Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 5 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The interior elliptic regularity assertion for the Laplace equation is that a harmonic function is smooth, in fact real analytic, throughout . No boundary regularity of its unspecified boundary values is implied.
First let and . On a ball compactly contained in , differentiating its spherical average and applying the divergence theorem expresses that derivative as a constant factor times , which is zero. The spherical average tends to at the center as . This proves the mean value property for harmonic functions.
Choose a radially symmetric smooth mollifier , supported in , with integral one. By integrating the spherical mean value property,whenever . For fixed the right side is a smooth convolution, since all derivatives can be placed on . Thus is smooth. The same argument proves the Weyl lemma for a distributionally harmonic : first mollify , apply the fixed-radius identity, and let the mollification radius tend to zero in distributions to obtain the same smooth representative.
To prove real analytic regularity, differentiating the fixed-radius convolution gives the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic functionfor any harmonic . All derivatives of are harmonic. On nested balls between and , apply this estimate times, decreasing the radius by each time. For ,The inequality follows by integrating below the sum defining . Apply the one-dimensional Taylor theorem along each segment, expanding directional derivatives by the multinomial formula. The remainder is bounded by , so it tends to zero for sufficiently small . This gives a locally convergent multivariate Taylor series. A harmonic function is real analytic in the interior.
The usual inhomogeneous elliptic regularity statement also follows: if and is smooth, take a cutoff equal to one near a given point and set , where is a fundamental solution of the Laplace equation with . Moving every derivative to the compactly supported smooth function shows is smooth. Locally is harmonic, so is smooth there too.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 4 12C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For a Lorentz transformation to an inertial frame moving at speed in the positive direction, write and . Any four-vector transforms asThis convention applies to and uses the same Minkowski metric as the four-momentum calculation.
The definition of proper time gives for . Hence the four-velocity isSince , differentiating with respect to proper time givesHere simplifies the spatial component of the four-acceleration.
At each event, boost with to the instantaneous rest inertial frame. Then and . Thus the signed proper acceleration for one-dimensional motion isThe last equality follows by differentiating ; its magnitude is the usual scalar proper acceleration.
If this signed proper acceleration is constant and the particle starts from rest, integration gives , soIntegrating once more and imposing yields the hyperbolic motion worldlineFor the continuous limiting solution is . Finally, the Taylor series of the square root givesThis recovers constant-acceleration Newtonian mechanics at low speed while the exact relativistic speed remains less than .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 18 5 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose a positive Hermitian metric on . Its curvature form is a Kähler form on the compact complex manifold of dimension one. Part (c) gives a threshold with for every . We use this to prescribe a finite principal part of a meromorphic section.
Fix a smooth cutoff supported inside the given coordinate chart and equal to one near . Let . On the punctured manifold define inside the chart, extended by zero outside. Its Dolbeault operatoris smooth globally: it vanishes near the pole and near the boundary of the chart. It is -closed, either by the square-zero identity or because there are no -forms in complex dimension one. The vanishing of , together with the Dolbeault theorem, therefore gives a global smooth section with .
The section is holomorphic on . Near , , so with holomorphic through zero. Its Taylor series then giveswhere the second series converges near zero and its coefficients are those of . The threshold is determined by the fixed bundle and , and is independent of the prescribed coefficients. In fact the same threshold works for every finite pole order , since the Dolbeault cohomology obstruction is the same for every such cutoff construction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 2 1A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Collecting the shifted terms gives a second-order difference equation with coefficients , and . Substitute to obtain its characteristic equation of a linear recurrence:For real , the roots and general solution areIn the small-step regime, indeed for , the polynomial is positive at , negative at and positive for sufficiently large positive . Thus . The bounded solution of a second-order constant-coefficient recurrence discards the growing root, and fixes its remaining coefficient:The Taylor series establishes the displayed approximation to the root. Raising that approximation to the th power is a leading approximation, rather than a uniform relative approximation for arbitrarily large : its relative error is controlled when is small. For completeness, the degenerate values give when , and when .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 2 1A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Divide the second-order difference equation by and set . The first quotient is a central finite difference approximation to ; the quotient approximates . Their Taylor series errors are for a sufficiently smooth function. This is therefore a finite difference method for the second-order linear differential equation in part (a).
