Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 12 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a first-order system, it is important to specify the frame in which its coefficients are written. In the simple-pole convention intended here, a Fuchsian linear differential system has, at a finite singular point ,The residue is the matrix , computed entry by entry. Such a point is a regular singular point: on a sector, the coefficient bound and integration along rays give at most power growth of solutions. Intrinsically, a regular singular point means moderate power growth of all solutions on sectors, allowing logarithmic factors. This intrinsic definition is more general than requiring a simple coefficient pole in an arbitrary meromorphic frame.
For , a fundamental matrix on a chosen complex logarithm branch isDifferentiating the matrix exponential verifies . A counterclockwise circuit replaces by , soThis is the residue and monodromy of a constant Fuchsian system. A change of solution basis conjugates . Its eigenvalues are for the residue eigenvalues ; a nontrivial Jordan block supplies the corresponding logarithmic terms in . The monodromy does not uniquely recover , since integer shifts of residue eigenvalues can leave their exponentials unchanged.
The coordinate-independent coefficient is the matrix-valued one-form . With , its coefficient isBeing Fuchsian at infinity means , while being ordinary there means . If the finite simple poles are , subtract their principal parts:Each entry of is entire and tends to zero at infinity. Liouville's theorem therefore gives . Expanding this partial fraction decomposition at infinity yieldsThus the sum of all residues, including the residue at infinity of the one-form, is zero. If infinity is ordinary, and the finite residues alone sum to zero. Treating merely as a scalar function of , without transforming , would give the wrong infinity convention.
Put . The possible finite singular points of are , andA point is removable exactly when as a matrix. At infinity,which is holomorphic at . Consequently the actual set is , with the generic set. The finite residues sum to zero, as follows also from .
Conversely, suppose a Fuchsian linear differential system has its finite singular points among these three roots and has no singularity at infinity. Then extends to an entire matrix function, and ordinariness at infinity gives . By the Cauchy estimate, each entry has zero derivatives of order two or higher, so . The same argument applies to any subset , with additional cancellations at the omitted roots. This proves the requested normal form.
There is a genuine convention limitation: the normal form is not true under intrinsic regular singularity alone in an unrestricted frame. For example, if and , then has fundamental matrix . Its solutions have only power growth, so is intrinsically a regular singular point, and infinity is ordinary. Nevertheless its coefficient has a double pole and cannot equal . The simple-pole convention makes the preceding residue and normal-form assertions correct.