Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 331 4 b vi Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Both eigenvalues of the linear generator, and , are negative. Nevertheless the non-normal matrix transfers the slowly decaying second component into the first before viscous decay wins. Modal decay coexists with energy amplification of order over a time of order .
This illustrates transient growth from non-normal modes: large Reynolds number permits much greater disturbance amplification even though the linear stability analysis finds no unstable eigenvalue. The energy-neutral rotational nonlinearity can redirect the amplified state and affect its subsequent evolution. The linear gain alone establishes neither sustained nonlinear instability nor a nonlinear transition threshold.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 316 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
In the weak, non-crossing, leading-eccentricity model the exterior resonant coefficient has positive sign: write its disturbing function as , with for the orders considered. The physical feedback can be seen for first order. Before an outer conjunction near apoapsis, the faster inner planet pulls the outer one backwards; after passing it pulls forwards. On the outward side, the nearer, stronger earlier pull wins, reducing the outer semi-major axis and increasing its mean motion. Thus is driven upward. On the inward side, the later forward pull wins and drives downward. The paired impulses cancel at the symmetric centre.
For higher order, sum the feedback over all conjunction phases. The first surviving angular Fourier harmonic is ; the lower Fourier harmonics cancel over the equally spaced directions. A local Hamiltonian reduction with canonical momentum hasThe negative curvature of the Kepler orbit Hamiltonian gives the displayed sign. Linear stability analysis at gives a restoring acceleration. The symmetric libration centres of an eccentricity resonance are thereforeThe corresponding conjunction phases relative to periapsis are , and . They suppress repeatedly close passages and provide resonance protection.
These are expected centres of the specified leading-harmonic model, not centres fixed solely by the integer order for arbitrary orbital eccentricity and masses. Asymmetric resonant-argument libration can occur when higher Fourier harmonics matter. For example, if , , , the symmetric equilibrium loses stability and stable centres satisfy . Thus further dynamical information is needed beyond the PDF's unrestricted eccentric orbit to assert unique centres. Exterior asymmetric branches are documented by Winter and Murray, “Resonance and chaos. II. Exterior resonances and asymmetric libration”.
Mean-conjunction phase directions in symmetric orbital resonances
. Leading-eccentricity mean-conjunction phases relative to periapsis, with exterior and interior symmetric resonant-argument libration centres. 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 2017 ii Paper 3 12B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A fraction of adults survives each time step; is the adult mortality fraction. Adults produce larvae, which mature one step later with recruitment reduced by adult-dependent competition through . Eliminating larvae gives the second-order difference equationAt an equilibrium point, either orOnly nonnegative populations are admissible. At extinction the Jacobian matrix is and its characteristic polynomial is . Its positive root exceeds exactly when . For both roots have modulus less than ; at the roots are , so linearization is marginal. On the nonnegative state space extinction is still attracting at this equality: if two consecutive adult values are bounded by , the next is at most , with strict decrease away from zero; the maximum of two consecutive adult values strictly decreases after two steps whenever it is positive; continuity on its bounded state region then excludes a positive limiting maximum. Thus the extinction equilibrium point is unstable exactly when the positive equilibrium point exists, with equality understood through nonlinear rather than strict linear stability.
At the positive equilibrium point, the trace and determinant of the Jacobian matrix are and . The Jury stability criterion for requires , and . The strict linear stability analysis conditions areFor there is no upper bound on ; for the stable region is .
Stability regions and equilibrium branches
. At the lower boundary , the positive equilibrium point merges with extinction, with a multiplier and slow recovery. At the upper boundary a multiplier reaches (the other is ), giving alternating adult/larval fluctuations. The nonlinear map confirms a supercritical period-doubling bifurcation, as follows. For , put and . A nonconstant period-two adult sequence satisfies and . Subtracting and adding these equations givesThus positive unequal values emerge for , with amplitude proportional to . The two larval phases are . If are the trace and determinant of the two-step Jacobian matrix, direct multiplication givesAt onset and , so the other two strict Jury stability criterion inequalities hold for sufficiently small positive . Hence just beyond the upper boundary, a stable period-two population cycle replaces the stable equilibrium. This is a local conclusion, not stability for arbitrarily large reproduction rates.
At the upper boundary itself, the positive equilibrium point is still locally asymptotically stable, despite its multiplier . To decide this equality case, apply the centre manifold theorem for a discrete dynamical system. Put and write the centre graph as with . If the reduced map is , its invariance equation is . Expanding the original recruitment map and this equation through cubic order givesConsequently . The stability at a nondegenerate flip bifurcation criterion shows algebraic attraction on the centre direction; the transverse multiplier has modulus less than one. Including this boundary, the complete local asymptotic-stability condition for a positive population is thereforeThe shaded figure shows the strict linear-stability region; its upper boundary adds this nonhyperbolic attracting case.
Demographic stochasticity near the lower boundary can lead to absorption at extinction; near the upper boundary it excites alternating fluctuations and can blur the deterministic period-doubling bifurcation. These qualitative predictions depend on the chosen stochastic recruitment and mortality rules.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 13B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
A positive spatially homogeneous equilibrium satisfies and , givingIt exists iff . The reaction Jacobian matrix isThus linear stability analysis gives strict homogeneous stability precisely whenThe boundaries are not included: at the linearization has purely imaginary exponents, and at the positive equilibrium ceases to exist.
For a mode , put . The perturbation matrix is . In the homogeneously stable region its trace is still negative, so a growing mode exists iff its determinant is negative:This upward quadratic is negative for some precisely whenSuch a Turing instability region is nonempty iff . The unstable band isFor a finite domain only the admissible boundary-condition wavenumbers in this band grow. The region shown below describes a continuous wavenumber spectrum.
