Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 71 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume an axisymmetric, geometrically thin disc in a fixed Keplerian rotation field, neglecting the disk's self-gravity. Write positive outwards and letThe ring supplies the local specific angular momentum. Its source per unit area iswhere the Dirac delta function is normalized so that . Define the positive outward viscous torque in an accretion disk byThe height-integrated conservation of mass and conservation of angular momentum equations areSubtract times the mass equation. Since is time-independent, this givesThe last term is zero as a distribution, because the source is supported where . Since , substituting the torque givesInserting this into the mass equation proves the Keplerian disk evolution with a ring source:The viscosity may be a prescribed function or a function of the local disk state; the conservation derivation is the same.
To track signs in the steady problem, define the inward mass fluxThen . Away from the source is constant, with on the inner side and on the outer side, where both loss rates are positive. Integrating through the source gives . Therefore
The outward angular momentum flux is . The steady angular-momentum equation gives . At the two torque-free boundaries its values are and . Integrating across the disk therefore yieldsEliminate and use . The two-boundary mass split of a ring-fed disk isThe complementary outward fraction is . Both fractions lie between zero and one for a source strictly between the boundaries.