Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 314 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the self-gravitating incompressible slab, let the fluid occupy , with mass density and a vacuum exterior. Poisson equation and hydrostatic equilibrium giveA constant ambient pressure could be added without changing the result. Choose perturbations proportional to , using rotational symmetry in the horizontal plane to put the wavevector along .
For the fluid displacement, the linearized momentum equation inside the uniform slab is . For it follows that , with . Incompressibility gives , henceNeutral limits of these surface modes follow by continuity. Stationary vorticity perturbations form a separate zero-frequency sector; the nonzero-frequency surface modes are irrotational by the momentum equation itself, without an extra irrotational-flow assumption.
The Eulerian mass density perturbation vanishes in the bulk because the equilibrium mass density is uniform and the displacement is divergence free. If the two vertical surface displacements are and , the surface density perturbation of a displaced uniform interface givesThus Poisson equation reduces to Laplace equation for inside and outside. The potential is continuous, while integrating through each surface givesThe perturbing potential must decay at vertical infinity. The kinematic conditions are . The free surface pressure condition is the vanishing Lagrangian pressure perturbation, ; at the top this gives .
Put . For even scalar-potential symmetry, chooseThen : this is a thickness-changing mode, not a vertical bending mode. Write ; the top derivative jump gives . Since ,Substitute these values into . Using gives the even-mode dispersion relation for the surface modes of a self-gravitating incompressible slab:The positive term comes from the restoring hydrostatic free-surface pressure in the background gravitational field. The negative term is the attraction due to the perturbed gravitational potential of the displaced surfaces, which tends to reinforce the disturbance. Both effects ultimately involve the slab's gravity, but enter the boundary condition through different terms.
For odd scalar-potential symmetry, instead takeNow , so the surfaces bend in the same direction. The jump again gives , but and . The same pressure condition yieldsThe bottom kinematic, jump and pressure conditions follow with the indicated parity and give the same dispersion relation, so no boundary condition has been discarded.
To determine the gravitational instability of an incompressible slab, factor the two dimensionless expressions asFor the even mode the bracket is strictly increasing, with derivative , is negative at zero and tends to positive infinity. It therefore has a unique positive zeroThe even mode is unstable for , neutral at , and oscillatory for . Negative gives a growing mode with under the stated time convention. For the odd mode, for every , so the bracket is always positive: all odd modes with positive wavenumber are stable.
Even and odd surface-mode dispersion relations of a self-gravitating incompressible slab, with the even-mode instability threshold
. Details. At long wavelengths and : a thickness or column-density disturbance has a gravitational instability, whereas a bending disturbance is restored. At short wavelengths both approach , so both surface branches are stable. The slab equilibrium is therefore linearly unstable overall, because it admits the long-wavelength even modes despite the stability of its odd sector.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 14A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The PDF specifies decay as ; the local TeX drops this limit from its displayed boundary data. Take , so the conformal map is . Its components areFor and , . The bottom edge maps monotonically to , and the two vertical sides map to the real rays and . The derivative never vanishes in the interior. Injectivity follows from the identities for equal sines: the alternatives and give only the identical point within this strip. Surjectivity can be seen directly: for fixed and , solve ; thenOn , with the lower endpoint read as when , the right side increases strictly from zero to infinity. Thus every point of the upper half-plane has a unique preimage.
By conformal invariance of harmonicity, write the transformed harmonic function as . Its real-axis boundary data areThe inverse sine on is its real principal branch. For bounded integrable data, take the Fourier transform convention . The Laplace equation becomes , with the bounded decaying solution . Inverting the Fourier transform givesConsequently the Poisson kernel for the upper half-plane yieldsThe decay is uniform across the strip: and, for , . This verifies the printed decay condition. Boundary limits give the prescribed values at continuity points away from the corners.