At onset the minimum of is zero and . On the threshold , substitution gives . HenceThis last expression is the threshold wavenumber; away from onset the fastest-growing mode need not coincide with the minimum of the determinant.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 345 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Exner equation is solid-volume mass conservation: a downstream increase in sediment transport flux removes material and lowers the bed. The factor converts bed-height change into solid-volume change. The saturation length equation models downstream adjustment of actual sediment transport to the equilibrium sediment flux. Grain acceleration and entrainment/deposition need a finite distance, so lags . The last relation is an empirical transport law above the sediment entrainment threshold, with and normally ; below threshold it must be interpreted with a positive part rather than raising negative excess stress to an arbitrary power. It is a constitutive closure, not a consequence of mass conservation.
Take the physical parameters , , and . Linearize about a horizontal, uniformly transporting bed with and . Set and use the real parts ofThe locally planar approximation uses the small instantaneous bed slope to compute the inclined-bed sediment threshold. Since ,A sinusoidal disturbance has both uphill and downhill slopes: the printed describes the uphill derivation, and its first-order continuation applies to both signs. The zero-slope reference is the one implicit in the printed decomposition with constant term ; a finite mean inclined bed would require a shifted base threshold.
A fluid-dynamical shear-response closure is missing from the printed question. The three sediment equations and local slope correction do not determine from . Write the general bed shear response as . A frequently used scale-invariant closure for isHere is the component in phase with bed height and represents an upstream phase lead in bed shear stress. They require an independent flow model and can depend on . Introducing them explicitly makes the linear stability analysis complete conditional on a specified flow response; it does not turn them into data supplied by the question. An example of this hydrodynamic closure is given in Fourrière, Claudin and Andreotti's bedform-instability analysis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 345 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Eliminate the transport amplitudes in the linear stability analysis. For a general bed shear response , the dispersion relation isThis is the most specific result available without adding the missing hydrodynamic closure. With , setMultiplication by gives the growth rate and migration velocityThe packed-bed volume fraction cancels. For a real physical closure the negative wavenumber response is the complex conjugate; the displayed formulas cover the independent normal modes.
If , are treated as constants, the upstream shear stress phase lead promotes growth, while the inclined-bed sediment threshold reduces it and the finite saturation length delays sediment transport. There is an unstable band precisely when : . Within this band , so the growing bedforms migrate downstream. The fastest normal mode satisfiesThis last maximization assumes constant ; if the hydrodynamic coefficients vary with wavenumber, their derivatives also enter the selection condition. When and , all nonzero normal modes decay.
Just above the sediment entrainment threshold,Thus the common regime is stable near onset: the slope penalty overwhelms the hydrodynamic phase lead. This conclusion is conditional on that inequality, not universal. For constant , instability begins only when as well as . The transport sensitivity vanishes at onset for , is finite for , and is singular for . Exactly at threshold, the positive-part transport law needs separate treatment; the above linearization with perturbations small compared with is unavailable.
Far above the sediment entrainment threshold, . If , the unstable cutoff tends to , and the dominant wavelength is set by the saturation length. Both growth rate and migration velocity scale with , apart from their length factors. Their numerical values and any detailed dependence on wavenumber still require a flow closure.
For example, prescribing uniform shear stress independently of the bed gives andThis equally admissible closure illustrates why instability cannot be asserted from the printed sediment equations alone.
The plots use constant and three illustrative ratios . They show how the sign of the shear phase lead minus the slope correction determines stability; they are not numerical predictions for unspecified flow conditions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 2 6C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
At a positive spatially homogeneous equilibrium,soThe Jacobian matrix of the reaction terms there isThe linear stability analysis of a two-dimensional system requires negative trace and positive determinant. Since , the homogeneous equilibrium is stable exactly when
For a spatial Fourier mode proportional to , put . The linearized matrix isIts trace is still negative when , whileA Turing instability occurs for some exactly when this quadratic has a negative minimum. This requiresWriting , the second inequality reduces to . Hence, for continuously available wave numbers, the condition isOn a bounded spatial domain, one additionally requires an allowed wave number for which .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 1 6E a ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Write the vector field as . Its derivative isAt , the first two terms cancel and , soThe one-dimensional linear stability analysis therefore shows that is locally asymptotically stable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 1 6E b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The disease-free equilibrium is . Forthe Jacobian matrix there isBecause this matrix is triangular, its eigenvalue are its diagonal entries:The second eigenvalue is positive exactly whenUnder this condition the linear stability analysis gives an unstable disease-free equilibrium, agreeing with the epidemic invasion threshold.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 4 14A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For a spatially homogeneous equilibrium of the Brusselator, the reaction terms obeyPositivity gives , and substitution into the first equation gives
The reaction Jacobian there issoThe linear stability analysis therefore makes the equilibrium asymptotically stable. It is a stable node whenand a stable focus when the reverse strict inequality holds. Since the upper-right entry of is positive and the lower-left entry is negative, focus trajectories rotate clockwise. Thus the local phase portrait consists of trajectories approaching the fixed point, either directly as a node or while spiralling clockwise as a focus.
In the weak, non-crossing, leading-eccentricity planar model, exterior orders one to three have positive resonant disturbing function coefficients . Interior eccentricity-type coefficients of these orders have sign . A local resonant Hamiltonian , with , gives . Linear stability analysis therefore selects for and for . Exterior symmetric centres are ; interior centres are for orders one, two and three. These are conditional leading-harmonic predictions, not universal centres at arbitrary orbital eccentricity; asymmetric resonant-argument libration changes the picture.



