Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 105 3 e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Write the Inviscid Burgers equation in conservation form asA bounded function is a weak solution with initial datum whenfor every compactly supported test function .
Across a straight discontinuity , integration by parts on its two sides shows that the boundary terms cancel exactly when the Rankine-Hugoniot condition holds:when . For every , defineThe three jumps have left and right states , , and , so their Rankine-Hugoniot speeds are respectively , , and , exactly the speeds of the displayed lines. Hence each satisfies the weak equation away from the origin and across every jump. Moreover, its nonzero support at time has length , so in as ; its initial datum is therefore zero in the weak identity.
The zero function and all the distinct functions are bounded weak solutions with the same zero initial datum. Thus weak solutions are not unique. The central jump from to is an expansion shock, which an entropy condition would exclude.