Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 310 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For either scalar field with mass , the supplied covariant equation in the FLRW metric is the Klein-Gordon equationSince , and , its conformal-time form isThe homogeneous scalar field backgrounds satisfy the same equations without spatial derivatives. After subtracting them, let and . The key derivatives areBecause , the expansion-friction term cancels after this canonical rescaling of a scalar cosmological perturbation. The fluctuation equations areThe quadratic potential has no mixed derivative, and the stipulated neglect of metric perturbations removes gravitational mixing. Thus these two rescaled fluctuations evolve independently in this approximation.
The given symmetric Fourier transform convention sends to , where . Hence the Fourier-mode equations areThey are harmonic-oscillator equations with time-dependent squared frequencies; a negative effective squared frequency for a rescaled field does not itself imply growth of the physical field .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 309 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An electromagnetic field tensor obeys the homogeneous Maxwell equations . Together with its invariance under the Killing vector field , Cartan's magic formula gives . The local potential of a closed differential one-form construction, the one-form Poincaré lemma, therefore supplies a scalar field on a sufficiently small contractible neighborhood withFor an explicit local proof, write on a coordinate ball centered at zero and take . Since , differentiating under the integral gives . There need not be a global potential when this closed one-form has nonzero periods. The homogeneous Maxwell equation is essential; an arbitrary invariant two-form would not suffice.
Use proper time for the massive particle, let be its tangent, and assume . The Killing equation makes . The Lorentz force equation then impliesConsequently the local conserved quantity isThe sign follows from contracting in its first argument, exactly as in the source. Adding a constant to merely shifts the conserved quantity. This is a charged-particle conserved quantity from a Killing symmetry.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 310 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
When the number-changing reaction is in chemical equilibrium, its chemical balance condition is . Therefore zero chemical potential from number-changing reactions gives . Elastic scattering maintains kinetic equilibrium but imposes no independent condition on . The conclusion requires the number-changing rate to remain large compared with the Hubble parameter; merely listing an allowed reaction does not guarantee this after freeze-out.
Before thermal decoupling in cosmology, the sectors have a common temperature . For relativistic species at that temperature their entropy densities aresoThese are the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom for entropy. The paper's agrees with for relativistic components at a common temperature. For one real scalar field, . At temperatures where all Standard Model species are relativistic, both counts are constant, and so is before decoupling; thresholds can change this equilibrium ratio if they occur while the sectors remain coupled.
After decoupling, adiabatic isolation gives separately conserved visible and dark entropy: and are individually constant. Thus even when either sector's entropy degrees of freedom change. Changes in particle content then alter their temperature ratio rather than the ratio of their comoving entropies. This assumes no late inter-sector transfer or entropy injection.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 310 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the dark-sector temperature in every dimensionless integration variable: and . Assume a single real scalar field, , and fast number-changing reactions keeping . For , the populated momenta satisfy , soThis is the nonrelativistic Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution limit of the Bose-Einstein distribution. The given Gaussian Gamma function integral givesSince and , the entropy density at zero chemical potential is . Its leading nonrelativistic entropy at zero chemical potential is thereforeAn internal multiplicity would multiply this expression; the absence of in the printed result assumes a real one-state scalar.
Now use the constant separately conserved visible and dark entropy ratio and the relativistic visible-bath entropy law, . Since ,Thus the cannibal-sector temperature ratio hasThe numerical coefficient is approximately . The visible-bath temperature is the photon temperature while that bath is internally thermalized; after distinct visible species acquire different temperatures, its total entropy must instead use the appropriate temperature-weighted .
The displayed relativistic scalar entropy formula must not be continued into this regime with held constant. If it is used as an effective definition at arbitrary temperature, thenand gives the same result. This specifies how the relativistic expression can legitimately be combined with the nonrelativistic one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 310 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the reduced Planck mass, in units . Combining that equation with the Friedmann acceleration equation givesDifferentiate to obtain . For the homogeneous canonical scalar field, , soWhere , division gives the inflaton equation of motion; continuity extends it to isolated turning points:The Hubble friction term describes loss of kinetic energy into expansion.
