Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 63 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take the sky frame and disk frame to be right-handed orthonormal bases, with positive angular displacement measured from toward . In particular, positive is toward the observer, so material crossing the sky plane with positive is at the ascending node. Write , , , and . The disk frame's first unit vector lies along its ascending node, and its second has positive component. The orbital-frame rotation from inclination and node therefore givesEach column is a disk-frame unit vector in sky coordinates, so and the inverse is . At the disk's ascending node, the component of its tangential velocity is positive, confirming the sign of the tilt.
Let define a provisional planet frame whose first axis is the planet's sky-plane ascending node. Its normal is . Expressing that normal in the disk orthonormal basis, with , givesThe last component is the dot product of the two orbital normals, hence the cosine of the mutual inclination. The mutual ascending node points along : motion there has positive disk-normal component. SetThen , and the quadrant-correct longitude of ascending node is . ThusThe tangent alone cannot fix the quadrant, and is undefined for exactly coincident orbital planes.
For the two rotation routes, define as the oriented angle, within the planet's orbital plane, from its sky-plane ascending node to its disk-plane ascending node. If are the first two columns of , take . Both routes describe the same planet orthonormal basis:The left route goes through the disk frame; the right goes through the sky-node planet frame. Comparing their third columns gives the two boxed relations, while comparison of first columns fixes the extra in-plane angle.
Put and . A second-order Taylor expansion gives , and therefore the mutual inclination of nearly edge-on orbits satisfiesAll expansion angles are in radians. For plotting in degrees this is . The given planet has exact and . The exact minimum occurs at , with . At and , the second-order values are and .
For the disk evolution, neglect disk self-gravity, collisions that align the planes, and back-reaction on the planet. In the initial disk plane, use the complex inclination for a ring and for the planet. Linear Laplace-Lagrange secular theory has forced inclination and solution for initially flat rings. For an inner circular perturber, the Laplace coefficient formula is , with . Its quadrupole approximation uses , yieldingIn the plot referenced to the initial disk, every ring runs clockwise on the same circle centered at , starting at the origin. Inner rings advance more quickly. If the axes are instead referenced to the planet's plane, the relative tilt is : these circles are centered at the origin, and the mutual inclination is constant. Both conventions describe the same nodal precession; they should not be mixed.
At an intermediate epoch, rings with have tilted substantially while outer rings with remain near the original disk plane. This radial variation is a planet-induced debris-disk warp. The characteristic affected radius grows like . Conservative differential nodal precession preserves each ring's tilt relative to the planet, so it does not by itself align every orbit; an unresolved inner region can acquire a mean plane near the planetary plane through phase mixing. The secular interpretation is also described in Wyatt's planetary dynamics lectures.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 63 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , , and restrict first to . The radiation-pressure coefficient reduces the grain's central gravitational parameter to , whereas the planet's is approximately . Their mean motions obey . Setting this ratio to gives the radiation-pressure shift of a mean-motion resonance:It lies interior to the planet exactly when , or . Equality puts the frequency commensurability at the planet's radius. For every such commensurability is exterior.
There is a frame qualification in the printed encounter formula. The circular inertial speed of the grain at is . Subtracting the planet's inertial velocity at conjunction gives the local planet-relative inertial speedThis is the velocity used in the question's two-body gravitational assist calculation. In a frame actually rotating about the star at , the grain's tangential velocity is instead , with magnitude . In particular its nonradiating shear is , rather than . Thus the requested expression uses a local translating, inertial encounter convention despite the source's rotating-frame wording. The following derivation consistently uses that convention, and its coefficients are an encounter estimate rather than an exact rotating-frame result.
Take impact parameter and a small gravitational scattering angle . Expanding the supplied hyperbolic scattering relation gives . Initially the relative tangential velocity is ; after the deflection it has tangential component . The relative speed is unchanged in the local hyperbolic Kepler orbit, but the stellar-frame kinetic energy changes. Taking the dot product with the planet's velocity givesThe specific orbital energy of the grain is . Comparing it immediately before and after the encounter at the same position givesConsequentlyThe encounter increases the grain's semi-major axis within this geometry. These steps assume , , and an orbital kick small enough for the subsequent linearization.
