Axisymmetric gravitational potential of a displaced cylindrical interface Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Consider a uniform-density cylinder with an axisymmetric radial Fourier mode . Its displaced boundary gives a first-order surface mass density , although the interior density perturbation vanishes. The gravitational Poisson equation reduces to Laplace equation away from the interface. Regularity internally and decay externally give and . Continuity at and the derivative jump , together with , give the title amplitude. The prime differentiates the modified Bessel function argument. This axial mode is different from an azimuthal mode on a gravitational potential of a displaced cylindrical interface.
For constant positive Hubble parameter and a four-thirds polytropic equation of state, a linear cosmological density perturbation obeys . Put and . The resulting Bessel differential equation has order ; use ordinary Bessel functions for and modified Bessel functions for . Their small- expansions give one constant limiting mode and one mode. The constant limit need not exceed the initial amplitude without an initial-velocity condition.
Dilute-hopping lattice propagator Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-18
For equivalent minima with nearest-neighbour hopping magnitude , paths with right steps and left steps have . Summing and applying the Fourier representation of a Kronecker delta gives the displayed modified Bessel function kernel in a normalized localized-site basis. Its Fourier exponent gives the tight-binding model energy . Position-endpoint kernels can have an additional common local-wavefunction prefactor.
Gravity-capillary drop with a meridional curvature approximation Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-10-31
If an axisymmetric thin-film equation is deliberately closed using only the meridional curvature , its regular equilibrium obeys , with capillary length . The boundary conditions , , give the displayed profile and . Its volume is , . This model omits the azimuthal contribution of axisymmetric free-surface curvature. Retaining that term instead gives in terms of modified Bessel functions.
Modified Bessel differential equation 2026-10-05
The differential equation defining modified Bessel functions of order . For real fixed and positive , its independent standard solutions are and .
If , and , the integrating factor identity proves that stays positive and increases. Its finite limit satisfies . The initial sign condition is essential: the positive decaying modified Bessel function mode has limit zero.
Write total pressure and gravitational potential asHere is the Eulerian perturbation of a fluid variable applied to pressure, while is the corresponding gravitational potential perturbation. They have units and , respectively. The constant interior mass density is .
The Euler equations areSubtract the hydrostatic equilibrium relation and discard terms quadratic in the perturbation. Mass conservation gives incompressible flow, and the gravitational Poisson equation has no bulk density perturbation. Thus, strictly inside the fluid,The last equation is Laplace equation, not a statement that self-gravity has disappeared. The displaced surface carries a first-order surface mass density , where is its radial displacement, and this supplies the source and matching conditions for at the moving interface. The axisymmetric gravitational potential of a displaced cylindrical interface, expressed using modified Bessel functions, incorporates that boundary source.
It is useful to define . Taking the divergence of the momentum equation gives . For an axisymmetric Fourier mode with axial wavenumber , regularity at selects radial dependence , the Modified Bessel function of the first kind, since is singular there. In what follows can always be chosen nonnegative.
The gravity-capillary drop with a meridional curvature approximation uses the stipulated for this calculation. At equilibrium the thin-film equation givesRegularity at forces . In the wetted interior , the equilibrium pressure gradient therefore vanishes, givingThis is the capillary length. Integrating the constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation givesThe central boundary condition sets , and contact at gives . Write . The prescribed contact angle fixesHere is the dimensionless coefficient of this drop solution, unrelated to the hinge angle in question 1.
The axisymmetric volume integral is . Substituting givesFor numerical evaluation, with , the integral isTogether with , this determines for fixed and .
The Bond number distinguishes the dominant balances. For , surface tension dominates gravity and the surface is nearly a small-slope constant-curvature cap:For , gravity flattens the interior, while surface tension bends the edge over the capillary length. The stipulated model givesup to relative corrections of order . The contact angle fixes the edge slope and therefore the height scale; conservation of mass then fixes the lateral extent. Consistency of lubrication theory requires small slopes, in particular .
The stated approximation differs from axisymmetric free-surface curvature. For an axisymmetric graph with the same sign convention, the sum of principal curvatures isThe omitted term is generally of the same order as . For example, gives stipulated but axisymmetric small-slope . Thus the required hyperbolic-cosine profile solves the explicitly prescribed reduced model, not the full axisymmetric capillary equilibrium. Keeping both small-slope terms instead giveswhere are modified Bessel functions. The qualitative capillary length and Bond number balances remain valid.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 69 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume the pinning coefficient . Here belongs to an actual energy, so its Boltzmann coefficient is . The quadratic kernel and covariance becomeTherefore the pinned capillary-wave correlation isThe normal-translation symmetry is now explicitly broken, and the formerly massless Goldstone mode has a restoring term. For , but beyond the microscopic cutoff, the unpinned behavior is recovered. For , the connected height covariance decays and approaches , so roughness no longer grows without bound even for .