There is a small logical caveat if the field is frozen on an entire interval: the homogeneous Einstein constraints alone only give the product equation and do not force . The frozen scalar fields and the Friedmann constraint counterexample makes this explicit. For a canonical scalar, the field equation also follows directly from its inflaton action in an expanding universe, whose homogeneous Lagrangian is . The Euler-Lagrange equation gives , including the frozen case, and yields the same boxed equation without division by .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 331 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use , , , and . Work along a sufficiently regular direct trajectory satisfying the given constraints. The zero spatial mean of the scalar field is conserved by incompressible flow, impermeable walls and zero scalar flux, so minimizing is equivalent to minimizing scalar variance, up to the fixed domain volume.
The printed functional fixes the initial state to a candidate ; it contains no term that enforces its kinetic energy. For the optimization over that candidate, add the real Lagrange multiplier constraintEquivalently, one can restrict all control variations to the sphere in a normed vector space of fixed kinetic energy. This term changes the initial-control optimality condition, not the interior adjoint equations.
Let , and . Linearization of the momentum and scalar transport residuals givesBoth appearances of the perturbation velocity in the nonlinear momentum term have been differentiated. In particular, the coefficient is the gradient of the total velocity, not just the base shear.
For the negative-constraint convention of the functional, integration by parts gives the interior coefficients of asThus the adjoint equations for Boussinesq scalar mixing areThe transpose is essential: the th component of is . The coupling transposes advection of the scalar by a velocity perturbation; transposes buoyancy feedback. Dropping the latter would give a passive scalar adjoint, not the active scalar problem.
These equations are integrated backward, not forward. If , they readwith direct coefficients evaluated at . Both terms from the diffusion equation now have the usual forward sign in . A direct-adjoint looping method stores or reconstructs the forward trajectory, solves these equations backward, and uses the initial adjoint as the control gradient. The endpoint and fixed-energy conditions below give necessary conditions for a local optimizer, not a global optimality theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 331 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The temporal integration by parts terms areThe terminal states are free and the objective has no explicit terminal-velocity dependence. ThereforeThe factor two follows from the displayed objective without a prefactor. The initial scalar field perturbation is fixed, so and there is no independently prescribed adjoint-scalar condition at . Its value there is obtained by backward integration. Independent variation of the initial velocity state gives .
Variation of the candidate in the energy-augmented functional gives the fixed-energy initial-condition optimality condition. For the usual divergence-free no-slip control space , write for its orthogonal projection, the Leray-Helmholtz projection in the usual incompressible velocity space. This is the standard formal control condition when pressure is determined by incompressible flow and normal momentum. If the independently imposed direct pressure flux is retained as an additional constraint, the admissible control variations must also satisfy its compatibility conditions along the trajectory; they need not fill the usual space . The standard projection formula alone does not prove stationarity for that more restricted problem. ThenFor the natural solenoidal adjoint space, . Equivalently, its component tangent to the sphere in a normed vector space of fixed kinetic energy vanishes:Here is needed for the sphere in a normed vector space to be regular and for division by . The multiplier is real and can have either sign; normalizing the initial adjoint with a prescribed positive sign is not a general necessary condition for minimization. If , the only feasible initial velocity is zero and this tangent formula for the sphere in a normed vector space is inapplicable. First-order stationarity alone also allows maxima or saddles; a local minimum requires the appropriate nonnegative constrained second variation.
The spatial boundary terms vanish with periodic adjoints in , homogeneous no-slip boundary conditions at , and there. To see this, velocity variations vanish at the wall while their normal derivatives need not, so the viscous boundary term forces the adjoint velocity to vanish. Scalar variations have zero normal derivative but free values, forcing the adjoint scalar's normal derivative to vanish. Pressure variation gives adjoint incompressible flow; no independent terminal or initial datum is assigned to . Its additive time-dependent constant may be fixed by a zero spatial mean.
In particular, a homogeneous Neumann condition for the direct pressure does not by variational transposition require . For a smooth adjoint solution, the wall-normal adjoint momentum equation instead suppliesat the flat walls, because the direct scalar normal derivative is zero there. A zero adjoint-pressure derivative would be an additional compatibility choice, valid only when this right-hand side vanishes.
