Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write , , , and . Incompressible flow with axial strain rate givesIts radial Stokes equation gives , because . The radial Newtonian fluid stress tensor component is . The outer and inner Young–Laplace equation conditions have opposite curvature signs:Subtracting and eliminating givesIn particular, the boxed pressure is equivalent to the printed identity for . For equal gas pressures, , so surface tension draws both interfaces inward in addition to the imposed extension.
The kinematic boundary condition is at either interface. Taking the difference, and then the difference of squared radii, givesThe cancellation of in the area equation is mass conservation: axial stretching reduces the liquid area while radial redistribution changes the hole size. For , equal pressures, and , , one has and . Since ,Closure occurs at , soThis capillary collapse of an annular viscous cylinder has finite closure time for and . For it does not close in this case. The annular formula is used only up to closure; the singular cylindrical inner curvature is not a boundary condition on the subsequent solid cylinder.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
First supply the introductory scaling and geometry. The leading tangential Stokes equation in a thin gap balances against . The shear stress scale is , so lubrication pressure dominates shear stress:The outer circle, viewed along a ray from the inner centre, satisfies . Expanding its positive root to first order in gives , hence .
Take positive to mean increasing , and put , , . With no-slip boundary conditions at , lubrication theory givesSteady mass conservation makes independent of . Single-valued pressure requires . Write and . It follows thatThe tangential fluid tractions on the inner and outer solids, measured in the same increasing- direction, are respectivelyThis sign convention distinguishes the traction on a wall from the corresponding stress component in the fluid.
To leading order the holding force balances the pressure traction on the inner circle. Integration by parts givesUse and , with the continuous limit at . Substituting the boxed flux yieldsThe zero vertical component also follows from reflection in mathematics in the vertical line: this leaves the geometry and vertical force unchanged, reverses , and Linearity of Stokes flow then requires .
Pressure gives no moment about either circular wall's own centre. Integrating the viscous shear torque with lever arm to leading order gives the fluid couplesIndeed and at this order. Applied holding or driving couples are the negatives of these fluid couples. They need not cancel because they are moments about different axes. The fluid force on the outer solid equals the holding force on the inner one. Transferring its moment to the inner axis adds , so angular momentum balance about a common axis isFor the usual equal and opposite concentric couples are recovered. All these formulas are leading thin-gap expressions at fixed ; taking the contact limit requires maintaining the local slender-gap assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 332 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let increase upwards, so the bed is at , the surface is at , and . In the shallow-shelf approximation the incompressible flow has nearly depth-uniform horizontal speed and vertical strain . The Newtonian fluid stress tensor, together with the hydrostatic approximation, then givesThe factor four includes both horizontal extension and the pressure correction required by vertical compression. Integrating horizontal force balance over depth, using zero surface shear and the bed traction, gives the membrane-stress derivative and the gravitational driving force . The thin subglacial till layer is idealized by Newtonian till lubrication and undergoes Couette flow, with resisting basal stress . Hence force balance and mass conservation yieldSince is fixed, . No accumulation or ablation is included.
At the grounding line, the first boundary condition is ice-sheet flotation:For an unbuttressed ice shelf, the second is the extensional stress required to balance the difference between the integrated ice and seawater hydrostatic pressures. The ice contribution is , while the water contribution is . On using ice-sheet flotation, their difference is , with . Equivalently, shelf force balance integrates to ; absence of a buttressing force sets this constant to zero. Thus the unbuttressed Newtonian grounding-line stress condition isHere is kinematic viscosity; it appears in the printed target formula without an explicit definition.
The ratio of longitudinal stress divergence to till drag is of order . The given small-parameter limit therefore yields the friction-dominated bulk relationThe coefficient depends on the basal lubrication, and gives seaward motion. This is a bulk reduction: longitudinal stress has been neglected in the differential equation but its boundary traction remains specified. A complete uniformly valid approximation close to the grounding line could require a membrane-stress boundary layer. In the remainder, use the pointwise friction closure and retain the shelf stress condition as the boundary data, as requested in the paper.
Differentiate the ice-sheet flotation condition along the moving grounding line:Now . Substitution of the friction-dominated speed and the shelf stress boundary condition gives the friction-dominated grounding-line evolution law:The coefficient of is the spatial derivative of the flotation deficit, up to sign. If it vanishes, the implicit equation remains the correct compatibility condition but division to determine a finite speed is invalid; tangential contact needs separate analysis.
