Irregular solid harmonic 2026-10-14
An irregular solid harmonic is harmonic on punctured three-dimensional Euclidean space and generally singular at the origin. The Kelvin transform maps a degree- regular solid harmonic to a constant multiple of its irregular counterpart.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 76 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a degree- homogeneous polynomial, the Euler homogeneous function theorem gives . On in three-dimensional Euclidean space,Apply the product rule for the Laplacian:For the second term vanishes. Hence homogeneous harmonic inversion givesThe nonzero factor proves both directions: the transformed function is harmonic exactly when away from the origin. Since is a polynomial, vanishing on the punctured space makes it identically zero everywhere.
Equivalently, homogeneity shows that the Kelvin transform isIt sends a regular solid harmonic to an irregular solid harmonic, exchanging the radial powers and . The origin is excluded from the harmonicity statement: for example, the transform is harmonic only away from zero and has a distributional Dirac delta function source there.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 57 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The spatial factor is a regular solid harmonic. Besides the Laplace equation , homogeneity gives . The divergence of the fluid displacement isDefine the scalar dilation amplitude ; this is the quantity denoted in the question, not the notation for a Lagrangian pressure perturbation. Then mass conservation gives .
The equilibrium pressure gradient and homogeneity identity giveConsequently the adiabatic equation of state yieldsFor the force equations, the product rule givesEquating the coefficients of and in the self-gravitating adiabatic displacement equations givesFinally, applying the Laplacian to the gravitational perturbation givesso the Poisson equation becomesThese are the required interior equations for uniform-density stellar oscillation.
There is a radial degeneracy at : is spatially constant and , so the displacement is independent of . The second force equation then cannot be inferred by equating independent vectors. For nonzero it may be imposed as an auxiliary definition of , but it is not an additional physical radial equation. At zero frequency the radial equations should be used directly. This distinction matters for interpreting the zero factor in (c).
Radial stability of a uniform-density star 2026-10-06
For the even polynomial family of degree , the physical radial squared frequency is . The fundamental mode is stable when and marginal at . At angular degree zero the gradient of the regular solid harmonic vanishes, so the auxiliary displacement amplitude multiplying it is redundant.
Regular solid harmonic 2026-10-06
A regular solid harmonic is : it is homogeneous of degree and solves the Laplace equation. Thus and . These identities turn angular spherical harmonic expansions of displacement, density and Newtonian gravitational potential into radial equations.
Uniform-density stellar oscillation 2026-10-06
A constant-density gas sphere in hydrostatic equilibrium has and . Its stellar oscillations can be expanded using regular solid harmonics and radial displacement amplitudes. Uniform density does not imply uniform specific entropy, so this equilibrium can be radially stable and still exhibit convective instability.