Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 344 / 2 / e

Use the intended regular scaling ansatz: $g(u)\sim C{u}^y$, $g^{\prime }(u)\sim Cy{u}^{y-1}$ and $g^{\prime \prime }(u)=Cy(y-1)u^{y-2}+o(u^{y-2})$, with $C>0$, $y>0$. Relative to the drag magnitude $g^{\prime }$, the two inertial contributions obeyThus both inertial-to-drag ratios tend to zero at large $u$, whatever the positive growth exponent; for $y=1$ the leading acceleration term vanishes identically. The long-time drag-limited hydrodynamic coarsening balance is thereforesoThe leading law is independent of mass density. Within the drag-capillary reduction, finite initial data give $L^3(t)-L^3(t_{\ast })=3(c_s/c_d)(\sigma /\bar{\eta })(t-t_{\ast })$.

The derivative hypotheses are important: bare $g(u)\sim u^y$ does not justify differentiating an asymptotic equivalence. For instance, $g(u)=u+\frac{1}{2}{\int }_1^u\sin (s^3)ds$ is smooth and increasing, with $g(u)/u\to 1$, but $g^{\prime \prime }=\frac{3}{2}{u}^2\cos (u^3)$ is not small compared with $g^{\prime }=1+\frac{1}{2}\sin (u^3)$. This is a counterexample to an inference from the bare asymptotic relation, not a solution of the coarsening equation. The physical claim uses the regular self-similar power law, for which the ratio calculation above applies.

This conclusion concerns the model's advective drag-capillary channel. Diffusive Ostwald ripening can also have a $1/3$ growth exponent; equality of exponents does not establish that diffusion is negligible. If it is retained, the prefactor and crossover function may also depend on order-parameter mobility, and one must compare transport mechanisms rather than infer the mechanism from the exponent alone.