At a fixed , take with integral. Since , the exact bounded discrete solution satisfiesLikewise . The decay selected by boundedness in the linear recurrence relation becomes exactly the decay selected by boundedness in the ordinary differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 13A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
On the parabolic domain with the nonpositive real axis removed, first apply the principal square root, then scale by , and then apply the map of part (b). This gives the stated composite and maps bijectively onto the slit unit disc.
There is no genuine branch cut in the composite. The function is even in , so changing the local square root has no effect. Near zero its Taylor series starts asgiving a holomorphic extension with . There are no poles within the parabolic domain: the possible squared locations are , all on the excluded real portion .
For with , the continuation givesAs ranges from zero to infinity, these values run once through . They fill precisely the slit omitted by the previous mapping, and no point away from the negative real axis has an image in that slit. Therefore the extended map is a bijection onto the whole unit disc:It is holomorphic throughout, so this bijection is the desired conformal map from a parabolic domain to the unit disc; in particular .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 2A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
At the origin, the Taylor series and giveThus has a pole of order three and a pole of order four at zero. For the third function, the Laurent serieshas infinitely many nonzero negative-power terms, so zero is an essential singularity of .
To classify the point at infinity on the Riemann sphere, use the coordinate . Thenso has a simple pole at infinity.
For the other two functions, an important qualification is necessary. The poles of at nonzero integer multiples of , and those of at nonzero integer multiples of , approach infinity. Equivalently, their images in the coordinate accumulate at zero. Hence infinity is a non-isolated singularity of and . Neither function is holomorphic on any punctured neighbourhood of infinity, so the classification of isolated singularities into removable singularities, poles and essential singularities does not apply there.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 8D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Expand the second stage by the Taylor theorem, writing and for the derivative in the state variable:The update therefore agrees with the exact solution's Taylor series:Thus the one-step local truncation error is , and the method has order at least two under the usual smoothness and Lipschitz continuity assumptions.
For , the two-stage Runge-Kutta method givesOn the real axis, , so is equivalent to . HenceThe decay convention gives . Since negative real values such as lie outside the linear stability domain, the method is not A-stable. Its order is exactly two, since lacks the cubic term of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 105 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Set . The equation is equivalent to . Because is continuously differentiable, the Cauchy-Riemann equations imply that it is a holomorphic function of . Its convergent complex Taylor series restricts to a real power series along , so is a real analytic function.
For smooth-data instability of the Cauchy-Riemann Cauchy problem, chooseThese are entire functions and satisfy the equation. Their initial derivatives obey , so every finite sum tends to zero. ButThus analytic solutions can exist while continuous dependence on initial data fails for this smooth-data topology.
The Cauchy estimate follows directly from the differentiated Cauchy integral formula:The circle has length , giving the bound for every integer .
Put and integrate on the straight segment . For fixed , a disc centred at with radius approaching stays inside . Applying the first-derivative Cauchy estimate there givesIntegrating its modulus and taking the supremum over is exactly the asserted integral estimate. The source cancels from .
To obtain a contraction mapping, use the weighted holomorphic norm on a shrinking time domain. Its finite-norm space consists of holomorphic functions on with zero initial value; the apparent quotient at is interpreted by a limit. Completeness follows because convergence in this norm implies locally uniform convergence of holomorphic functions, including near , and the limiting pointwise bounds give convergence in the norm.
Here is the explicit contraction estimate on a shrinking holomorphic domain. Write , , , and chooseThen and . The whole auxiliary polydisc lies inside , and its supremum of is at most . ConsequentlyThus . Choose . The source is bounded on the closed polydisc, say by , and . Therefore maps the Banach space into itself and is a strict contraction mapping. The Banach fixed-point theorem gives a holomorphic fixed point with . Differentiating the integral identity yields , establishing this case of the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem.
