Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 17 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let F be an oriented genus-g Seifert surface for K, and choose a basis of . Push a representative curve slightly in the positive normal direction to obtain . The Seifert matrix in our row convention isThe difference is the intersection form of F, up to the convention for its orientation; in a symplectic basis it is a direct sum of unimodular two-by-two skew blocks.
Write for the knot exterior. Linking number with K gives the epimorphism sending a positive meridian to one. Let be the associated infinite cyclic cover, with deck transformation t. The Alexander module of a knot is , regarded as a module over the Laurent polynomial ring . Its order, the greatest common divisor of the maximal presentation minors, is the Alexander polynomial of a knot, defined up to . Equivalently these minors generate its zeroth Fitting ideal; we will obtain a square presentation, so its determinant gives the order. No assertion that is a principal ideal domain is needed.
Here is the Seifert-matrix presentation of the Alexander module with its topological justification. Cut X along F, obtaining a connected manifold Y with two boundary copies and . Up to collars this is the complement of a thickening of F in . Alexander duality gives and the perfect linking pairing with . Choose generators satisfying . This homology statement does not require Y to be a handlebody. The two inclusions satisfyIndeed the first coefficients are the defining positive linking numbers; for the second, moving the two curves to opposite sides and using symmetry of linking gives .
Stack copies of Y, identifying the positive copy of F in one layer with the negative copy in the next. This is . The Mayer–Vietoris sequence, with all translates collected into Laurent modules, containsThe last map is injective because is an integral domain. Thus the entire Alexander module is presented by the row relations (transpose the matrix if using column vectors). At its determinant is , so the determinant is nonzero and the module is torsion. Consequentlywhere denotes equality up to a Laurent unit. The second conclusion follows because a determinant of size with entries linear in t has breadth at most ; minimize over Seifert surfaces.
For the displayed knot we give a reproducible diagram calculation. Label its ten crossings A through J as follows: A and B are the two upper crossings from left to right; C,D,E are the next three crossings in descending order; F is the crossing below E on the almost vertical strand; G is the left crossing of the bottom loop; H,I,J are the remaining three bottom crossings from left to right. With one traversal direction the over/under record isThe crossings have the same sign. Choose the meridian/deck convention giving the conjugation relation below; the opposite convention replaces t by and gives the same reciprocal polynomial up to a unit.
Number the undercrossings in the order , starting at zero, and let be the incoming arc at undercrossing k. The overpassing arc numbers areThe Wirtinger presentation has , with indices modulo ten. Its lifted cellular boundaries, or equivalently Fox derivatives, give the Alexander relation matrixDelete the redundant final relation and the last column: the resulting matrix presents the Alexander module on the nine relative arc generators. To make the determinant check transparent, set , , and . Eliminating unit pivots reduces this nine-generator presentation toFor example, writing the relative generators as , the eliminated relations give , , , , , , and . The two remaining relations are precisely the rows of N. HenceAs a second determinant check, the unreduced nine-by-nine cofactor of M is . The polynomial has value one at and is reciprocal, as required.
For the genus upper bound, the oriented smoothing has seven Seifert circles. This can also be checked from the traversal record: number its twenty entries starting at one; smoothing sends an incoming visit to the entry following its other visit to the same crossing. The cycles are , , , , , , and . The Seifert algorithm therefore gives seven disks and ten bands, so and . The Alexander breadth is four, so the Alexander breadth bound on Seifert genus gives the matching lower bound. Thus .
Finally, modulo two the primitive polynomial becomes . It has neither zero nor one as a root. The only monic irreducible quadratic over is , whose square is , so the quartic is irreducible. Reduction modulo two therefore proves irreducibility over the rationals and, by primitivity, over and . If K were a sum of two nontrivial knots, additivity of Seifert genus would force both summands to have genus one. Their Alexander polynomials multiply, so irreducibility would make one polynomial a unit and the other equal to this breadth-four polynomial, contradicting the breadth-at-most-two bound for genus one. This uses the full-degree irreducible Alexander polynomial implies a prime knot criterion, rather than irreducibility alone. Therefore K is prime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 17 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Wirtinger presentation assigns a meridian generator to each arc between undercrossings. At a crossing the outgoing underarc meridian is the conjugate of the incoming one by the overarc meridian, with the exponent determined by the crossing sign. One crossing relation is redundant for a connected knot diagram. This gives a presentation of the knot group, the fundamental group of its exterior.