In a steady state, volume flux per unit width is constant: . The friction relation givesDifferentiating and using at the grounding line givesPut , and . Substitution and cancellation of yield the steady friction-dominated grounding-line thickness relation:For and a bed deepening seaward (), the polynomial is strictly increasing for , starts negative and tends to infinity, so it has exactly one positive root. At that root and , as required by steady outward extension. The relation belongs to the specified friction closure; it is not a flux law for arbitrary till rheology or arbitrary membrane-stress matching.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 345 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 9C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For a thin spherical shell, the radial pressure force per unit volume is . By the shell theorem, the inward gravitational acceleration is , because exterior spherical shells contribute no force. Balancing force densities in hydrostatic equilibrium givesThe second equation is mass conservation; it closes the pressure-support equation once an equation of state is supplied.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 9C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Regularity at the centre requires finite and . Then , so . At a free stellar surface, ; more generally it matches the external pressure. For with and vacuum outside, this also gives .
Inside the star, cancel positive to obtain . Differentiate and use mass conservation:Thus the Lane-Emden equation of polytropic index one isFor example, the regular solution is , with its central value interpreted by continuity, and the first vacuum surface is at . This also verifies the stated central and surface boundary conditions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 314 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Expanding the kinetic helicity conservation law separates advection from the other flux:Thus material conservation of kinetic helicity density holds precisely whenAn especially useful sufficient pair of conditions is incompressible flow, , and constancy of along integral curves of the vorticity, . Together these conditions make both terms vanish without cancellation. They are not necessary individually, because the two terms in the displayed balance can cancel. An irrotational flow is a trivial conserved case with .
For contrast, combining the balance with mass conservation givesConsequently constancy of along integral curves of the vorticity makes an advected scalar even in compressible flow; it does not generally make itself constant.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 345 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the shallow-water approximation, a hydrostatic vertically mixed layer, a deep motionless ambient, and no ambient fluid entrainment. Particle loss changes reduced gravity but changes total layer volume only at the discarded dilute-particle order. Likewise thermal expansion changes the equation of state while the leading Boussinesq approximation retains volume conservation. DefineDepth integration of mass conservation, horizontal momentum balance, particle transport, and the heating law givesHere the integrated excess hydrostatic pressure is . There is no particle source from the bed. Bed drag and the particle contribution to inertia are neglected at this order. The equivalent variable-buoyancy shallow water equations areThe term is necessary when heating or particle loss makes the reduced gravity vary horizontally.
For , the quasilinear system hasIts characteristic polynomial factors asThus the characteristic curves have slopesOn the two repeated contact characteristic curves, the particle and heating laws are and . Writing and , the gravity-wave compatibility relations areFor and , gravity-wave right eigenvectors can be taken as . The contact eigenspace has dimension two: and , with independent . Therefore has a full set of real eigenvectors.
The system is hyperbolic throughout strict static stability, but not strictly hyperbolic because the contact speed is repeated. At the eigenvalues coalesce and this diagonalizability is lost; when the gravity-wave speeds become complex, reflecting the loss of a statically stable lower layer.
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 2019 iii Paper 314 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For uniform specific entropy, the material conservation of cross-helicity density criterion isThus the requested condition isIn the steady state, mass conservation gives . An equivalent form, expressed entirely in the flow and thermodynamic variables, isIf “isentropic” means only constant specific entropy along individual trajectories, rather than a homentropic flow, the general criterion instead retains on the right-hand side of the material derivative equation. The distinction matters because a source-free cross-helicity conservation law need not make constant along each trajectory.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 314 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In the shock frame, integrate mass conservation, momentum conservation, and total-energy conservation across a thin interval containing the stationary normal shock wave. No mass, momentum, or energy is stored in the vanishingly thin interval, so each flux has the same value on both sides. For a perfect gas, the specific enthalpy is . The resulting Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for a perfect gas areThe momentum flux includes both transported momentum and pressure force. The energy flux includes kinetic energy and enthalpy, the latter accounting for internal energy and the work needed to push gas through the interval. Entropy production can occur inside the normal shock wave even though total energy is conserved.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 314 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In the narrow polar flux tube, the magnetic field lines are almost radial and the transverse width is much smaller than the radial scale. The Lorentz force density has no component along the magnetic field, so the longitudinal magnetically channelled accretion is hydrodynamic. Let denote inward speed. Mass conservation, the Euler equations for an inviscid fluid, and the polytropic equation of state giveUsing the adiabatic sound speed and ,The Bernoulli equation iswhere the right-hand side comes from matching to a nearly stationary reservoir with negligible gravitational potential. The fixed magnetic field provides transverse confinement; neglecting magnetic forces in this one-dimensional equation concerns their longitudinal component.