Past exam of the differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 3 / a / iii / Solution

The parabolic boundary values are zero. An exact solution satisfies the preceding differential inequality, so its maximum estimate with $A=0$ gives $u\le 0$. The function $v=-u$ satisfies the same equation because both the linear differential operator and the cubic term change sign. Applying the same maximum principle to $v$ gives $-u\le 0$. Hence the complete solution set isSubstitution verifies existence, and the two inequalities prove uniqueness among the assumed smooth solutions for every continuous choice of the drift coefficients.