For the trefoil knot, choose three arcs x,y,z so that two crossing relations are and . The third follows from these. Substituting for z gives , henceWe use the relator .
Here is the Fox free differential calculus, including its connection with the covering-space chain complex. Let F be the free group on , let be its group ring, and let be augmentation. Define additive maps byFor group words u,v the product rule reads . Differentiating forces . Thus for a reduced word one sums its prefixes at positive occurrences of , and subtracts the prefix including at negative occurrences. Inserting or deleting makes two cancelling contributions, proving that this definition is independent of word reduction. Linear extension proves the group-ring product rule and uniqueness.
The fundamental identity isIt holds on generators and inverses. If it holds for u and v, then proves it for their product, so induction proves it for every word. These Fox derivatives form the matrix for any chosen presentation.
Let be knot-group abelianization and put . Apply the ring map sending to , and set . Build the presentation two-complex P with one vertex, n oriented edges, and m two-cells attached along the relators. Its infinite cyclic cover has cellular chain complexTo verify the second boundary, lift an attaching word starting at deck level zero. An occurrence after prefix u traverses the jth edge at level , contributing . An occurrence traverses it backwards starting at level , contributing . Their sum is exactly the evaluated Fox derivative. The fundamental identity, with , gives .
The cover of P and the cover of the knot exterior both have fundamental group . Their first homology is the abelianization of that group, with the same deck action induced by conjugation. Thus no assumption that the presentation complex is aspherical is needed, and the complete relation with the Alexander module of a knot isFor meridian generators all . Then consists of vectors with coefficient sum zero, with basis , . Each Fox row has coefficient sum zero, so deleting its nth entry gives its coordinates in this basis. Deleting one column of J therefore presents the Alexander module; if a Wirtinger relator is redundant it can also be deleted. This proves the matrix procedure used for the displayed knot above. For arbitrary generators, the exponent vector is primitive because the generators map onto ; elementary changes of free generators implement the Euclidean algorithm and reduce it to . In that basis is free on the last edges, and their relator coefficients give a presentation. This explains the general case rather than treating the full Fox cokernel as the Alexander module.
For the trefoil relator, with , direct differentiation givesThe first boundary is , whose kernel is generated by . The relator boundary is , whenceFor a connected sum of knots, join Seifert surfaces in separated balls. Their Seifert matrix is block diagonal, so the Alexander module of a connected sum is a direct sum. Thus .
This module is not cyclic. The polynomial f is irreducible modulo two, since it has no root in , so is a maximal ideal of with residue field . The quotient has dimension two over that field, whereas the corresponding quotient of a cyclic module has dimension at most one.
Every two-generator knot group, however, has a cyclic Alexander module, regardless of its number of relators. Indeed its primitive abelianization vector can be changed to as above. The covering boundary is then ; its kernel is the free rank-one module on the second edge, and any quotient by lifted relators is cyclic. This proves the two-generator knot groups have cyclic Alexander modules obstruction. Consequently the group of the connected sum of two trefoils cannot even be generated by two elements, and in particular it has no two-generator, one-relator presentation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 21 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The determinant-one cyclic quotient of the affine plane has the closed embeddingHere denotes the cyclic group generated by the given diagonal matrix. We establish the presentation of the polynomial invariant ring and verify that its fibres really are the group orbits.
On the coordinate ring , the inverse-pullback action multiplies by . Since these monomials are a basis, a polynomial is invariant precisely when each of its nonzero monomials satisfies . If , such a monomial is ; if , it is . ThereforeThese generators give a surjective homomorphism , and lies in its kernel of a ring homomorphism. To prove there are no further relations, reduce any monomial using . The result is a linear combination ofTheir images are respectively , and . All have distinct exponent pairs, so they are linearly independent in . Any polynomial in the kernel of a ring homomorphism has zero reduced expression and hence belongs to . ConsequentlyThis proves the claimed closed subvariety embedding of the affine quotient.
