use integration by parts to writeThe inverse kernel isCompleting the square with changes the exponent to . The translation-invariant functional measure makes the remaining Gaussian path integral precisely , henceFor , the exponent includes , which damps the regulated finite-dimensional integrals. The Feynman i-epsilon prescription displaces the positive-energy pole below the real axis and the negative-energy pole above it, selecting the time-ordered vacuum expectation value. Indeed the Feynman propagator is . Thus specifies both convergence and the vacuum state boundary conditions, with taken after integration.
Past exam of the quantum field theory course of the University of Oxford 2022 3 b Solution 2026-10-25
Define the constant Dirac gamma matrix combinations and . The Hamiltonian operator isEvaluate its commutator with using the bilocal result in a. The mass term cancels immediately when , because its two Dirac delta distributions coincide. For the derivative term first keep the two points distinct:The terms in which the derivative acts on cancel against each other; the derivative of the second Dirac delta distribution remains. ThusThe last equality is integration by parts, or the defining derivative rule for a distribution. Consequently the literal conserved current whose divergence equals isBecause a commutator of two Hermitian operators is anti-Hermitian, this includes . The physical Hermitian Dirac current is instead , so . The Heisenberg equation of motion now givesThis establishes the continuity equation directly from the required commutator, without assuming the Dirac equation or invoking the Noether theorem as a substitute for the computation.
In the scalar two-particle model, the fermionic exchange symmetry and bosonic exchange symmetry conditions areFor particles with spin, exchange acts on all their labels; the stated coordinate-only model fixes the spatial symmetry sector. Define . Equal masses make the kinetic operator invariant under exchange, and the assumed potential is invariant too, so . Therefore implies . The componentsare respectively symmetric and antisymmetric eigenfunctions whenever nonzero. Their sum is the original nonzero quantum state, so at least one is nonzero. An eigenspace may contain both sectors if the energy is degenerate.
The normal modes of two harmonically coupled identical particles provide the separation. The coordinate transformation to is orthogonal, with absolute Jacobian one. Exchanging the particles leaves fixed and changes to . Hence bosonic quantum states are even and fermionic quantum states odd in the relative coordinate. The chain rule givesAlso and . Combining the two trapping potentials with the interaction therefore gives the separated Hamiltonian operatorThese are independent oscillators of frequencies and . Both frequencies are positive in the stated range. Their product eigenstates have energiesThe parity of an oscillator level is . Consequently bosons allow even and fermions odd , while is unrestricted.
The bosonic ground state uses , and the fermionic ground state uses . The oscillator length in the relative mode isUsing the normalized Gaussian for each mode givesIndeed by differentiating the Gaussian, so it is the normalized odd first excited state. The ground energies are and .
Choose normalized factors for a normalized product quantum state; this can always be done by reciprocal rescaling of its factors. Since the coordinate Jacobian has absolute value one,If the supplied factors are not individually normalized, the general expression has an additional factor ; choosing normalized factors is the convention in the displayed formula.
For the ground states, put . Then and . Thus, for differentiable with suitable Gaussian integrability and vanishing boundary terms,This is integration by parts, and every polynomial satisfies the required endpoint conditions. The relative-coordinate moments in even and odd oscillator ground states follow by substituting :For odd , both expectations vanish by parity, so this is an equality of zeros rather than an increase in signed mean separation. The even moments show the physical difference. In particular and , so the fermionic root-mean-square particle separation is times the bosonic value. The fermionic probability density vanishes at coincidence , expressing Pauli exclusion principle in this spatial symmetry sector. This is an exchange constraint on the wave function, not an additional classical force. As approaches , the relative oscillator softens and its width diverges; the excluded endpoint would no longer have this normalizable oscillator ground state.
Choose an orthonormal eigenbasis and the phase convention . Comparing coefficients of the eigenvalue equation at first order yieldsProjecting onto and the other eigenvectors givesProjection of the next-order equation onto givesThese are coefficients of the printed series, so denotes the quadratic coefficient rather than the second derivative itself. Without a phase convention an arbitrary purely imaginary multiple of can be added to the first vector correction. Continuous spectrum, if present, requires the corresponding spectral integral; the oscillator has a discrete complete eigenbasis.
Put and let denote the ground-state density. Then and . Because , integration by parts yieldsThus the two first-order shifts areThe first is the supplied ground-state expression; the second follows because the excited-state density is , so .
Subtracting, and using , givesThe bracket is zero at , tends to one at infinity, and has derivative . Therefore the first-order predicted level gap isFor every it becomes negative for all sufficiently large , crossing when . It is still positive at : the stated conclusion must be read with the large- regime, rather than for every interval width.