There are also literal direct-data compatibility qualifications in the printed setup. The initial total scalar field is , whose wall derivative is . It is extraordinarily small but mathematically not zero. Thus exact initial scalar data and exact zero wall flux are incompatible for a classical solution smooth at . One may use a parabolic mild solution of an abstract Cauchy problem with the boundary condition enforced for , or replace the initial profile by an exactly compatible smooth one; these are conventions, not an equality . The reference scalar field is also not a stationary profile of the diffusion equation at finite : the full term must be retained.
The pressure compatibility at a no-slip wall is similarly important. Direct normal momentum gives . The separately imposed zero pressure derivative requires this right side to vanish. It is not automatic for arbitrary fixed-energy initial velocities. For example, the divergence-free no-slip field generated by the periodic stream function with has , and , while . With adjusted to any positive energy, no classical solution smooth up to the initial wall can satisfy that extra pressure condition. The displayed adjoints are the formal necessary equations along admissible smooth trajectories; a well-posed physical formulation normally determines pressure from incompressible flow and normal momentum, rather than imposing independent homogeneous pressure flux for every control.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Literal absence of new interaction vertices in the full quantum effective action holds only for Gaussian field theories.
For every interacting , the one-loop scalar effective action already contains counterexamples. On a constant background, with a positive auxiliary mass to control infrared divergences, its field-dependent part isThe term of order has external scalar fields and is a one-loop polygon one-particle-irreducible Feynman diagram. Choose and . Then , its loop momentum integral is ultraviolet convergent, and its coefficient is nonzero. Removing the ultraviolet cutoff does not remove this finite higher-point scalar vertex. For , generic nonexceptional external momenta give the same conclusion without retaining the auxiliary mass. In , the massless theory still needs an infrared prescription; removing the ultraviolet cutoff does not remove that need or the induced vertices. Hence there are no interacting pairs under the literal wording. For the functional determinant is field independent; merely shifts a Gaussian integral when an infrared prescription exists.
There is a different conventional interpretation: absence of new independent divergent counterterms. The superficial degree of divergence of a connected diagram isThe standard perturbative counterterm closure criterion is , with the same pairs as in part ii, provided one includes all symmetry-allowed lower-degree potential terms, the kinetic term, and the vacuum energy. A pure monomial family need not itself have counterterm closure: a sextic interaction in three dimensions generates a quartic counterterm, and a quartic interaction generates a mass counterterm. This interpretation concerns the local divergent part or the continuum defining action, not the complete quantum effective action with its finite interaction vertices and derivative expansion.
For the massive four-dimensional quartic scalar field theory, write for the bare quartic coupling, for its renormalized value, and for the mass held fixed by a renormalization condition. Define the scalar bubble integralThe quartic one-particle-irreducible correlation function, defined as a derivative of the Euclidean quantum effective action, isThere are three bubble diagrams, one for each pairing of external momenta, and each has Feynman-diagram symmetry factor . The minus sign follows equivalently from the quadratic term in the functional determinant .
Radial integration at zero external momentum givesThe bare quartic vertex is not finite at fixed bare coupling. Its logarithmic ultraviolet divergence must be subtracted. Impose the momentum-subtraction scheme condition . To one loop this requiresFor the finite difference, a Feynman parameter and a shift of loop momentum giveThe boundary error due to shifting a sharp cutoff vanishes in this limit. Substitution yields the finite renormalized quartic scalar vertexThus finiteness requires holding the renormalized coupling fixed and allowing the bare coupling to depend on . The unsubtracted assertion would be false.
The same one-loop scalar effective action explains the other effective interactions. For a constant background its expansion isThe tadpole diagram gives a mass correction , withIt requires a mass counterterm. The field-independent vacuum energy also requires subtraction. The term is the quartic logarithm already treated. There is no one-loop wave-function renormalization from the quartic tadpole diagram.
For the polygon diagrams generate finite higher-point scalar vertices, withFor example, the induced sextic term in the effective potential is , or a six-point interaction vertex when normalized by . These finite terms survive the removal of the ultraviolet cutoff at fixed .