For the given sine data,Values assigned at do not alter the integral. There is no solution continuous on the entire closed half-strip for these data: the bottom edge has corner limits , but the side edges have corner limits zero. The formula is the bounded Dirichlet problem solution with the specified limits away from those two corners. This is the usual interpretation of the printed problem; boundedness excludes additional boundary-singular harmonic functions, while decay alone without a regularity or boundedness condition does not establish uniqueness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 105 1 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The general-order Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem applies to analytic data on a non-characteristic hypersurface. In local coordinates , a real analytic system of order in an unknown vector is in normal form whenwith real analytic near the initial jet. Analytic data for determine a unique real analytic solution near each initial point. More general systems, including different orders for the components, have the same conclusion after solving for the highest normal derivatives: the corresponding coefficient matrix, or highest-derivative Jacobian for a nonlinear system, must be invertible. This is the system's non-characteristic hypersurface condition. The uniqueness asserted by the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem is initially uniqueness in the real analytic class.
A real analytic coordinate change flattens a real analytic initial hypersurface. Non-characteristicity permits solving for its highest normal derivatives by the real analytic implicit function theorem. Introduce all derivatives through order as additional unknowns. Their normal derivatives are either another jet variable, a tangential first derivative of a jet variable, or the right-hand side of the original equation. This gives a first-order real analytic system. The derivative-compatibility identities have zero initial data and are preserved by the system; equivalently, its real analytic coefficient recurrence reproduces the derivatives of . This explains both reductions, rather than assuming arbitrary real analytic hypersurfaces are already flat.
For the first example, the principal symbol of the Laplace equation at the conormal is , so the plane is a non-characteristic hypersurface. The theorem therefore applies to real analytic and :This does not give Hadamard well-posedness in smooth or Sobolev space norms. For , the harmonic functionshave zero value data and normal derivative data tending to zero with every fixed tangential derivative. At any fixed , however, diverges. Thus the elliptic Cauchy problem for a partial differential equation is unstable despite real analytic solvability. The exceptional case is the elementary affine ordinary differential equation and has no such tangential high-frequency instability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 309 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Fix the Riemann curvature tensor conventionFor the limiting affine connection, every product of two nonzero connection coefficients is zero, because its only nonzero coefficients have spatial upper index and both lower indices . Its only possibly nonzero curvature components, apart from antisymmetry in the last two indices, areThe Ricci tensor is thereforeAll other components vanish, so the limiting connection is a connection with vanishing Ricci tensor exactly when satisfies the Laplace equation on spatial Euclidean space. This is Ricci-flatness, not necessarily vanishing curvature: is a harmonic function but has nonzero Hessian matrix and hence a nonflat limiting connection. Reversing the curvature sign convention reverses the displayed Ricci sign but leaves the equivalence unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 314 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let the free surface be at and take the Newtonian gravitational potential to vanish at infinity. Mass conservation fixes . The enclosed mass is , and hydrostatic equilibrium requires . With vacuum outside, , givingThe pressure is zero outside. A prescribed constant external pressure would simply add that constant to .
The bulk Eulerian and Lagrangian fluid perturbations obey because the mass density is uniform and the Lagrangian displacement has zero divergence. The linearized Euler momentum equation in the interior isTaking the curl gives . Thus every nonzero-frequency normal mode has an irrotational flow displacement; the simply connected space formed by the interior admits and incompressibility gives the Laplace equation . For a regular center, one spherical harmonic component is , with .
It is essential to retain the surface gravity perturbation of a uniform-density sphere. Although the bulk mass density perturbation is zero, the displaced density discontinuity givesThe Poisson equation implies that is continuous and its outward radial derivative has the jumpUsing regularity at the center and decay at infinity, writeThe derivative jump is , so .
Integrating the bulk Euler momentum equation gives for . At the free surface the Lagrangian pressure perturbation vanishes:Combining these relations yields the Kelvin stellar mode frequencyThe choices of are degenerate because of spherical symmetry. For , is a linear combination of coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system, so is a constant displacement: the zero frequency is rigid translation of the whole isolated body. Such a translation has no restoring force. The constant potential generates no displacement; a radial breathing motion is excluded by incompressibility and a regular center.
