Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / Paper 1 / 2 / iii

For a nonzero separated solution $v=X(x)T(t)$, separation of variables gives $X^{\prime \prime }+{\kappa }^{2}X=0$ and $T^{\prime }=-\nu {\kappa }^{2}T$. The endpoint conditions require $X=\sin \kappa x$ and $\cos \kappa L=0$. Thus the mixed Dirichlet-Neumann modes on an interval have ${\kappa }_n=(n+1/2)\pi /L$, $n\ge 0$. Their squared L2 norms are $L/2$, so the initial Fourier coefficients areThe integration uses $\cos {\kappa }_{n}L=0$ and $\sin {\kappa }_{n}L=(-1{)}^n$. ThereforeAt positive time the series can be differentiated termwise and satisfies both homogeneous endpoint conditions for $v$. At time zero it recovers $-Hx/k$, so $u$ recovers the initial zero temperature. If $H\ne 0$, the prescribed derivative at $(L,0)$ is incompatible with differentiating the initial zero profile; the temperature is still continuous there, while its spatial derivative has a corner layer. At long times the decaying modes leave $u\to Hx/k$.