The external-momentum dependence of the bubble diagrams also generates a derivative expansion of quartic interactions. At small , the subtracted scalar bubble integral is , giving finite derivative couplings. At order these are the new field-dependent interactions beyond the mass and quartic terms; the sextic and higher interaction vertices require higher powers of , though they still occur at one loop. Such coefficients are suppressed by powers of the physical mass or external momentum, not by powers of . The calculation establishes an order-by-order perturbative limit; it does not establish a nonperturbative interacting continuum limit of a quantum field theory in four dimensions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The kinetic term fixes the mass dimension of the scalar field, and the interaction then fixes that of its coupling:A relevant coupling has positive mass dimension; a marginal coupling has zero mass dimension. ThereforeFor integer dimensions the complete interacting list isIf the noninteracting terms are included, their couplings have mass dimensions and , respectively, and are relevant for every positive . This is a classification by power counting in quantum field theory; it does not assert the stability of odd monomial potentials.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 307 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the canonical Kähler potential and normalize superspace integration by . The superspace Lagrangian density isThe full superspace integration produces a D-term, while the chiral superfield integral produces an F-term. Work in chiral coordinates for the chiral-superfield component expansion, so the omitted spacetime-derivative terms do not enter the extraction of .
Set . A Taylor expansion of the superpotential givesHigher terms vanish because there are only two Grassmann variables . With and , their anticommutation gives . ThusThe canonical Kähler potential contributes . Consequently the part of the Lagrangian density containing the auxiliary field isThe fermion terms coming from the superpotential areThe Weyl spinor kinetic term and the complex scalar field kinetic term are canonical because .
Treat and as independent variables in their algebraic Euler-Lagrange equations. They giveEquivalently,After eliminating the auxiliary field, the Lagrangian density contains , so the F-term scalar potential isIt is nonnegative for arbitrary complex , since it is a modulus squared. A supersymmetric vacuum satisfies F-flatness, so its zeros are:If and these coincide; if and only the origin remains; if every constant is a supersymmetric vacuum.
To compare masses, expand around a supersymmetric vacuum satisfying , writing . With ,Writing gives the scalar field mass term ; the Weyl spinor has physical mass . Therefore the supersymmetric mass degeneracy isIn particular, at the boson and fermion masses are both . At the second supersymmetric vacuum the sign of reverses, but the physical mass is again . Equality here concerns fluctuations about a supersymmetric vacuum, not arbitrary backgrounds with .
In the convention and , the same superpotential coefficient gives and . The supersymmetric relation between quartic and Yukawa couplings is thereforeIf instead the Yukawa interaction is written , then and the same physical relation is . The numerical factor depends on the definition of the Yukawa coupling.
The perturbative non-renormalization theorem applies to the local holomorphic superpotential in the Wilsonian effective action, using regularization in quantum field theory that preserves supersymmetry. There are two complementary ways to see why it applies here.
First, in supergraph calculations in perturbative quantum field theory, the algebra of supersymmetric covariant derivatives puts any candidate local correction to the superpotential into a full superspace integration. It therefore corrects a D-term, such as the Kähler potential, rather than a local chiral F-term. Turning such a contribution into an apparent chiral integral would require nonlocal inverse spacetime derivatives, schematically . These are excluded from the local Wilsonian effective action with a fixed nonzero momentum cutoff. This gives the diagrammatic non-renormalization theorem.
Second, the holomorphy argument for superpotential non-renormalization treats and as background chiral spurions, so the Wilsonian effective action superpotential is a holomorphic function of , with no dependence on or . Assign an ordinary spurion charge and an R-charge as follows:The superpotential has ordinary charge zero and R-charge two, since has R-charge minus two. A prospective holomorphic monomial must therefore satisfyFor perturbative corrections, regularity at and requires nonnegative powers of the couplings. Regularity in is justified by keeping a nonzero Wilsonian momentum cutoff and retaining as a light field. Hence only and survive: the existing and structures. The quadratic coefficient is fixed by the free theory at , where there are no interaction loops. The cubic coefficient is fixed at first order in , where a connected three-field interaction has only its tree-level Feynman diagram; loop corrections would require further powers of the interaction couplings, which the holomorphy argument for superpotential non-renormalization charge constraints forbid. ThusA field-independent constant is physically irrelevant in this rigid model; the spurion charges would in any case require , which is not regular at .
