Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 46 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
On , the unperturbed trajectory satisfies . Put . Integration with givesIt runs from to , so it is the appropriate heteroclinic orbit. From the perturbed stream function,On the chosen connection, ; hence the scalar product in the heteroclinic Melnikov function for a periodic planar flow is . ThereforeSet . The odd term integrates to zero, leaving the supplied even Fourier integral multiplied by . ThusFor every fixed the amplitude is nonzero and the phase zeros are simple: there is . At fixed phase, varying also gives simple zeros because is nonzero for . The Melnikov splitting of a periodically perturbed cellular flow therefore produces transverse manifold intersections at sufficiently small perturbation and fluid-lobe exchange between adjacent cells. The unperturbed separatrix is no longer a material transport barrier.
At high frequency the leading splitting amplitude is asymptotic to , so fast forcing has an exponentially weak first-order effect on this connection. This is a fixed-frequency, small- result; an exponentially small leading term need not dominate higher orders in a simultaneous high-frequency limit. At exactly the perturbation itself vanishes and , so the nonzero-frequency conclusion does not apply. Manifold splitting demonstrates intercell chaotic advection locally, not a proof of uniform mixing or ordinary diffusion throughout the entire domain.