Gravitational-wave pulse Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
A gravitational-wave pulse has curvature supported in a bounded interval of retarded time. Spacetime can be flat both before and after the pulse even though freely falling bodies retain a displacement or relative velocity produced while the pulse passed.
Moving-surface retarded Jacobian 2026-10-07
For a source surface parameterized by , the retarded time equation is . Integrating a Dirac delta distribution enforcing that equation produces the reciprocal derivative at each simple root. For subsonic motion there is a unique retarded root. Multiple roots require summation; a zero derivative is outside the simple-root rule. This factor is the moving-source counterpart of a delta change-of-variable Jacobian.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 4 35E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Put , and take the retarded acoustic Green function for :This selects the causal, outgoing acoustic density perturbation, with no additional incoming homogeneous wave equation solution. Convolving the acoustic dipole forcing with this Green function and moving its spatial derivative outside the integral givesThe surface delta distribution converts the spatial integral to the moving surface. At fixed surface labels , setThe radial Mach number enters the moving-surface retarded Jacobian, because and henceLet be a root of the retarded time equationThe delta change-of-variable rule now givesHere is the surface-area factor from the orthogonal surface coordinates. For a subsonic surface, , the retarded equation is monotone in and has one root when the motion is defined for the required past times. For more general motion, sum the displayed contribution over all simple retarded roots. A root with requires a separate limiting treatment; the simple-root formula does not apply there.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation, the other source types are a surface acoustic monopole associated with acoustic thickness noise, and a volume acoustic quadrupole involving the Lighthill stress tensor. On an impermeable material surface, fluid and surface normal velocities agree. There is no through-surface mass-flux source; the remaining thickness source is . For a rigid body, the leading acoustic compact-source approximation to that source hasThus there is no leading net-volume acoustic monopole. To neglect thickness radiation beyond that leading cancellation, assume negligible volume displacement, as for ideal thin blades, or that its higher multipoles are small compared with the retained acoustic loading noise. Rigidity alone does not make a moving finite-volume body's local thickness source identically zero.
The volume acoustic quadrupole may be neglected for low Mach number motion when exterior turbulent or nonlinear stresses do not provide a competing strong source. We also assume small linear acoustics perturbations, a uniform reference sound speed, and negligible relevant viscous and entropy sources. These are source-strength approximations, particularly important if a loading contribution itself cancels by symmetry. Under them, the retained acoustic dipole is the force exerted by the object on the fluid, with the sign used in the previous solution.
Let , , and . In the acoustic far field, is large compared with the object and . For a source of size with and small surface Mach number, source-dependent delays and the Doppler factor can be neglected to leading order. The surface integral then contains just the total force . Differentiating its retarded time, rather than its spreading factor, gives the radiating termThe sign follows from . Differentiating or the direction instead produces the lower-order near field. A constant total force does not radiate at this leading compact order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The rotation introduces angular frequency and, after combining the two blades, harmonics such as . The acoustic compact-source approximation requires the propagation time to be small compared with . ThusIt also bounds every blade element's Mach number by . Consequently , and its leading value is one. The separate acoustic far field condition is .
Choose the positive rotation sense so that a first blade at phase has radial and tangential unit vectorsIntegrating the given line force from to yields . Its axial component is constant, while . Since , the compact acoustic dipole sound from this blade isThe other blade has phase and contributes the opposite rotating force. At a common compact retarded time, their total force is , soThis cancellation calls for the next source-delay correction; it does not mean that the complete moving-source field vanishes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Write and , where . Label the two arms by . Their positions are . To radiating far-field accuracy,The retarded time equation therefore gives, with ,For the first arm, , this is the requested phase expansion. The more explicit geometric error also makes the dimensional meaning of the printed term clear.
Apply the Taylor theorem to the rotating line force. Since , its first two orders, expressed in a common reference frame, areAlso , so the radial Mach number isThe absolute value causes no change of sign in this subsonic limit. Multiplying these two expansions before summing is essential: both the shifted force and the moving-surface retarded Jacobian contribute at the same order.