For surjectivity of , if choose and set . Then . If , the relation forces ; choose and any th root of for . If two points have the same image and , equality of their th powers gives and equality of gives . If , both first coordinates vanish, and the same argument using gives the orbit relation; the case has only that one point in its fibre. Thus every fibre is exactly one group orbit.
The map is finite: and satisfy the monic equations and , and the finitely many monomials , , span as a module over its polynomial invariant ring. A finite morphism is closed when it is surjective as here and therefore gives the quotient topology. For a principal open subset defined by an invariant , its regular functions pull back to andIndeed, because is invariant, an invariant fraction with denominator has invariant numerator. These principal open subsets cover the affine hypersurface, proving the required local equality of invariant regular functions. Together with the orbit fibres, this verifies the geometric quotient, not merely a bijection of underlying sets.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 21 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Using the printed convention that the projective points represent lines of binary quartics, the locus of GIT stable points isThe root at infinity is included. We determine stability by calculating every relevant algebraic one-parameter subgroup weight.
Use the natural action . Every nontrivial algebraic one-parameter subgroup of is conjugate to for some integer : its two integral weights of a representation sum to zero, and a basis of weight vectors can be rescaled to have determinant one. WriteIf , then is the multiplicity of a root at the projective point : in the local coordinate , the polynomial begins with a nonzero multiple of .
The Hilbert-Mumford criterion for projective stability, with (active weights), now givesBeing a GIT stable point requires this number to be strictly positive for every nontrivial subgroup. Conjugating the subgroup lets range over the entire projective line. Thus the root-multiplicity criterion for stable binary forms becomes at every point . A nonzero degree-four form over has four projective roots counted with multiplicity, so this means precisely four distinct roots. This is equivalently nonvanishing of its discriminant.
The boundary cases show why a weak inequality would give the wrong answer. A triple or quadruple root can be moved to , leaving only strictly positive weights; its affine representative tends to zero under that subgroup, so it is unstable. If all root multiplicities are at most two, all Hilbert-Mumford values are nonnegative and the point is a GIT semistable point. A double root gives a zero value for a suitable subgroup, so never represents a GIT stable point. More concretely, after putting that double root at one hasand . When there are three distinct roots, this limiting form, representing a GIT semistable point with two distinct roots, is outside the original group orbit, so that group orbit is not closed in the semistable locus. When there are two double roots, a change of coordinates gives , which has the positive-dimensional diagonal torus as stabilizer. Neither case represents a GIT stable point.
For a form with four distinct roots, the projective stabilizer is finite: it permutes the four roots, and a Möbius transformation fixing three distinct points is the identity. Thus its image in injects into the finite permutation group on the roots. The kernel of a group homomorphism for is , also finite. This agrees with the finite-stabilizer condition in geometric invariant theory. The weight calculation already supplies the required strict stability condition for every conjugate subgroup.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 21 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and . The linear action preserves polynomial degree, so with . We prove Hilbert finite generation for reductive invariants by combining finite ideal generation in with a degree-lowering argument in .
Over , representations of a reductive algebraic group are completely reducible. On each finite-dimensional , project its isotypic component for the trivial representation onto itself and its nontrivial summands onto zero. These projections together form a degree-preserving Reynolds operator , with . The crucial additional property isHere is why it holds rather than being an arbitrary projection property. For a homogeneous invariant , multiplication by is a -equivariant linear map . It sends invariant vectors to invariant vectors. On a nontrivial irreducible summand, its composition with projection onto the target's trivial summand is zero, since there is no nonzero equivariant map from a nontrivial irreducible representation to the trivial representation. It therefore commutes with the Reynolds operators. Summing the homogeneous components of and proves the displayed module property in general.