The Kähler potential can still receive wave-function renormalization. For example, gives the canonical field normalization , and consequentlyThese canonically normalized parameters can run with the renormalization scale; this does not contradict the holomorphic non-renormalization theorem. When massless modes are included in the full quantum effective action, nonlocal terms associated with infrared divergences can also imitate an F-term. Distinguishing that action from the local Wilsonian effective action is part of the theorem's convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 309 4 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Define the stress-energy tensor by metric variation with the scalar held fixed:Use compactly supported variations to remove boundary terms. The first covariant derivative of a scalar field is an ordinary derivative, so it has no connection variation. Varying the kinetic term and the volume form gives
For the curvature term set . Using part (a), its variation isApplying integration by parts twice moves each pair of derivatives from the metric variation onto . The result iswhere is the Einstein tensor and is the d'Alembert operator. Comparing with the defining variation gives the stress-energy tensor of a nonminimally coupled scalar field:The factor follows from the action's coupling ; a convention using would instead give in that bracket. At this reduces to the massless Klein-Gordon scalar stress-energy tensor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 304 1 a Solution 2026-10-03
For a scalar field with classical action , the Euclidean source convention used throughout this question givesThe generating functional produces correlation functions through functional derivatives. For example,More generally, each derivative brings down , so an -point function carries .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 311 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For a real free scalar field on a globally hyperbolic spacetime, takeThe Klein-Gordon equation has a well-posed initial-value problem on every Cauchy hypersurface. Its complex solution space carries the conserved Klein-Gordon inner product. Choose modes withand expandThe canonical commutation relations produce the bosonic Fock space, and defines the chosen vacuum.
The choice of positive-frequency solutions is extra structure. In a time-dependent geometry there is no preferred time translation, so different choices mix with and give the vacuum ambiguity in a nonstationary spacetime. In a stationary spacetime, a timelike Killing vector field defines positive frequency by , , and hence the preferred vacuum state in a stationary spacetime.
If the spacetime is stationary in the remote past and future, define normalized in- and out-modes there. Their Bogoliubov transformation isThe expected out-particle number in the in-vacuum isThus nonzero beta coefficients measure particle creation by the intervening time dependence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 310 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
For a spatially homogeneous canonical scalar field, spatial derivatives vanish. Reading the time and spatial components of its energy-momentum tensor in the comoving frame givesThus the kinetic term contributes equally to energy density and pressure, whereas the scalar potential contributes negative pressure.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 313 1 Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the scalar field energy as , whereUnder the Derrick scaling , a change of variables givesA finite-energy solution of the Euler-Lagrange equation is stationary under this admissible variation. The Derrick virial identity is therefore
The static field equation is , so integration givesThe polynomial before is nonnegative and vanishes, so requiring the minimum to be zero fixes . Hence the vacuum manifold iswhich has three elements. A finite-energy scalar-field kink can join only adjacent vacua: a solution cannot cross the intermediate vacuum at finite because its first integral would have there and the Picard-Lindelöf theorem would make it constant. There are therefore four oriented topological sectors,comprising two increasing kinks and their two antikinks. Symmetry under and spatial reflection generates all four from one profile.
For the sector, completing the square gives the Bogomolny boundEquality holds for the Bogomolny equationWith , this becomes the logistic differential equation . Translation invariance supplies an arbitrary center , and the explicit kink in a phi-six model isIt tends to and at the two spatial ends and saturates the bound. Its mass is consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 312 1 i Solution 2026-09-28
Under spatial reflection, a scalar field obeys , and hence each spatial derivative changes sign. The interaction contains three such derivatives, so changing the integration variable from to givesThus this is a parity-odd scalar interaction.
Put and . Hermitian conjugation and commutativity of equal-time scalar fields giveThe parity-invariant vacuum and the odd parity of imply . ThereforeThere is no conflict with the usual rule for two Hermitian operators: a momentum-space product at fixed is generally not itself Hermitian, since its adjoint carries momenta .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 357 1 b Solution 2026-09-28
First take the spacetime trace of the generalized field equation. Since and spacetime has dimension four, this givesNext contract twice with the unit normal. The result isAdding the trace equation to twice this normal projection cancels . The Scalar Gauss equation then converts the curvature terms to
For the derivative terms, part (iii) givesDifferentiating along yieldsCombining these identities produces
Because is a scalar field and ,The normal acceleration is spatial, so . Part (iv) also gives . Solving the preceding constraint for givesThus the constants in this Z4 formulation evolution equation are