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 314 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The transonic accretion in a dipolar flux tube values areThe mass density follows from for the same polytropic equation of state. If is the total loaded area at the surface, mass conservation at the sonic point givesFor two equal polar caps with surface angular radius , , so the total mass accretion rate isFor only one loaded polar cap, divide this expression by two. Expressing the result first in also covers a bundle whose loading angle is defined at another radius. The smooth isothermal limit has , , and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 316 2 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For equal logarithmic width , the number of bodies is . Their mass is thereforeThe mass removed by catastrophic planetesimal collisions per logarithmic bin per unit time scales asAssume a steady collisional cascade with supply only at the large end, loss only at the small end, negligible reassembly or cratering contributions, and self-similar fragmentation that transfers mass through comparable logarithmic intervals. Mass conservation requires the downward mass flux across every intermediate size boundary to be the same; otherwise mass would accumulate or deplete there. Under the scale-invariant bin-transfer assumption, this is proportional by a size-independent factor to , soThis is constant mass flux in a collisional cascade. Steady state alone fixes the net flux, while the identification with the destruction rate of each bin additionally uses the stated fragmentation assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 317 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume stellar homology: fixed dimensionless profiles, uniform fixed composition, negligible radiation pressure, ideal gas support, and radiative transport throughout the model. Mass conservation gives . The hydrostatic pressure support equation gives ; combining with gives .
Integrating specific proton–proton chain energy generation over mass givesFor radiative diffusion in a star, , hence . With the Kramers' opacity law ,Equating generated and transported luminosity gives , so the radiative homology with proton-proton burning and Kramers opacity relation isThe proportionality constants are fixed only within the adopted homologous family, not for arbitrary evolving stars.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 321 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In a steady state, mass conservation makes independent of radius. Taking the accretion rate for inward flow gives . The conservation of angular momentum equation then makes constant. The zero-torque inner boundary condition fixes this constant to , soThe viscous torque in an accretion disk is . Combining these expressions gives the steady accretion disk with arbitrary rotation lawFor , the Paczyński-Wiita circular orbit formulas giveConsequentlyIn particular, and far from the black hole, recovering the outer Keplerian accretion disk.
Inside the innermost stable circular orbit, the gas enters the plunging region of a black-hole accretion disk. Its rapid inward motion leaves little time for stresses to exchange angular momentum, motivating the zero-torque inner boundary condition. This is a thin-disc approximation; a strong magnetic stress could change it.
Matter supplied from very large radius has negligible specific orbital energy, while matter crossing the inner edge carries . With zero inner torque, no energy is supplied by a stress at that edge. If the heat released outside it escapes by radiative transfer, rather than being lost through inward advection, the integrated conservation of energy balance gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 332 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
In the steady state, mass conservation reduces to . The zero-flux condition at the divide gives . Substituting the Darcy flux and integrating from the absorbing river boundary yieldsThus the nonnegative groundwater height is the unique nonnegative root ofThe height increases toward the divide, where . The river receives all the rainfall, so its steady volume flux per unit width is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 332 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
After recharge stops, the finite interval sets the horizontal scale. Apply the separable draining profile for power-law diffusion to each limiting equationWith and virtual age , the similarity solution isThe positive profile fixes . The discharge follows either from the boundary Darcy flux or integrated mass conservation:In the deep regime this givesIn the final shallow regime,The deep profile contains the thin outlet layer in a deep unconfined aquifer described above. The whole aquifer eventually becomes shallow, and its nonzero basal permeability controls the ultimate discharge.
Estimating the mobility crossover by a typical height givesUsing the deep profile's height at the divide makes this . These are regime-dependent similarity approximations: the virtual origins are set by matching to the initial drainage and crossover, and a deep regime occurs only if the aquifer is initially sufficiently deep.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 332 1 Solution 2026-10-05
Use the Dupuit approximation: the saturated region is shallow enough that hydrostatic pressure is and flow is predominantly horizontal. Darcy's law then gives the horizontal Darcy velocity , where . Integrating through the saturated depth gives the volume flux per unit widthThe stored water volume per unit area is , so mass conservation yields the unconfined aquifer with depth-dependent permeability equationDefine the positive river discharge by . A useful check on all subsequent results is the integrated mass conservation law