Choose the initial conjunction longitude as zero. The synodic period is , and the planet's longitude accumulated by the next conjunction isThese are unwrapped longitudes, counting complete revolutions. The second uses the new mean orbital period while neglecting the encounter's immediate phase offset and the difference between true and mean conjunction. A comparison reduced modulo could not implement the stated one-turn sensitivity test.
For , , so and . Conjunction-longitude sensitivity to an encounter givesRequiring this to exceed gives . At a high-index first-order mean-motion resonance, , henceThe interpretation of the resonance-overlap encounter estimate is loss of coherent encounter phases: a small kick changes the next synodic encounter time by more than one planetary revolution. Resonant protection by repeatedly meeting at controlled orbital phases can then fail, allowing irregular kicks and diffusion. This sensitivity criterion motivates an unstable region; it is not a proof that every orbit or resonant phase in it must escape.
For a quantitative sketch with radiation, put and . Differentiating the conjunction formula and substituting the kick givesEvaluate this at the positive and take as the critical-index curve. At small , increased encounter speed weakens planetary scattering, moving the threshold to larger . As rises further, the radiation-pressure shift of a mean-motion resonance brings each commensurability closer to the planet, strengthening the close encounters. The curve turns over and approaches the exterior-limit boundary . Larger planetary mass produces stronger kicks and a lower critical index. These competing effects are shown below; the curves retain the factors in , so their intercepts differ slightly from the leading high- formula. The boundary for disappearing exterior commensurabilities is geometric; divergence of the encounter approximation near should not be read as a precise physical scattering rate.
Encounter-estimate critical resonance index versus radiation pressure for three planet-to-star mass ratios
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 64 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use perturbations for velocity, magnetic field, magnetohydrodynamic total pressure and buoyancy displacement variable. SetThis is advection by the background Keplerian shearing sheet. Subtracting the equilibrium before retaining first-order terms gives the nine linearized equations:The azimuthal coefficient combines the Coriolis acceleration with perturbation advection of the background shear. The term is the winding of radial magnetic field by that shear. The tidal force cancels when the equations at a fixed position are subtracted; it does not add a separate Eulerian perturbation force. Magnetic pressure is already included in , leaving only linear magnetic tension. In this normalization has dimensions of length because .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 64 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For an axisymmetric vertical mode of a shearing sheet with real , the two divergence constraints give . The vertical momentum equation then yields . Thus all three amplitudes vanish:Define the magnetic amplitudes and the signed vertical Alfvén velocity . Write . The remaining equations for the normal mode areFor a growing or oscillatory mode with , eliminating givesA nonzero velocity requires the determinant to vanish. After removing its factor , the dynamical dispersion relation isThis is the radially stratified magnetorotational dispersion relation, with . Keeping the original five-amplitude system instead gives characteristic polynomial times this quartic. There is also a stationary balanced normal mode; division by excludes it but loses no exponentially growing mode. At the divergence argument for vanishing vertical components does not apply, so that spatially uniform case must be treated separately.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 72 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take ; a real disturbance with negative wavenumber is recovered by complex conjugation. To obtain the pressure equation for a shear-flow normal mode, apply to the streamwise momentum equation and differentiate the normal momentum equation. The mass conservation equation cancels the viscous divergence and the terms proportional to , leaving . Thus the fluid pressure equation and wall value areThe wall value follows from streamwise momentum with no-slip boundary condition. Normal momentum also gives .
In the lower viscous boundary layer, mass conservation gives if . Since , convection and shear have size when ; matching these with transverse viscous diffusion gives . The pressure gradient balance then gives . Thus the lower scalings areThe neglected streamwise viscous term is smaller by . In these variables the leading equations areDifferentiating the second and using the first yields the Airy reduction .
Put , so . The bounded matching branch of the Airy function gives ; the other independent Airy solution grows along the ray and is excluded. Integrating with the two wall conditions giveswhile the wall momentum equation gives the constant fluid pressureDefine the convergent Airy displacement integralsThe Airy function equation and its decaying derivative imply . Consequently, as ,Both differentiated lower momentum and the constant of integration are satisfied; retaining that constant is essential for the final matching.
