Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2017 1 d Solution 2026-10-18
Position-dependent density. The density remains independent of itself, so the shift Noether charge survives with its altered canonical momentum:A prescribed generic function supplies a fixed spatial scale and breaks scale invariance. For the dilation-current candidate with the corresponding and , the scale-breaking sources in derivative field theories giveThus is generally not conserved. Constant density recovers the earlier case; specially scale-invariant profiles and suitably invariant domains would require separate treatment.
Quartic strain. The extra term in again preserves a uniform field shift. Its time momentum is unchanged, while its spatial current becomes . ThereforeThe new Hamiltonian density is . Under waveform dilation, the quartic term scales with rather than , andHence there is no corresponding conserved for nonzero generic , even if the energy in its candidate expression is updated.
Field-dependent quadratic stiffness. In , the term breaks the uniform field shift:when spatial flux vanishes. Thus is not generally conserved. However all terms still contain exactly two derivatives in total, with a field of zero dilation weight. The factor gains no extra power of , so waveform dilation remains an action symmetry. Its charge isHere as before. Relative to the original charge, the energy term changes; the symmetry survives despite the nonlinear field dependence. These statements concern symmetry conservation, separately from any restrictions on parameters needed for positive elastic energy.