The printed irrotational assertion needs the nonzero-frequency qualification, or restriction to the potential incompressible stellar surface modes. It is false for all neutral displacements: has zero divergence, zero normal displacement at the surface, and , so it is a zero-frequency displacement, but . This does not change the Kelvin stellar mode spectrum just derived.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 328 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Interpret the malformed printed domain inequality as the first quadrant , as indicated by the two axis boundary conditions. There is also a genuine missing hypothesis: decay of the boundary data does not require the harmonic function itself to be bounded. For zero data, both and satisfy the Laplace equation and both edge values, but the Wirtinger derivative of the latter isThus the data do not determine an arbitrary solution's derivative without a growth restriction. We derive the integral representation for the bounded solution, which is also the standard decaying solution when the continuous edge data decay. Any other admissible unbounded solution can differ by a zero-boundary harmonic function.
The conformal map sends the quadrant bijectively to the complex upper half-plane: the positive real axis maps to , and the positive imaginary axis maps to . Define its real-axis boundary function byThe compatibility at the corner makes continuous there. The Dirichlet Poisson integral in a quadrant follows from the upper-half-plane Poisson kernel:It is bounded by the supremum of the bounded edge data, and the kernel's approximate identity property supplies both Dirichlet boundary conditions. More explicitly, for , where and , this integral isIt displays directly which part of the real-line boundary corresponds to each original axis.
To obtain its derivative, first take real data and use the Schwarz integral formula. A holomorphic function whose real part is the Poisson solution in the -plane isThe regularizing subtraction is independent of and affects only the imaginary normalization; it permits bounded data without an artificial integrability assumption. Then . By the chain rule and the Wirtinger derivative,The factor is , not : taking the real part contributes the factor in the complex derivative. Differentiation under the integral sign is justified uniformly on compact interior subsets because the denominator stays away from the real boundary and decays quadratically at infinity. Splitting the real integral at zero and substituting or gives the holomorphic derivative of a quadrant Dirichlet solution:This converges for bounded data, and in particular for the stated sufficiently decaying data. No interior pole is encountered since . For complex-valued data the same formula holds by applying the real-data construction separately to their real and imaginary parts and using linearity.
An equivalent form, often convenient when the data's derivatives decay, comes from integration by parts. Sincethe two endpoint terms are and . They cancel by the specified compatibility, leavingThis is the harmonic quadrant solution from tangential boundary derivatives applied to the actual derivatives ; the supplied in this question are boundary values, not derivatives. Omitting those primes would solve a different boundary problem.
For completeness, bounded Dirichlet uniqueness in a quadrant selects the solution just constructed. The difference of two bounded solutions is zero on both axes. Odd reflection across each axis gives a bounded harmonic extension to the punctured plane; the removable singularity for a bounded harmonic function fills the corner. The harmonic Liouville theorem makes the extension constant, and oddness makes it zero. Decaying data give a decaying Poisson extension: split the real-axis integral into a fixed compact interval and a tail with arbitrarily small data; the compact contribution tends to zero as , while the tail is bounded by that small supremum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 331 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Separate the uniform stream and an arbitrary time-dependent gauge from each velocity potential: . Only gradients of the velocity potential determine the velocity field. The remote fluid must remain in its unperturbed uniform stream, soAfter fixing the harmless gauge, the nonzero-wavenumber perturbation velocity potentials themselves vanish at the corresponding infinities. Incompressible flow and irrotational flow give the Laplace equation for each perturbation. For a normal mode with , the vertical amplitude solves , henceThe opposite exponentials are excluded because they make the perturbation grow at infinity. It is the perturbation, rather than the total potential , that decays.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 332 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take upwards and write , so that the unperturbed interface is , with carbon dioxide above and water below. Use the sharp-interface, incompressible flow version of Darcy's law, with constant porosity and permeability of a porous medium, no capillary pressure, and effectively unbounded layers. The distinction between Darcy flux and interface speed matters: the base flux is , since the printed is the speed of the interface. Thus the base pressure gradients satisfyThe mass density ordering is stabilizing, whereas injection of the less viscous fluid into the more viscous fluid produces the Saffman–Taylor instability.
