Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 1 / 3 / ii / Solution

For the zero-data initial value problem, choose a causal Green function satisfying $L_{x}G(x,\xi )=\delta (x-\xi )$ and $G=0$ for $x<\xi$. Continuity at $x=\xi$ prevents a derivative of the Dirac delta distribution, while integration across the source givesFor $x>\xi$, part (i) gives the shifted homogeneous solutions. The zero value at the join removes the cosine term, and the unit derivative jump fixes the sine coefficient. Therefore the causal Green function of a damped oscillator isEquivalently, multiply the first expression by the Heaviside step function $H(x-\xi )$. The required solution isIts initial value and first derivative vanish: the interval has zero length at $x=0$ and the kernel vanishes at its upper limit. Differentiating twice shows that the upper-limit contribution to $y^{\prime \prime }$ is precisely $g(x)$, while the remaining homogeneous kernel terms cancel in $Ly$.