For the middle region introduce a perturbation stream function with and . The leading inviscid flow streamwise equation isFor a shear flow, this is the integrated form of the Rayleigh equation for inviscid shear flow. The leading matched solution for fixed is , so and . In the overlap with the lower viscous boundary layer, the first constant correction iswhich agrees with the integrated lower solution. For a regular smooth profile, the normal momentum equation gives . Thus fluid pressure variation across a fixed-width middle region is ; in the final distinguished scaling this is smaller than its value, so throughout that region. Since , the middle velocity tends to , which does not decay and requires another region.
The fluid pressure equation becomes when . Therefore the upper scale is , with . The inviscid decaying upper solution isMatching velocity as gives ; matching fluid pressure to the middle region gives . This is three-layer long-wave shear-flow matching, expressed as a matched asymptotic expansion.
Under with fixed positive , , and . Eliminating the nonzero amplitude gives the Airy wall-layer matching determinant and dispersion relationEquivalently, with ,The determinant form does not divide by a possibly vanishing . The wavespeed is ; temporal growth has sign for positive .
There is a genuine conflict in the printed assumptions: fixed- cannot satisfy as . For order-one lower matching amplitudes, constant leading middle fluid pressure requires , equivalently ; this is the reverse inequality and is satisfied by the final distinguished scaling. Thinness also requires . The dispersion relation above is therefore derived under the final distinguished limit, for which the complete consistent window is . Both printed limits cannot be imposed simultaneously.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
One convention for the Papkovich–Neuber representation uses a harmonic vector potential and a harmonic scalar potential :These are harmonic functions away from any singular force point. Since , the representation gives and , the equations of homogeneous Stokes flow.
Place the point force at the origin. A velocity linear in , decaying as and having the rotational symmetry of a point force is obtained from , . The vector components are harmonic functions for ; scalar dipole potentials would instead generate higher-order decaying singularities. The force normalization fixes . Indeed, substitution gives the Stokeslet:To verify its strength, the Newtonian fluid stress tensor is . Its outward traction integrated over any sphere surrounding the origin is , because . Thus the localized force applied to the fluid is , as required. Translation of the origin gives the same Stokeslet centered at any prescribed force point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , , and letUse the method of reflections for Stokes flow. At the fixed sphere, the first sphere produces the incident Stokeslet velocity to leading order. In Faxén translation law, set the second sphere's translational velocity to zero. The applied holding force is thereforeThe first sphere's finite-radius potential dipole adds to the incident velocity, as does the Laplacian term in Faxén translation law at the fixed sphere. Multiplying by gives the stated next correction. There is no intermediate term. This is the holding force and torque for a sphere in a distant Stokeslet.
The vorticity of a Stokeslet at displacement is . At the fixed sphere, , soSet its angular velocity to zero in Faxén rotation law. The applied holding couple isThe displayed sign is the external couple needed to oppose the ambient rotation, rather than the hydrodynamic couple on the sphere.
The leading reflected flow at the first sphere is . Apply Faxén translation law there with its prescribed force . Since , the mobility correction from a fixed distant sphere isThe next correction comes from finite-radius terms in the incident/reflected flow and in Faxén translation law, together with the fixed sphere's induced stresslet and holding-couple rotlet. Each gives at the first sphere. The symbol is its isolated-sphere velocity scale, not its actual velocity in the two-sphere problem.
The first sphere has no applied couple. Its angular velocity follows from Faxén rotation law and the reflected Stokeslet:The component of parallel to contributes no vorticity. The next reflected rotlet and stresslet give the stated error order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take positive upwards and let denote axial body force per unit volume. With inertia and surface tension omitted, the extensional equations for a slender Newtonian column areMass conservation gives the first equation. The second uses the Trouton ratio three: the leading radial velocity is , the radial normal traction gives , and the axial stress is . An axial control volume balance then gives the displayed equation. The approximation requires a slender column and slowly varying radius.