For linear stability analysis, displace the interface by . Taking the divergence of Darcy's law shows that the perturbation pressure satisfies the Laplace equation. Decay away from the interface gives, for ,The kinematic boundary condition and continuity of normal Darcy flux giveMeanwhile pressure continuity, evaluated on the displaced interface, givesEliminating yields the buoyancy-modified Darcy fingering dispersion relation:Every nonzero wavenumber decays when , grows when , and is neutral at equality, whereThe zero wavenumber is a uniform displacement and is neutral. Without a short-scale regularization such as surface tension, this model has no fastest-growing finite wavenumber: on the unstable side its growth rate increases without bound as increases. Finite layer depths would change the dispersion relation; none are specified here.
Taking and a year of days, the data giveThe numerical paragraph supplies no porosity, so it cannot determine a unique numerical interface speed. If were instead intended to mean Darcy velocity, the numerical critical value would be , and the interface would move at . These two velocity conventions must not be conflated.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 331 1 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the linearized boundary condition: evaluate at and discard products of perturbations. The kinematic boundary condition and Young–Laplace equation becomeIncompressible flow and irrotational flow give the Laplace equation for each potential. For a normal mode, the wall conditions selectWith , the kinematic conditions give and . Hence and . Substitution into the dynamic condition gives the finite-depth Rayleigh-Taylor dispersion relation:Its denominator is positive. Assuming and , negative therefore produces a growing branch with , as in Rayleigh-Taylor instability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 38C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Take ; reflection in supplies the result for negative wavenumber. Since each region has uniform base velocity, the perturbation is an incompressible, irrotational flow with a velocity potential satisfying the Laplace equation. Its decaying outer forms areFor a varicose mode of a planar jet, reflection symmetry makes the inner potential proportional to ; for a sinuous mode of a planar jet, it is proportional to .
At the upper interface, the linearized kinematic boundary condition isThe first equation gives . The second givesThe linearized Unsteady Bernoulli equation gives . Applying pressure continuity therefore produces the equal-density top-hat planar-jet dispersion relationSolving the quadratic equation givesEquivalently,The plus sign is the unstable Kelvin-Helmholtz instability branch. In particular, the two modes have exactly the same growth rate,Its limiting forms areThus neither type grows faster in this equal-density idealization, although their phase speeds differ. The unbounded large- growth is the familiar short-wave pathology of an inviscid vortex sheet.
Growth rate of varicose and sinuous planar-jet disturbances
. The two modes have the same dimensionless growth curve, with the long-wave and short-wave asymptotes shown. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 2 5B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For an axisymmetric separated solution of the Laplace equation whose angular factor is the Legendre polynomial , the radial ordinary differential equation has the two powers and . Thusfor constants .
Write . Since , only the spherical harmonics of degrees zero and two occur. The degree-zero radial coefficient satisfying its two Dirichlet boundary conditions is . For degree two, write ; thenso and . By linearity and uniqueness of this boundary value problem,Direct substitution at verifies both boundary values.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 328 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Wirtinger derivative is holomorphic, since by the Laplace equation. The conformal map takes the quadrant to the complex upper half-plane. Integrating the prescribed tangential boundary derivatives, choose a common corner value and define the real boundary functionThe decaying data are bounded under the usual regularity at the corner, so . Thus its Poisson integral converges. A holomorphic function whose real part is that Poisson integral is supplied by the regularized Schwarz integral formula:For , the chain rule gives . Apply integration by parts to obtainSubstituting and gives the requested particular integral representation:Both integrals converge absolutely for an interior point of the quadrant. The Sokhotski–Plemelj formula gives on the horizontal edge and on the vertical edge, verifying the prescribed derivatives.