Finally, near each real initial point, a real analytic function has a holomorphic extension . Apply the same construction to with and source , restricting the discs if necessary. This gives a local real analytic function of with the prescribed initial value. Equivalently the solution is wherever the extension is defined.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 203 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and . The given conformal change of half-plane capacity makes the image mapping-out equationIndeed its capacity speed is , and the stated Loewner local growth property identifies the indicated single driver. For , differentiate the conjugacy identityat a fixed original point. The Chordal Loewner equation then gives the conformal conjugacy derivative for the chordal Loewner equationThe change of variable covers the whole upper half-plane. The conformal automorphism of the upper half-plane is a real Möbius transformation. Its pole is the image of the still-unswallowed boundary point , so it is holomorphic in a neighbourhood of before .
To evaluate the apparent singularity, write , and . The Taylor series isThus the first term in the derivative is , while the second is . Their poles cancel and their constant terms differ by . Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 3 13F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Fix . The Cauchy integral formula and the uniformly convergent geometric series on giveDefiningthe remainder after degree has modulus at most , which tends to zero uniformly on each smaller disk. Differentiating the integral formula at zero identifies , independently of . Since is an entire function, can be chosen larger than any given , proving the global Taylor series.
For the requested radius , the same coefficient integral gives the Cauchy estimateTo characterize equality in the Cauchy coefficient estimate, parametrize its circle:If , the identity theorem gives . Otherwise equality in the modulus bound requires the continuous integrand to have both constant modulus and constant complex argument. To see this directly, rotate its average to the positive real axis: its real part is bounded above by , and equality of its average with forces that real part to equal everywhere. Thus on the circle. The identity theorem extends that equality to the plane. Conversely every such monomial attains the bound. Thereforeincluding the zero function and, when , arbitrary constant functions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 3 2F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
One form of the Baire category theorem says that a nonempty complete metric space cannot be a countable union of closed nowhere dense sets.
For each nonnegative integer , putBecause is an entire function, every derivative is continuous and is closed. No is identically zero: if for some , repeated integration shows that is a polynomial. By the identity theorem, the zero set of the nonzero holomorphic function has empty interior. Thus each is nowhere dense.
The complex plane is complete, so the Baire category theorem givesChoose outside this union. Then for every , and hence every coefficient in the Taylor series about is nonzero. Such a point therefore exists.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 2F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The partial fraction decomposition isFor , expand both denominators by the geometric series:This is actually a Taylor series at zero, since the apparent puncture at zero contains no singularity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 4 14D c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Taking and using givesSet . The Taylor series of the denominator isConsequentlyThe singular part at is thereforeUsing long-time asymptotics from a Laplace transform and part (a), the centre temperature has late-time behaviour
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 105 3 a Solution 2026-10-03
The function is real analytic at if there is a neighborhood of on which its multivariable Taylor seriesconverges to . Here is a multi-index; equivalently, agrees locally with a convergent real power series centred at .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 150 1 d Solution 2026-10-03
Taking the natural logarithm of the finite Euler product and using the Taylor seriesgivesThe double series converges absolutely, and the Mertens second theorem therefore makes the right sideforExponentiating provesThis is the Mertens third theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 336 1 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let . For , on the integration interval, so its minimum is the endpoint . The Taylor series isOn the contributing scale , the higher terms are negligible. The endpoint form of Laplace's method, or the Watson lemma, therefore gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 336 1 b Solution 2026-10-05
The three fixed- estimates below cease to be uniform as the minimum of the phase approaches the endpoint. For the cubic endpoint-to-saddle transition, writeThe Taylor series of the hyperbolic sine gives, for bounded and fixed ,The cubic term controls the tail, so localization of the Laplace integral gives the uniform leading formulaHere is the cubic Laplace transition integral, equal to in terms of the Scorer Hi function.
To recover the endpoint regime, let . Scale in ; the cubic term becomes negligible and . Thereforewhich agrees with part (i) in the overlap . At , the Gamma integral gives , recovering part (iii).
For , set . The exponent has its maximum at , with second derivative . Thus Laplace's method givesand the transition formula becomesFor with , part (ii) hasPutting reproduces both the exponential and its prefactor. For relative agreement of these leading exponentials, one may use the overlap , which makes . Thus the same transition integral connects all three regimes.
