Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / iii / Paper 6 / 5 / b / Solution

The shear $(t,x,v)\mapsto (t,x+tv,v)$ is a smooth diffeomorphism with determinant one and sends compact sets to compact sets. Thus $F,G$ are locally integrable functions. On a compact time interval $I$ and compact label set $K\subset {\mathbb{R}}^6$, the integral ${\int }_K{\int }_I|G|dtdxdv$ is finite. The Fubini theorem, followed by a countable exhaustion of time intervals and label sets, shows that $G(\cdot ,x,v)\in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1(\mathbb{R})$ for almost every $(x,v)$.

To transform the weak equation, choose $\varphi (t,x,v)=\rho (x-tv,v)\psi (t)$, where $\rho \in C_c^{\infty }({\mathbb{R}}^6)$ and $\psi \in C_c^{\infty }(\mathbb{R})$. Including a velocity cutoff in $\rho$ ensures the required compact support. The transport derivative of this test function is $\rho (x-tv,v){\psi }^{\prime }(t)$. Change variables to the characteristic labels to obtainThe fundamental test-function identity makes the bracket zero almost everywhere. Choose a countable dense family of time test functions on each bounded interval and extend by continuity; there is then a single negligible label set outside which ${\partial }_{t}F=G$ as one-dimensional distributions.

For each remaining label, subtract the primitive $H(t)={\int }_0^{t}G(s)ds$. The distributional derivative of $F-H$ is zero, so it is a constant almost everywhere. Choose the resulting absolutely continuous representative along free characteristics, $\tilde{F}(t)=C+H(t)$. The fundamental theorem of calculus givesThe representative qualification is essential: an arbitrary locally integrable representative can be modified on one time slice without changing the distributional equation, and would not satisfy the identity for every pair of times.