The printed conditions alone do not determine uniquely. The general answer adds a holomorphic function satisfyingEquivalently, write , where is holomorphic in the complex upper half-plane with real boundary values on the nonzero real axis. An antiderivative of has a harmonic real part with zero tangential boundary derivatives. For example, contributes without changing either datum. If the two edge constants differ by , the angular harmonic function contributes . The boxed expression selects the Poisson integral representative with equal edge constants; regularity and suitable growth conditions can be used to select that representative.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 344 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The far-field composition has chemical potential zero. Local curved-interface coexistence imposes . The decaying spherically symmetric solution of the exterior Laplace equation isWith constant mobility, its outward current isThe linearized exterior composition is , consistent with the surface shift in the previous part.
For diffusion-controlled droplet growth, the interior is uniform to leading order and has no diffusive current. Replacing exterior material by interior material requires the composition jump , so conservation gives . HenceThe negative sign represents evaporation. The total outward current is , independent of in this leading quasi-static capillary approximation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 344 3 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The flat interface is an equilibrium reservoir with , while the droplet has the constant surface value . The exterior chemical potential satisfies the Laplace equation, tends to zero far away, and obeys these two surface values. These are exactly the electrostatic boundary conditions at a conductor for a sphere held at potential above a grounded infinite plane.
Introduce an arbitrary permittivity . In the electrostatic problem, . Therefore the diffusion-capacitance analogy gives the outward currentFor an isolated sphere, its capacitance is , so . Dividing givesThus sphere-plane capacitance determines the evaporation enhancement. The assumed spherical shape gives the corresponding law for droplet evaporation near a planar reservoir. The local surface current is generally nonuniform, even though its total is described by a single capacitance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ib Paper 1 14B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Expand in its Fourier sine seriesBy separation of variables, the decaying solution of Laplace equation in each half-strip has th mode proportional to . Continuity at and integration of the equation across the Dirac delta function require the normal-derivative jumpThe jump of is , so
For , its Fourier coefficients areThusTranslation in gives the Dirichlet Green function for an infinite strip with source :
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ib Paper 1 17C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For a velocity potential, . The incompressible flow condition therefore becomes Laplace equation . The Laplace equation in polar coordinates givesso positivity of and requiresThe velocity components areThe no-penetration boundary condition on both walls says at and , hence . If , changes sign inside the wedge. The stated sign condition therefore selects , and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ib Paper 2 16C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Equation (1) is Laplace equation for the velocity potential. It expresses incompressibility, , together with . Equation (2) is the linearized dynamic free-surface condition: the unsteady Bernoulli equation and constant atmospheric pressure balance the potential acceleration against the gravitational restoring term . Equation (3), with the printed understood as , is the kinematic free-surface condition: the surface moves with the vertical fluid velocity. Equations (4) and (5) are no-penetration boundary conditions at the rigid bottom and cylindrical sidewall, respectively.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ib Paper 2 14A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Extend the boundary data oddly to the whole real axis. The extended function is precisely the function from part (a). Taking the Fourier transform in , the Laplace equation becomesDecay as selectsPart (b), together with the convolution theorem, says that the inverse transform is convolution with the Poisson kernelFor this givesThe odd extension enforces , while the Poisson integral takes the prescribed boundary values at every continuity point and decays at infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 3 11A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be two solutions with the same Neumann boundary condition, and set . ThenMultiplying by and applying Green's first identity givesThe integrand is nonnegative. If , both terms can vanish only when , so the solution of the modified Helmholtz equation is unique.
If , the identity only forces . On a connected region, may be any constant. Thus solutions of the Laplace equation with prescribed normal derivative are unique only up to an additive constant, so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 4 16C b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For irrotational flow, . Incompressibility gives the Laplace equationThe rigid side walls impose no penetration:and decay in the infinitely deep fluid requires as .
Linearizing the kinematic condition from part (a) about givesThe Unsteady Bernoulli equation, evaluated at the surface and linearized about hydrostatic equilibrium, gives the dynamic conditionThese are the linearized free-surface boundary conditions. Initial values for and specify the transient; below we also record the initially quiescent solution.