Let . Since the container base is closed, the total volume flux at every section is zero. The column carries flux , so the annulus carries and has mean speed of order . Its interfacial shear stress is therefore of order . Transmitting this stress through the core produces an axial velocity variation of order . The plug-flow criterion for a column in a low-viscosity annulus is consequently
Use modified pressure , removing the annular fluid's hydrostatic pressure. In a local planar gap, with at the column and at the container wall, lubrication theory givesThe required return flux per unit circumference is to leading order in . Its pressure-driven component is larger than the Couette component by , so the annular return flow around a slumping column givesThe annular shear contribution to the integrated axial force is smaller than this pressure-gradient term by . Retaining the leading terms and substituting gives the dimensional equationsThe boundary conditions are at the base and at the free upper end; the latter expresses zero excess axial extensional stress.
For , defineThis function records the leading thin-annulus resistance; differences from curvature and the Couette term enter at the already neglected relative order . Choose the extensional screening length of a slumping column and the associated scales asHere denotes the initial annular gap in this question. With , and , the dimensional equations reduce to
Initially and , so , with and . The initial velocity profile of an annularly confined column isThe column thickens everywhere below its stress-free top, while that initial thickening rate is zero at the top.
For a tall column, , the limiting forms away from exponentially small end corrections areThe bulk falls at approximately , where excess weight balances annular hydraulic resistance. Extensional stresses adjust this velocity to zero in a basal boundary layer of thickness ; almost all thickening occurs there.
For a short column on this scale, , while still slender, the limits areThe annular-resistance term is small, so excess weight is balanced predominantly by extensional viscous stress. The top speed is , recovering the zero-annular-viscosity result. Thus is the vertical distance over which extensional stress communicates the basal constraint before annular resistance screens it. The sketches below use separate natural normalizations for the two limits.
Initial velocity and thickening profiles of long and short annularly confined viscous columns
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
At leading order in the lubrication approximation, surface arclength is horizontal distance. An insoluble surfactant is transported by the surface velocity, without bulk exchange or diffusion. Conservation of insoluble surfactant on a moving interface therefore becomesThe local hydrostatic pressure and capillary normal stress giveSolve with no-slip boundary condition at and Marangoni stress . The velocity, surface velocity and volume flux per unit width areMass conservation, , yields the thin-film equations with insoluble surfactant:and the corresponding surfactant equation isThe hydrostatic and capillary terms thus affect both the film flux and the surface transport, with different coefficients.
For finite-mass Marangoni spreading on a liquid film, first neglect both pressure-gradient terms. If the spread has size , then and , giving surface speed . Equating to this speed givesSet exactly as a similarity scale, and writeOn the positive half of the pool, substitution produces two ordinary differential equations:Symmetry fixes the flux integration constant in the second equation to zero, giving wherever . Substitution into the first equation gives . Thus the linear similarity profiles for surfactant spreading have the formThe concentration vanishes at the moving front. The two integral constraints are total surfactant mass and conservation of the fluid volume relative to the undisturbed layer:The first gives ; the second gives . Therefore . In physical variables, the solution isOutside the pool the leading outer solution has , . In particular, : the subscript means the one-sided limit just behind the front. As a consistency check, the surface speed there is and the fluid jump satisfies the moving-front mass conservation condition. This ideal outer solution has a height jump from to .
That jump cannot persist in a physical interface with nonzero gravity or surface tension. Across a smoothing region of width , changes by . The Marangoni flux scales as . At , its balance with the capillary flux gives capillary smoothing of a Marangoni front:Here the surface tension approaches at the surfactant-free edge. The assumed concentration-gradient scale is even inside the smoothing region.
When gravity dominates capillarity, the hydrostatic flux is . The same balance gives gravity smoothing of a Marangoni front:The gravity-dominated condition is , the square of the capillary length. The printed condition omits ; the expression above restores dimensional consistency.
This width grows faster than . It becomes comparable with the pool size whenThe time is a scaling estimate, so numerical factors cannot be fixed by the width balance. For , the sharp-front similarity profile no longer describes the film: hydrostatic pressure levels the layer over the whole pool, and its thickness tends towards with an increasingly small depression beneath the surfactant. The surface can still spread by Marangoni stress while a hydrostatic-pressure-driven return flow nearly cancels the net film flux. In this gravity-levelled surfactant film, gives , so the fractional height variation is of order .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 73 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use pressure with the ambient hydrostatic pressure removed, and let be the pressure below the falling sphere minus that above it. Away from the sphere the tube flow is Hagen-Poiseuille flow. The upper and lower clear lengths add to to leading order in , so their pressure drops add:The large exterior reservoir returns this flux with negligible pressure loss compared with the long narrow tube. The sphere is assumed far enough from the ends that entrance effects and its occupied length give only lower-order corrections.