In internal dimension one the exact continuum answer isIn internal dimension two the connected covariance at is , where is a modified Bessel function; its zero-separation value needs the cutoff and the saturation value grows as for . In internal dimension three the connected covariance is approximately beyond the cutoff. Thus pinning replaces the long-distance massless tails by exponential decay. A negative would destabilize the quadratic statistical Hamiltonian rather than bind the membrane.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 88 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
With constant permeability, the electric equation reduces to . Insert the oblique-wave dependence and set . The inverse-square refractive-index profile givesSubstituting gives the Bessel equation of order . On either side of the profile singularity, when ,Equivalently use Hankel functions for an incoming/outgoing wave basis. If , write and replace by modified Bessel functions with argument . For , the solutions are and , with a logarithmic second solution in the repeated-root case . The constants on each side require incident-wave and boundary or matching data; the supplied singular profile alone does not choose them.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 75 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For the new periodic potential, let be the single-neighbour hopping rate and . It is determined by the barrier between adjacent minima; an unspecified periodic potential does not determine it from the preceding quartic potential's numerical action. The minimum spacing is now .
A path with right hops and left hops has . Summing the ordered-center weights and their direction choices givesInsert the Fourier representation of a Kronecker delta. The two exponential series sum independently, yielding the dilute-hopping lattice propagatorThe two Fourier-sign choices are equivalent by . Equivalently the integral is the modified Bessel function .
The original PDF prints here. Its sign is inconsistent with both the previous double-well result and the requested positive on-site oscillator energy. The correct factor is : a positive oscillator ground-state energy must decay under . The other factors and their derivation remain as displayed. The energy is the positive nearest-neighbour quantum tunnelling matrix-element magnitude, exponentially small relative to the local well scale in the semiclassical regime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 2 16A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Put in the Laplace equation in cylindrical coordinates. Separation of variables first gives ; -periodicity forces , with angular factors (only the constant for ). Taking givesFor the separated modes are thereforeHere and are the Bessel function of the first kind and the Bessel function of the second kind. For the opposite sign , the modes instead involve , the modified Bessel functions, paired with . At zero separation constant use and for , or for . Superpositions over the integer angular orders and appropriate sums or integrals over the separation parameter give the general separated expansion; boundary conditions select its spectrum and coefficients. Regularity at the axis excludes terms.
For the specified decaying side data, bounded separated modes use . A particular solution isAll three denominators are nonzero. Each term satisfies the radial Bessel differential equation, is regular at the axis and bounded for , and substitution at gives the stated side values. The modes behave as at the axis, so their apparent angular dependence there causes no singularity.
There is an actual nonuniqueness in the printed problem: no values are specified at . If is the first positive zero of , then for every real ,is another bounded solution with the same side values. It remains smooth at the axis and even decays as . This explicitly proves that side boundary data do not determine a bounded harmonic function in a half-cylinder. Thus the boxed expression supplies a bounded solution; the phrase “the bounded solution” is not justified without an additional base boundary condition. The PDF has , whereas the TeX transcription displays .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 219 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-20
Use the periodic covariance functionIts positive semidefiniteness follows by pulling back a Gaussian kernel to the circle . A zero Gaussian process mean is an ensemble statement, whereas an exactly zero long-term average for every periodic light curve is stronger. To impose the latter literally, use a periodic Gaussian process with zero period average, replacing the kernel byHere is a modified Bessel function, and is the period average of the kernel. Subtracting each process's random period average produces this covariance, so it remains positive semidefinite. We use to enforce the stated mean subtraction; using gives the usual ensemble-zero-mean formulation and the same likelihood derivation.
Let and . The prior latent vector is and the independent Gaussian noise is , so with . The Gaussian-process marginal likelihood isPositive measurement variances make positive definite even if is singular. Maximize over all three hyperparameters, using a broad search in to find competing aliases, followed by joint optimization. Cholesky decomposition evaluates the likelihood without explicitly forming an inverse.
For a well-resolved interior maximum, let be the observed Fisher information in the coordinates . Then . Equivalently, the profile-likelihood curvature in gives the same local nuisance-adjusted variance; keeping the other hyperparameters fixed would generally underestimate it. A profile interval with is a local approximation. If the period likelihood is multimodal or poorly constrained, fit the complete posterior with proper hyperparameter priors and report its modes and marginal credible intervals rather than a single Hessian error bar. The sampling pattern can create period aliases that a single local search misses.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 4 31B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The intended integral representation of the modified Bessel function isDifferentiation under the integral sign givesSinceintegration by parts and the vanishing endpoint term yield .