For the inner potential curves downward, placing a central barrier between two symmetric minima at . The even unperturbed ground state has its greatest density at the central barrier, while the odd first excited state has a node there and is less penalized. This explains the relative first-order shifts. A negative predicted gap signals failure of that perturbation approximation, not inversion of the exact lowest two states: the true one-dimensional ground state remains nodeless and even, with the odd state above it. At a high barrier the actual low levels instead form a close double-well pair. The apparent level crossing from a finite-interval oscillator perturbation is useful precisely as a diagnostic of the approximation's range.
Let . Multiplication of the radial equation by gives . With the constant terms cancel, leavingThe indicial equation is , with roots and . The usual physical Coulomb radial origin condition selects : it imposes the regular reduced radial boundary condition . Normalizability alone at the origin is insufficient to make this selection when an irregular branch is locally square-integrable, notably at .
Write . Coefficient comparison givesA nonterminating regular series has the exponentially growing asymptotic branch, suggested by : it supplies an component, which the prefactor cannot normalize. Equivalently the regular confluent-hypergeometric solution grows unless its first parameter is a nonpositive integer. Thus a bound state requires the numerator to vanish at some , givingThis is series-termination quantization of the Coulomb radial equation. It requires for the assumed ; at there are no such negative-energy Coulomb bound states.
For , . The angular integral cancels when computing , while the radial volume element contributes . ConsequentlyThe ratio follows by one integration by parts and remains valid for real ; no integer-only factorial identity is needed. Since now ,For a classical particle with that negative total energy, nonnegative kinetic energy requires , hence . This is a necessary radial bound; extra angular momentum can impose a stronger restriction.
At , and the classical boundary is . The normalized radial probability density is . With , the exterior quantum probability isThe final integration gives . This is the nonzero quantum tail beyond the classical turning region.
Choose an orthonormal eigenbasis and the phase convention . Comparing coefficients of the eigenvalue equation at first order yieldsProjecting onto and the other eigenvectors givesProjection of the next-order equation onto givesThese are coefficients of the printed series, so denotes the quadratic coefficient rather than the second derivative itself. Without a phase convention an arbitrary purely imaginary multiple of can be added to the first vector correction. Continuous spectrum, if present, requires the corresponding spectral integral; the oscillator has a discrete complete eigenbasis.
Put and let denote the ground-state density. Then and . Because , integration by parts yieldsThus the two first-order shifts areThe first is the supplied ground-state expression; the second follows because the excited-state density is , so .
Subtracting, and using , givesThe bracket is zero at , tends to one at infinity, and has derivative . Therefore the first-order predicted level gap isFor every it becomes negative for all sufficiently large , crossing when . It is still positive at : the stated conclusion must be read with the large- regime, rather than for every interval width.
For the inner potential curves downward, placing a central barrier between two symmetric minima at . The even unperturbed ground state has its greatest density at the central barrier, while the odd first excited state has a node there and is less penalized. This explains the relative first-order shifts. A negative predicted gap signals failure of that perturbation approximation, not inversion of the exact lowest two states: the true one-dimensional ground state remains nodeless and even, with the odd state above it. At a high barrier the actual low levels instead form a close double-well pair. The apparent level crossing from a finite-interval oscillator perturbation is useful precisely as a diagnostic of the approximation's range.
In the scalar two-particle model, the fermionic exchange symmetry and bosonic exchange symmetry conditions areFor particles with spin, exchange acts on all their labels; the stated coordinate-only model fixes the spatial symmetry sector. Define . Equal masses make the kinetic operator invariant under exchange, and the assumed potential is invariant too, so . Therefore implies . The componentsare respectively symmetric and antisymmetric eigenfunctions whenever nonzero. Their sum is the original nonzero quantum state, so at least one is nonzero. An eigenspace may contain both sectors if the energy is degenerate.
The normal modes of two harmonically coupled identical particles provide the separation. The coordinate transformation to is orthogonal, with absolute Jacobian one. Exchanging the particles leaves fixed and changes to . Hence bosonic quantum states are even and fermionic quantum states odd in the relative coordinate. The chain rule givesAlso and . Combining the two trapping potentials with the interaction therefore gives the separated Hamiltonian operatorThese are independent oscillators of frequencies and . Both frequencies are positive in the stated range. Their product eigenstates have energiesThe parity of an oscillator level is . Consequently bosons allow even and fermions odd , while is unrestricted.
The bosonic ground state uses , and the fermionic ground state uses . The oscillator length in the relative mode isUsing the normalized Gaussian for each mode givesIndeed by differentiating the Gaussian, so it is the normalized odd first excited state. The ground energies are and .
Choose normalized factors for a normalized product quantum state; this can always be done by reciprocal rescaling of its factors. Since the coordinate Jacobian has absolute value one,If the supplied factors are not individually normalized, the general expression has an additional factor ; choosing normalized factors is the convention in the displayed formula.