Let and form the ideal in the ambient polynomial ring. The Hilbert basis theorem makes a Noetherian ring, so is generated by finitely many homogeneous positive-degree invariants . To justify choosing the generators from this particular set, start with any finite ideal generating set; each of its members is a finite sum of multiples of homogeneous members of , and the union of those finitely many invariants then generates . If , there are no positive-degree invariants and the answer is simply .
Otherwise consider a homogeneous invariant of degree . Since , writewith when that degree is negative. Taking the degree- component of any ideal expression gives exactly such an expression. Apply the Reynolds operator and its module property:Each coefficient is invariant and has degree strictly smaller than , because every has positive degree. Induction on , starting from , now shows that every homogeneous invariant lies in . An arbitrary invariant is a finite sum of invariant homogeneous components, soThis proves finite generation as an algebra. No Noetherian property of the polynomial invariant ring was assumed in obtaining the generators.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 2 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , make a module over the polynomial ring by . The structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain and primary decomposition giveHere ranges over monic polynomials that are irreducible polynomials, and is excluded because is invertible. Associate the integer partition having parts equal to . It has finite support and satisfies . Two matrices are conjugate exactly when their R-modules are isomorphic, so this gives a bijective parameterization of conjugacy classes.
The centralizer is the R-module automorphism group. Homomorphisms between distinct primary components vanish: coprimeness of their annihilating polynomials makes each such map zero. Fix one of degree , put , and write . A map is determined by an image killed by , so its space has dimension over . Consequently the endomorphism algebra haswhere is the conjugate partition.
Its semisimple quotient is : reduce the maps between the equal-length summands modulo and discard the maps between unequal lengths. Composition through a different length acquires a factor of when it returns to the original length, so these reductions define an algebra homomorphism. It is onto, and its kernel is nilpotent. One can see the latter directly by expanding a sufficiently long product into paths through the finitely many possible summand lengths: repeated returns through unequal lengths or equal-length kernel factors accumulate powers of , while a strictly monotone path has bounded length. Eventually every path vanishes in every summand.
An element is invertible exactly when its image in that quotient is invertible, since a nilpotent error is inverted by a finite geometric series. The fraction of units is therefore . Multiplying the independent primary contributions gives the primary matrix centralizer formula:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 29 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the one-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet distribution is a probability distribution on decreasing random mass sequences. A precise construction uses a Poisson random measure on with intensityArrange its points as and put . The intensity is diffuse, so there are almost surely no ties. There are infinitely many points because the intensity has infinite mass near zero, but their sum is finite almost surely: the Campbell first-moment formula gives . Also almost surely, since the probability of having no points is zero. DefineIts law is , also written . In particular, is the largest component; the ordering is part of the definition.
The Laplace functional of a Poisson random measure determines the total:For the integral identity, differentiate the integral with respect to , obtaining , and use its value zero at . Thus has the Gamma distribution with shape and rate one, and density .
We use the Mecke formula for a Poisson random measure in its point-removal formHere the process inside the expectation on the right has the original law. To justify this identity, first take finite intensity. Conditional on a Poisson count , its points are independent samples from normalized intensity. Expanding the expectation as a sum over and singling out one of the points replaces by ; the remaining points have the original Poisson law. For sigma-finite intensity, restrict the selected point to a finite-intensity set, condition on the independent outside process, and then exhaust the space. monotone convergence theorem proves the formula for nonnegative ; absolute integrability allows signed .
Apply it with . For the polynomial in question, on , so and all signed interchanges are justified. Integrating over the gamma law of the remaining total givesSet and , so , and the Jacobian is . The integrand factors as . The integral defining the Gamma function cancels , yieldingFor example, setting gives for integers .
The same nonnegative calculation identifies the mean measure of Poisson-Dirichlet components for arbitrary nonnegative test functions. Write . If , at most one component exceeds , so . Hence the identity directly gives the upper part of the probability distribution of the largest component of a Poisson-Dirichlet partition:Its density on is . For , this tail is , and . On the other hand, selecting index with conditional probabilities weights the mean measure of a point process by . Thus has density , the law of a size-biased distribution. That beta law describes the selected component.
