Past exam of the differential equations 2 course of the University of Oxford 2014 2 b Solution 2026-10-31
Let be the integration variable and the interior source point. Green's second identity, obtained from Green's theorem by applying the divergence theorem to , isThe outward normal is used throughout. To obtain the prescribed representation with its positive volume term, chooseIndeed, substituting makes the left side . On the Dirichlet portion, and leave only . On the Neumann portion, both normal derivatives vanish. Rearranging gives exactly the desired boundary-plus-volume representation. The distributional identity can equivalently be justified by excluding a small circle around and using the logarithmic singularity there.
For the quarter-plane, the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation with this sign convention is , since . The method of images uses an equal-sign reflection across the Neumann boundary and an opposite-sign reflection across the Dirichlet boundary . HenceEquivalently,Only lies inside the domain, so the interior Laplacian has exactly the required unit point source. At numerator and denominator agree, giving . The formula is even in , giving at , and therefore zero outward normal derivative there.
On the Dirichlet boundary , the outward normal is , and differentiation gives the useful checkThis is the mixed Dirichlet-Neumann Green function in a quadrant. The image solution tends to zero at spatial infinity; on the unbounded domain the representation uses data and solutions for which the boundary term at infinity in Green's second identity vanishes.