For the ground states, put . Then and . Thus, for differentiable with suitable Gaussian integrability and vanishing boundary terms,This is integration by parts, and every polynomial satisfies the required endpoint conditions. The relative-coordinate moments in even and odd oscillator ground states follow by substituting :For odd , both expectations vanish by parity, so this is an equality of zeros rather than an increase in signed mean separation. The even moments show the physical difference. In particular and , so the fermionic root-mean-square particle separation is times the bosonic value. The fermionic probability density vanishes at coincidence , expressing Pauli exclusion principle in this spatial symmetry sector. This is an exchange constraint on the wave function, not an additional classical force. As approaches , the relative oscillator softens and its width diverges; the excluded endpoint would no longer have this normalizable oscillator ground state.
Inside the infinite square well, the time-independent Schrödinger equation and Dirichlet boundary conditions areand the wavefunction vanishes outside the interval. For a nonzero state, integration by parts givesThe strict inequality follows because a function with zero derivative and zero endpoint values is zero. Put . The general solution is ; the first boundary condition gives , and the second gives , . Since , the normalized energy eigenstates and eigenvalues areThe normalization fixes the magnitude of the coefficient; its arbitrary global phase has been chosen real and positive.
Inside the infinite square well, the Schrödinger equation and Dirichlet boundary conditions areThe wavefunction vanishes outside the box. These walls constrain its values, not its first derivatives: requiring both to vanish at an endpoint would eliminate all the nonzero stationary solutions.
For a nonzero separated solution, separation of variables givesThe last equation is the time-independent Schrödinger equation. Its energy eigenvalue is real. Multiplication by and integration by parts, with the endpoint values zero, givesEquality would force to be constant and hence zero, so a nonzero energy eigenstate has . Writing , the general solution is . The left wall gives ; the right gives . Negative integers reproduce the same functions up to a constant, and gives the zero function, leaving for .
Finally . Thus wavefunction normalization with positive coefficient givesAn arbitrary constant global phase has no effect on the quantum state.
Write , and . Its derivative isIntegration by parts with the Dirichlet boundary conditions gives the energy expectationIt is constant in time, since the time-independent Hamiltonian operator has fixed energy measurement probabilities: .
For the midpoint parity operator, . Hence, again putting ,Indeed the imaginary part integrates to zero by reflection and . This expectation value is also constant in time, because the bounded self-adjoint operator commutes with and hence with its time-evolution operator. Equivalently, .
For the momentum operator, direct evaluation givesThe real sine-cosine integral vanishes. This expectation value is not constant in time: the infinite square well walls reverse motion. One can prove the change exactly without approximating the wavefunction. Atthe energy eigenstate expansion and give . Differentiation shows , soThis half revival in an infinite square well is a concrete counterexample to momentum conservation. The sign from is only a global phase.
The apparent interior identity cannot justify conservation here: the momentum operator does not preserve the Dirichlet boundary conditions of the Hamiltonian operator's operator domain. For sufficiently regular states, retaining the boundary terms in Ehrenfest theorem instead gives the boundary force in an infinite square well,In the strictly confined interval, with both endpoint values zero is symmetric but not itself a self-adjoint operator. The requested integral is the conventional mean momentum; it also equals the full-line momentum mean of the zero-extended state, as measured upon releasing the walls. This domain distinction explains why the formal interior commutator misses the wall force.
Take a smooth variation . Differentiating the functional at zero gives the first variationIntegrate the second term once and the third term twice by integration by parts:Choose variations supported away from the endpoints. Stationarity and the fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations forceThis is the Euler-Lagrange equation for a second-derivative functional. With the interior equation imposed, the remaining boundary expression must vanish for every admissible variation.
At each endpoint, a freely varying value requires , and a freely varying slope requires . A fixed value or slope instead makes its corresponding variation zero and supplies no natural condition for that variable. These are the natural boundary conditions for second-derivative functionals, with the value and slope variations treated independently.
Multiply the Sturm-Liouville equation by and integrate. The endpoint values and integration by parts giveSince ,Thus the multiplier equals the stationary value of at the extremal, as in stationary values of a quadratic functional with a quadratic constraint. It is also the corresponding Rayleigh quotient.
For , both the constraint and endpoint values hold, the extremal equation has , and direct integration gives .
For any admissible function, its derivative has Fourier cosine series coefficients and zero constant coefficient. This follows by integration by parts: , and . Thus the Parseval identity givesFor finite sums the same identity follows directly from the cosine product formula in the hint; the identity justifies the general case. Equality holds only if for all , and normalization then fixes . ThereforeThis is the minimum Dirichlet energy at fixed L2 norm on an interval, equivalently the sharp Wirtinger inequality for this interval.
The distributional derivative is defined by for every test function. For the Heaviside function, compact support givesThus . Splitting the integral for at zero and using integration by parts gives its first derivative as the sign function. The jump of that function at zero is two, soas distributions. The value assigned to the sign function at the single point zero does not affect its associated distribution.
