Past exam of the mathematical methods I course of the University of Oxford / 2019 / 10 / a / Solution

Assume a physical mass $m>0$, spring constant $k>0$, and nonnegative viscous damping parameter $\gamma$. The homogeneous damped harmonic oscillator has characteristic equationIts roots are $r=-\gamma /2\pm \sqrt{{\gamma }^2/4-{\omega }_0^2}$. They have nonzero imaginary parts precisely when ${\gamma }^2<4k/m$. Defining $\Omega =\sqrt{k/m-{\gamma }^2/4}$, the real oscillatory solutions areFor strictly decaying oscillations also require $\gamma >0$. The limiting $\gamma =0$ case is an undamped harmonic oscillator. Equality gives critical damping with $z_h=(C+Dt)e^{-\gamma t/2}$, and a larger positive $\gamma$ gives two real decaying exponentials rather than oscillations.