Denote the integrated numerator, including that Jacobian, by . Pairing the two blades cancels all terms odd in , including the first Doppler correction to the axial load. HenceThe factor comes from . Only the time-dependent term radiates at order . Applying to the integral now gives , and thusThere are also nonradiating terms of order . Multiply by for the acoustic pressure. The stated coefficient uses the rotation convention fixed above; reversing the rotation reverses the corresponding signed load and phase convention.
This is a compact rotating two-blade loading source acting as an acoustic quadrupole. The compact total rotating force cancels, leaving the first spatial moment of the loading. Its two factors of the observer's projection into the rotor plane produce : there is no leading sound on the rotation axis and the density amplitude is maximal in the rotor plane. The configuration repeats after half a rotation, explaining frequency . These statements concern amplitude; the corresponding acoustic intensity has a factor.
If , the displayed first-order contribution vanishes as well. For completeness, expanding the axial Jacobian to its next even order givesThe first remaining axial-load radiation is thenThus the constant axial total force does not produce the lower-order term, even though its moving spatial distribution can radiate at a higher order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 35D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Ignoring magnetization, electric polarization charge transport gives bound current . The assumed weak dielectric contrast therefore gives inside the sphere. This is the first Born approximation: the incident field supplies the electric polarization to leading order in .
For , the far-distance expansions are and . Substitute the retarded time into the phase in the Lorenz gauge vector potential. The phase becomes , so, using ,The assumptions and control amplitude and phase errors respectively. In the radiation zone the supplied electric and magnetic fields satisfy . Complex phasors therefore give the time-averaged radial Poynting flux . The incident flux is , soOrient spherical coordinates along to evaluate the form factor:ConsequentlyAt the bracket is interpreted by its limit , not a singularity. The transverse factor accounts for polarization of an electromagnetic wave; for complex polarization of an electromagnetic wave its squared norm means the Hermitian norm.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 3 37D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Write the electromagnetic field tensor as . Substitution into the Covariant Maxwell equation with the minus-plus-plus-plus metric givesChoose the Lorenz gauge . Since , the electromagnetic four-potential obeysConvolution with the outgoing retarded Green function gives the retarded electromagnetic potential
For the point particle, is its unique retarded proper time, characterized byThus is where the particle's worldline intersects the past light cone of the observation event ; the displayed expression is the covariant form of the Lienard-Wiechert potentials.
On the -axis put . The retarded time is . For the circular orbit, the spatial velocity at that time isBecause the displacement from the retarded source point to the observation point is orthogonal to this velocity, , while . The factors of cancel, leaving
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 309 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The outgoing solution obtained from the retarded fundamental solution of the wave equation isIn the radiation zone, put , , and retain the leading term at retarded time . The trace term disappears after applying the transverse-traceless projectorsoTwice using stress-energy conservation, , and integrating by parts givesThe projector removes the trace, so in terms of the mass quadrupole momentthe far field isThe gravitational-wave energy flux isFor a trace-free symmetric tensor , the isotropic tensor integral over the observation direction givesConsequently the standard quadrupole formula, in the units used by the paper, isThus the printed coefficient is inconsistent with the stated definition of and the standard wave-energy normalization; it appears to be a typographical error.
For the planet, choose its circular orbit in the -plane and write . With the star treated as fixed,and henceDirect differentiation givessoRestoring units multiplies this by . If the printed coefficient is followed literally, the answer is instead times larger,For two bodies of comparable mass, is replaced by the reduced mass and by their separation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 36B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The outgoing Green function of the electromagnetic wave equation has support on the past light cone. Convolution with that retarded Green function yields the retarded electromagnetic potentialwhere the source is evaluated at the retarded timeThis is the causal solution with no incoming radiation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 3 36A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The electromagnetic four-potential is the field generated by the four-current : every source volume element contributes with the inverse-distance Green-function factor. Electromagnetic influence propagates at speed , so causality requires the source to be evaluated where its worldline intersects the field event's past light cone. ThusThe source time is exactly the retarded time , rather than the observation time .