Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 76 5 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume , the positive diffusivity requirement for the forward heat kernel. A normal mode of the linear complex Ginzburg-Landau equation givesFor real , the maximum temporal growth rate is . The Briggs-Bers criterion starts the inverse time Laplace transform above the temporal growth spectrum and follows the two spatial roots as its frequency contour is lowered. A contributing spatial pinch point occurs when roots continued from opposite sides of the spatial contour coalesce and prevent its deformation. An arbitrary algebraic saddle is not sufficient without this branch selection.
Here givesTo check the pinch, start at with large. The roots are and initially lie in opposite half-planes. They meet at , giving the causal saddle. Positive imaginary absolute frequency means fixed-position exponential growth. ThereforeFor there is no positive temporal growth. At the fixed-position exponential rate is zero; its algebraic prefactor, derived below, decays. When the convective interval is empty.
The source specifies only real coefficients. For , temporal growth is unbounded at high real wavenumber, so the usual causal forward-diffusion construction is ill posed and the above criterion does not apply. For the equation reduces to transport with amplification; its point impulse remains a moving delta, rather than a spreading heat kernel. These cases cannot be included by division by .
Take and , the positive diffusivity requirement for the forward heat kernel. The PDF does not explicitly specify the sign of ; the stated real Gaussian function formula requires this assumption. For a direct calculation, initially assume sufficiently smooth and rapidly decreasing data, so that the Fourier transform, its inverse and the following integrations are justified. The resulting heat-kernel convolution extends to wider classes of initial data.
Using the stated Fourier transform convention and integration by parts,The transformed ordinary differential equation has solution . Fourier inversion then givesComplete the square:Part (a), after scaling by , evaluates the remaining Gaussian integral even though its shift is imaginary. ThereforeThe heat kernel has integral one and is an approximate identity as , which recovers the initial condition. Mere decay at spatial infinity does not by itself imply every Fourier integral is absolutely convergent; the regularity assumption above supplies a rigorous setting for the derivation.