For completeness, the whole probability distribution of can also be specified; below one half the expected count is not itself the tail probability. Repeating the point-removal formula for ordered distinct jumps gives the factorial moment densities of Poisson-Dirichlet components:Indeed, integrate over selected jumps and the remaining gamma total , then put , . The Jacobian is ; the factors and the Jacobian leave , whose Gamma function again cancels the normalizing constant. Since , the finite binomial identity for the indicator of now gives, for ,The term is one; an empty integration region contributes zero. This is inclusion-exclusion, since . Extend this cumulative distribution function by zero for and one for . For only the terms can contribute, recovering the simpler formula above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 3 5 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the standard sl2 Lie algebra relations , and . The classification of finite-dimensional sl2 representations says that every finite-dimensional complex module is a direct sum of , , where has weights . The raising operator and lowering operator move weights by two and minus two. On each therefore has st power zero. There is consequently one integer such that on all of .
The matrix exponentials are thus finite polynomials in nilpotent operators:Each is a well-defined endomorphism, and its inverse is obtained by negating the argument. Their product is therefore a linear automorphism,This Weyl reflection lift in an sl2 representation is algebraically defined by finite sums; no choice of topology or convergence of an infinite series is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 54 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let and choose uniformly from the finite family . All bounds below must hold for every pair of distinct inputs .
A universal hash family, also called universal2, satisfies . A strongly universal hash family satisfiesThus the two outputs are independent and uniform; summing over gives the collision condition. An almost strongly universal hash family permits a larger conditional guessing bound. In the -almost-strongly-universal convention used here,equivalently . Necessarily , with giving strong universality. Stating this normalization matters because the name alone does not specify the allowed forgery probability.
Here is an explicit polynomial almost strongly universal hashing construction and a one-use message authentication protocol. Use a publicly specified finite field , where . Encode a fixed-length -bit message as field elements , padding the final block in a fixed way. Both parties know the length, so this encoding is injective. They share independent uniform secret field elements , requiring shared secret bits. DefineFor every message, the output is uniform because of . For distinct messages and prescribed tags , the condition determines exactly one value of for each . The remaining condition isIts left-hand side has a nonzero coefficient of positive degree, so subtracting the specified constant gives a nonzero polynomial of degree at most . By the root bound for a polynomial, there are at most possible field elements . Consequentlyand this is an -almost-strongly-universal family with , provided . The powers start at one deliberately: a message coefficient at power zero could give a known constant tag shift, allowing a deterministic substitution.
Alice sends the message and its tag over the public channel. Bob accepts only if his independently computed tag agrees. An attacker who has seen no tag guesses one with probability . After seeing a valid pair , an attacker substituting a different message and any chosen tag succeeds with conditional probability at most . This remains true when the choice of depends on the observed pair: the bound is uniform over all those choices. More explicitly, the observed tag leaves uniform because each possible has exactly one compatible secret mask .
For a desired forgery bound , choose . Since and , the substitution bound is at most . The secret requirement isFor a long message this is much shorter than its bits. This is Wegman–Carter authentication: a keyed hash plus a fresh secret one-time pad on the tag. It authenticates the message rather than concealing its contents. Use the key once for the guarantee just established; multiple authenticated messages require fresh masks and a reuse security analysis. Authenticate lengths and sequence identifiers too if variable lengths or replay protection are required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 64 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The equilibrium isothermal equation of state is . Hydrostatic equilibrium gives , henceHere is assumed. This is the same local harmonic-gravity balance as isothermal vertical structure in stellar gravity.
For , this equilibrium is stably stratified under adiabatic fluid perturbations. Its squared buoyancy frequency isA general perturbation can therefore support acoustic waves restored by compression and internal gravity waves restored by buoyancy, with nonoscillatory entropy or vortical disturbances also possible. The prescribed velocity is purely vertical and horizontally uniform. It describes vertical acoustic waves; it does not contain the horizontally varying circulation required for an oscillatory internal-gravity branch. For zero horizontal wavenumber, that branch has zero frequency. An isothermal equilibrium must not be confused with an isothermal perturbation: the latter would remove the buoyancy restoring force.
