Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2009 / ii / Paper 1 / 30B / iv / Solution

For the quadratic potential the characteristic curves are harmonic oscillations:The inverse is $x_0=x\cos t-v\sin t$, $v_0=v\cos t+x\sin t$. Therefore the Liouville equation has solutionThis formula works for smooth data or by transport for locally integrable data, and for measures by pushforward. Although the quadratic $V$ itself is not globally Lipschitz as in the initial sufficient hypotheses, its gradient is globally Lipschitz, which is the property actually needed for this global flow.