Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 74 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and , with each coefficient satisfying the zero Dirichlet boundary condition. The steady complex equation, including the fluctuating coupling, is . Since , its order- terms giveThis is a regular perturbation equation for the threshold shift. The right projection uses the complex inner product, not a bilinear product without conjugation.
The linear operator is self-adjoint on the domain in complex L2 space. For functions in that domain, two integration by parts steps giveThe boundary term vanishes. In particular is formally self-adjoint: both complex conjugation of and integration by parts contribute a minus sign. Taking , and using provesThis is the Fredholm solvability condition for a self-adjoint operator. Define and . The gauged sine mode hassince the real envelope contributes an integral of its own derivative, whose endpoint term is zero. In particular the denominator in the solvability condition is nonzero. ThereforeFor either parity choice this expression is real. Indeed , and are even about the midpoint, while is odd. Hence , and the last numerator reduces to .
No integral evaluation is needed to compare the two shifts. The phase change gives , , and leaves and unchanged. Thus , andEquivalently, the term involving vanishes by parity, while reverses the remaining perturbation numerator. This is parity splitting of a mean-field dynamo threshold: the perturbation breaks the phase degeneracy and lowers one onset threshold by the amount it raises the other.