Introduce the fluid Lagrangian displacement , so . Use for fluid Eulerian perturbations and for fluid Lagrangian perturbations. The continuity equation and the adiabatic relation areThe fixed external gravitational potential is not perturbed. The vertical linearized Euler equations consequently giveSubstituting the preceding relations, and using and , reduces its right-hand side toSince and , the same equation holds for :The rigid fixed base supplies the essential condition . At infinity the condition is finite kinetic energy, not bounded velocity amplitude; a polynomial can grow while the Gaussian mass density makes its energy finite.
Put and . The equation becomes the Hermite differential equation in its probabilists' convention,For , its recurrence isThe base condition makes and therefore every even coefficient zero. An odd series terminates at degree when . It remains to prove that a nonterminating odd solution cannot have finite energy; termination alone would not establish the requested exhaustion of modes.
For that purpose, set . The finite-energy condition is , and its equation isBecause the coefficients are even and the solution is odd at the base, extend oddly to the whole real line. Define lowering and raising operatorsIntegration by parts gives , so . These identities apply to the square-integrable solution: multiplying its equation by a compactly cut off conjugate and taking larger cutoffs bounds and in , and removes the endpoint terms. The same argument applies to each lowered eigenfunction.
If is not a nonnegative integer, repeatedly apply . Each application lowers by one and remains nonzero whenever its current value is positive, by the norm identity. After finitely many applications it would yield a nonzero square-integrable eigenfunction with negative , contradicting that identity. Thus is a nonnegative integer. At , gives , which is even. Lowering reverses parity, so an initially odd eigenfunction can reach this even ground state only if is odd. Consequently . The recurrence then terminates and uniquely determines the odd solution from .
The complete adiabatic vertical modes of a Gaussian atmosphere are thereforeHere is the Probabilists' Hermite polynomial. For example the first shapes are , , and , with frequencies squared , , and . Either sign of each real frequency gives a time-harmonic solution. Gaussian moments make every displayed polynomial have finite kinetic energy. Without the fixed-base condition, finite energy alone would also admit even polynomials, which is why that condition is necessary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 64 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the basic axisymmetric flow, . The steady radial Euler equation for fluid motion gives ; the other components give . Thus, in the absence of an additional body force,The additive constant is undetermined without an imposed reference pressure; the rigid boundary does not prescribe a uniform boundary pressure. Its shape is fixed by the container rather than by a free-surface pressure condition.
Let be the small velocity amplitudes and the pressure amplitude. Linearizing the cylindrical Euler equations for an inviscid fluid about uniform rotation, the material derivative is . The intrinsic frequency for the stated phase convention is thereforeThe radial and azimuthal curvature terms supply the Coriolis acceleration terms, givingFor , solving these equations givesThe incompressible flow constraint isOn substitution, the terms proportional to cancel. The remaining equation iswhich provesThis is the pressure equation for inertial modes in a rigid rotating sphere. The exceptional frequencies used in the divisions must instead be treated in the original momentum system; they are not needed for the mode below.
A fixed rigid sphere is impermeable, so its normal velocity vanishes:Using the solved amplitudes and multiplying by givesEquivalently divide by for . Smoothness means tangential slip is allowed: there is no no-slip condition on these inviscid normal modes. Nor is there a condition , since the wall supplies the required varying normal pressure.
For an axisymmetric oscillation, and . Write . For the radial and vertical operators areThe interior pressure equation therefore requiresThe boundary equation becomesSubstituting , this polynomial must vanish for every boundary height. Its constant and coefficients consequently giveTogether with the interior relation the latter condition is . A nontrivial nonsingular oscillatory solution needs : if and , the other equations force . Hence , givingThe cubic axisymmetric inertial mode of a rigid sphere is explicitlyIts cubic pressure is regular at the axis and centre, and its reconstructed velocity is divergence free and tangent to the sphere by the preceding identities. The frequency lies within the inertial wave band : Coriolis acceleration, rather than compression or a moving surface, supplies the restoring dynamics. The amplitude is arbitrary in this linear problem.