Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ib / Paper 1 / 4D (Variational Principles)

Take a smooth variation $u_{\epsilon }=u+\epsilon \varphi$ with $\varphi =0$ on the boundary. Assume enough differentiability for the following operations, for example a smooth bounded open set, $u\in C^2$, and a twice continuously differentiable integrand. Differentiation under the integral givesBy integration by parts, the boundary term vanishes and the first variation isStationarity for every such variation, including every compactly supported smooth one, and the fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations give the Euler-Lagrange equationFor the quadratic integrand, $L_u=2k^{2}u$, $L_{u_x}=2u_x$, and $L_{u_y}=2u_y$. Thuswith the prescribed Dirichlet boundary condition. For real $k$, a stationary function is also the unique minimizer, if it exists: for any nonzero admissible $\varphi$, the linear term vanishes and $I[u+\varphi ]-I[u]={\int }_{\mathcal{D}}(|\nabla \varphi {|}^2+k^2{\varphi }^2)>0$. This last positivity uses the zero boundary values; it also holds at $k=0$.