For large positive , Laplace's method localizes the integral near the endpoint . Put and useExtending the exponentially small tail to infinity and evaluating the resulting Gaussian integrals givesand therefore
Now write . Direct differentiation givesso substitution into the ordinary differential equation givesFor the Liouville–Green approximation, put . The two approximate solutions areso at leading order . The growing solution agrees with the preceding asymptotic expansion, including its leading normalization .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 329 3 a Solution 2026-09-28
For an axisymmetric surface , twice the mean curvature with the outward-normal convention isWriting and retaining linear terms gives
At the unperturbed boundary , the linearized kinematic boundary condition, tangential-stress condition, and Young–Laplace equation areFor a normal mode these become , , and
Let and . Substitution of the given radial vector potential and scalar potential givesUsing the modified Bessel function identity , the tangential stress simplifies toThe stress-free condition at therefore yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 4 7E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The Laplace integral method for a differential equation seeksDifferentiating under the integral and substituting intogivesSince , integration by parts yieldsIt is therefore enough to choose and so thatand the boundary term vanishes. Solving the first-order equation on givesTake to be the interval . Although has integrable endpoint singularities,vanishes at both endpoints, so the boundary term is zero. ThusAt , substituting givesThe normalization therefore sets . By the defining regularity and normalization of the modified Bessel function, this proves the real integral representation of the modified Bessel function I0:
Potential-vorticity dynamics. The quasi-geostrophic potential-vorticity equation expresses material conservation of a balanced potential vorticity by a horizontally nondivergent geostrophic flow. Its terms represent relative vorticity, planetary vorticity and the layer-thickness/free-surface contribution. The Rossby deformation radius measures the scale at which that thickness contribution competes with the horizontal-vorticity term. The quasi-geostrophic approximation filters fast acoustic waves and gravity waves, making the slower balanced evolution accessible to early digital forecasts. The 1950 barotropic-vorticity forecasting study demonstrated practical twenty-four-hour forecasts from observed mid-tropospheric fields, while identifying discretization and omitted baroclinicity as error sources.[ref]
https://maths.ucd.ie/~plynch/eniac/CFvN-1950.pdf. Abstract and introductory development: filtered geostrophic description; four 24-hour forecasts at 500 mb; forecast-error discussion
Near the north pole put and . ThenUsing projected rather than arc distance gives the same leading polar expansion. It is a north-polar expression; the sign structure is changed consistently at the opposite pole.
In cylindrical coordinates, horizontal advection is . Substituting the specified streamfunction givesThe factors of are required by cylindrical geometry.
An exact traveling eigenfunction. This is a polar gamma-plane Rossby wave. The radial equation implies , so . Since , its nonlinear self-advection vanishes exactly, regardless of amplitude. Also , giving . HenceFor , this yieldsThe wave is retrograde relative to the balanced mean flow, since in this convention.
Multiplying the radial equation by givesFor , setting gives the standard Bessel equation with derivatives with respect to . ThusRegularity at the pole excludes for the usual nonnegative integers. If , the corresponding general solutions are modified Bessel functions; at they are , with a constant and for . The printed Bessel hint mixes its independent-variable labels; using and derivatives in resolves that notation.
What the hexagon fixes. With the north-polar approximation and the supplied rotation period,The intrinsic phase speed at that radius is . Therefore the measured fixesThe polar-wave deformation-radius identifiability issue is that a unique additionally requires a radial wavenumber or boundary condition. The quoted peak-to-peak meander is an amplitude, not a radial wavelength: multiplying the exact eigenfunction by a constant changes its amplitude without changing or . Thus it cannot be silently converted into .
A transparent order-of-magnitude closure is a slowly varying radial envelope near , so is small relative to . Then andThis is a conditional estimate, not a uniquely determined observation. The general real- bound is m. Different radial structures give different values: for example and yield about and m, respectively, at the same measured phase speed. Their amplitudes remain free. The given meander corresponds to a radial half-amplitude about m and helps characterize the pattern's size, but alone removes none of this eigenvalue ambiguity.
Singularities. The complex exponential factors as . The second factor has an essential singularity at zero, and multiplication by the nonvanishing holomorphic function does not remove it. There are no other finite singularities. On the Riemann sphere, infinity is also an essential singularity, since .
Symmetry and integral formula. The identity and uniqueness of the Laurent series on give for every integer . The Laurent coefficient formula, on the positively oriented unit circle, givesThe imaginary part vanishes by the substitution . Hence
Polynomial contour integral. For an integer and integer , the binomial theorem gives . The residue theorem selects , that is . Therefore the correct complete statement isThe printed nonnegative-integer condition alone misses . For example satisfies that condition, but the integral is zero and the displayed factorial is undefined.
Explicit coefficients. Both Taylor series inconverge absolutely and uniformly on every compact annulus away from zero, so their product can be regrouped. For , put and . For arbitrary integer , use the already proved symmetry:Here is a modified Bessel function. The printed series is directly meaningful for ; for negative the absolute values, or an appropriately shifted lower summation limit, are essential.
A zero-mean Gaussian process need not have zero average in each realization. For the periodic covariance function, the constant Fourier component iswhere is a modified Bessel function. Replacing by gives a Gaussian process with kernel . This is a positive-semidefinite kernel because it is a covariance after a linear transformation, and each sample has zero period average. The real integral representation of the modified Bessel function I0 yields the displayed constant.
If are independent random variables, their product has characteristic function and density , where is a modified Bessel function. A scale multiple has the corresponding scaled distribution.