Now use a frame translating downwards with the sphere, and take positive upwards from its center. The sphere is stationary and the tube wall moves upwards with speed . The narrow gap isIt has axial length scale , making lubrication theory appropriate. The sphere-frame flux in a tube is constant: the upward relative flux through the whole section is , so its flux per unit circumference isWith on the sphere and on the wall, Couette-Poiseuille flow in a thin gap givesSince , the pressure-jump relation isThe parabolic inner gap can be extended to infinite because these integrals are dominated by . The lubrication resistance integrals for a nearly occluding sphere areSetting evaluates , , , hence
For the force, enclose the fluid between sections just above and below the sphere, including the annular layer. The net upward pressure force is . The tube wall exerts upward shear traction on this fluid; the sphere exerts a downward force equal to the upward hydrodynamic force on itself. From the gap solution,The axial control volume force balance therefore gives the control-volume drag formula for a sphere in a tube:Using a control volume avoids having to integrate the curved-sphere normal pressure and tangential shear separately.
With , , , , and , the three flux/pressure equations becomeSolving these linear relations givesThe force relation is . Substitution first yieldsBecause and , the terms and are lower order than . Keeping the uniformly relevant leading terms givesThe squared is essential; replacing it by would give the wrong sign and scaling. This establishes the three drag regimes for a nearly occluding sphere.
For ,The sphere nearly carries the tube's fluid down with it: the far-field flux is close to the piston displacement rate. The relative annular leakage is small in total volume, and the dominant force comes from the local annular shear term. The pressure force associated with the overall tube resistance is smaller.
For ,The flow remains approximately piston-like, but the dominant force is now the pressure needed to drive Hagen-Poiseuille flow through the long clear tube. Both displayed terms in are retained because their relative size changes inside this regime without producing an additional leading drag regime.
For ,The large tube resistance makes its net through-flow negligible. The sphere's displaced fluid instead passes upwards relative to it through the thin annular gap, with gap velocity of order . Its pressure drop and resulting pressure force dominate.
Finally consider two identical co-moving spheres, with nonoverlapping lubrication regions and the same total clear-tube length to leading order. The common through-flux is not doubled. In the middle regime it is still approximately , so the same total tube pressure drop is shared equally between the two identical spheres. The load sharing between co-moving spheres in a tube gives half the single-sphere force on each sphere in regime (ii). In regime (i), drag is set locally by the nearly pressure-balanced annular shear and is unchanged on each sphere. In regime (iii), each sphere must pass essentially its own displacement flux through its annular gap, giving the same local pressure drag as before; adding another pressure jump changes the already small tube flux but not either leading drag. The force is unchanged in regimes (i) and (iii).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 74 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the inviscid, nonrotating Boussinesq approximation, with a stable background mass density and reference density . Write for the perturbation buoyancy and for the kinematic pressure. The buoyancy frequency is . Dropping products of perturbations in the Boussinesq equations gives the Linearized Boussinesq equationsThe last equation expresses incompressible flow; the second follows by advecting the background mass density gradient. Neglecting rotation and viscosity is part of this internal gravity wave model.
For a plane internal gravity wave proportional to , put and . Eliminating the horizontal velocity, pressure and buoyancy from the linear equations givesFor example, the horizontal momentum and continuity equations give ; substituting into vertical momentum yields the displayed dispersion relation. Thus an IGW has in this model.
On the positive-frequency branch, the phase velocity normal to a constant-phase plane and the group velocity areConsequently , and phase and group velocity are perpendicular. Equivalently, the dispersion relation is homogeneous of degree zero in the wave vector, so differentiating with respect to its scale proves the same orthogonality. Energy travels with the group velocity, along the phase planes. At the degenerate limit , and the group velocity vanishes; the orthogonality statement then has this limiting interpretation.