The cubic endpoint-to-saddle transition
. Direct numerical integration of the original phase approaches the same cubic transition function as the large parameter increases. Negative transition parameter places the minimum inside the interval; positive parameter leaves an ordinary endpoint minimum. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 346 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Assume nonrelativistic pressureless matter, an initial irrotational vector field of growing-mode linear cosmological density perturbations, a homogeneous expanding background, and no shell crossing. All gradients below refer to initial comoving coordinates. Let , with , and normalize the linear growth factor by . The paper calls a growth rate, but it is the dimensionless growth factor; is its time derivative.
Writing for the actual position at , the Zeldovich approximation is, to first order,This explicitly gives . The usual notation instead uses the uniform reference Lagrangian coordinate , with . The two labels can be interchanged inside a first-order displacement, but not in the unperturbed position without the initial displacement correction.
To determine , mass conservation between the initial and current positions givesDemanding gives . The irrotational vector field assumption makes a gradient; the initial cosmological Poisson equation is . With the same boundary conditions for these potential equations, and after removing an irrelevant uniform translation,The evolution of follows from the linearized peculiar-motion equation . Since cosmological Poisson equation gives to this order, substitution yields the linear growth equationThus the approximation extrapolates the linear growing displacement along a fixed initial direction, even as its density mapping becomes nonlinear.
The early spin of a dark-matter halo comes from an external gravitational torque on its nonspherical initial mass region. A uniform external acceleration moves its centre of mass without spinning it; the spatially varying tidal tensor exerts different forces on different parts. The tidal torque theory requires misalignment of the region's shape and the surrounding tidal field. A local irrotational vector field of velocity does not imply zero integrated angular momentum for a nonspherical region.
Put and use the physical peculiar velocity . The physical lever arm is , while a leading-order mass element is . Substituting the velocity formula into the supplied definition of angular momentum about the centre of mass givesTerms from the perturbed mass measure are higher order. Subtracting the barycentre's velocity also changes nothing because at this order.
Apply the divergence theorem componentwise:The antisymmetry of the Levi-Civita symbol kills the last term. Consequently, for the ordinary oriented comoving surface element ,The original PDF prints a different coefficient, . That coefficient does not follow from its own mass measure and velocity equation and has the wrong dimensions for total angular momentum. The corrected coefficient above also gives the time dependence consistent with the paper's later tensor expression; this is a source typo, not a TeX transcription issue.
For a spherical centered on its barycentre, the outward normal is parallel to , so pointwise. HenceFor an equipotential surface, on , andThereforeThe second conclusion holds for any boundary shape at this order, not just a sphere.
To extract the leading tidal torque, expand the initial peculiar gravitational potential about the barycentre using its Taylor series:The constant has no force; has zero integrated torque because the first mass moment vanishes. With the mass second-moment tensorwe obtainThe second equality swaps the indices and uses the symmetry of both tensors. Define the initial acceleration tidal tensor byThen the formula in the question has exactly the stated sign:If one defines as the positive Hessian matrix of instead, the displayed contraction has a plus sign. Defining the convention is essential. Also, the paper's is a mass second-moment tensor; the mechanical inertia tensor is .
Only the anisotropic parts contribute: a multiple of the identity produces zero contraction with the Levi-Civita symbol. In axes where , for example,Thus a spherical region or tensors sharing principal axes have zero leading torque; unequal principal moments together with off-diagonal tidal components create spin. The Taylor series truncation assumes that higher spatial derivatives of the tidal field are sufficiently small across the region.
In an Einstein-de Sitter universe, , , and . The initial and are time independent, soThis is early-time growth for fixed initial matter, before collapse invalidates the extrapolation. It does not predict indefinite linear spin growth for a virialized halo.
Two reasons for only approximate agreement with simulations are that nonlinear collapse and shell crossing change the trajectories and the tidal field, invalidating the first-order displacement and fixed leading tidal tensor; and that real halos undergo dark-matter halo mergers, anisotropic accretion, and exchange of material and angular momentum, so the halo identified at a later time need not be the same isolated collection of initial particles. These processes can change both the magnitude and the direction of the spin.
