Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 74 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Continue with downward coordinate and . By Stokes drag law, the small-particle isolated settling velocity is . Normalize concentrations by : write . In suspension the specified independent hindered settling laws give fluxes and . The initial state is .
Two upper sedimentation shocks clear the species separately. The faster front removes large particles, leaving behind it; the small concentration is unchanged across this front because the species fluxes are independent. The slower front separates that small-only suspension from clear fluid. Their downward velocities areThere is also a growing mixed deposit at the bottom. Let its normalized solid concentrations be , with , and let its upward speed magnitude be . Applying the Rankine-Hugoniot condition to each species givesAdding these relations provesThe deposited flux is zero even though each species occupies only part of the packing: the settling law applies to the suspension, while the deposit is a separate stationary state. These jump relations determine the deposit composition from sedimentation jump conditions.
The large-particle clearing front has height and meets the mixed-deposit front at height . ThusAt this merger all large particles have entered the deposit. Only the small particles remain suspended, at normalized concentration . The new material deposited above the mixed layer is pure small-particle solid, at total concentration . Its sedimentation shock therefore has downward speedFor , the deposit top and the remaining clearing front have heightsTheir meeting, or the total solid-volume balance, givesThis is two-stage bidisperse batch sedimentation: the fast species finishes first, followed by deposition of the remaining slow species.
The final solid composition by volume, and also by mass because the particle densities are identical, isThe upper pure-small layer has thickness . As checks, accounts for all large-particle solid volume, and accounts for all small-particle solid volume, in units of . If “percentage of particles” means number rather than volume, a large sphere occupies eight times the volume of a small sphere: the mixed bottom layer contains large particles by number and small. The upper layer remains entirely small under either convention.
Bidisperse sedimentation: three initial shocks, merger at t1 and h1, final settling at t2 and h2, and solid-volume composition of the deposit
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 74 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
At a fixed height, first determine the stored quantities per unit vertical height and per unit length along the line source. With , the triangular-profile line plume has the useful profile integralThe geometric volume is ; the mass is . The upward momentum is , while the buoyancy force is . ThusHere positive buoyancy corresponds to a rising light plume. If instead buoyancy is defined kinematically, divide by ; the density-weighted convention here is the one matching the printed equations.
Multiply each local density by the vertical velocity to obtain the fluxes through a horizontal section, still per unit source length:In particular, the stored momentum equals the mass flux , and the buoyancy flux is . The different triangular-profile factors in storage and flux must not be replaced by top-hat coefficients.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 74 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Apply volume conservation, mass conservation and vertical momentum flux balance to a slice of the triangular-profile line plume. Ambient ingestion contributes of volume and of mass per unit height and source length. The ambient is quiescent, so it supplies no leading vertical momentum. The integrated driving force is the stored buoyancy . Using the quantities from part (a), the non-Boussinesq triangular-profile line-plume balances areTogether with Batchelor entrainment, these are three equations for . They neglect viscous boundary stresses and streamwise pressure-force corrections within the integral-plume approximation.
Multiplying volume conservation by and subtracting times mass conservation cancels the ambient sources exactly, givingThis is buoyancy conservation in the homogeneous ambient; it is a consequence of the first two balances, not an additional independent equation.
Now take the Boussinesq approximation in inertia and entrainment, retaining the small density deficit in buoyancy. Then , and . ConsequentlyThe mass source is . Substitution into the mass conservation, momentum and buoyancy balances gives the unsteady Boussinesq triangular-profile line-plume balancesThese use density-weighted mass and momentum fluxes. Removing from some flux definitions while retaining it in the source would mix incompatible conventions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 310 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take a homogeneous comoving cell of physical volume and total entropy . At vanishing chemical potential, the reversible first law of thermodynamics readsFor an extensive equilibrium system, the thermodynamic Euler relation is . At this givesThe supplied pressure identity verifies consistency directly: impliesThe thermodynamic Euler relation fixes the additive normalization that a differential identity alone would leave undetermined.
For adiabatic cosmological expansion, the cosmological perfect-fluid continuity equation gives , while . HenceThis proves cosmological entropy conservation in the stated perfect-fluid approximation. Kinetic equilibrium alone does not guarantee adiabatic evolution: entropy injection, dissipative stresses or out-of-equilibrium reactions would require additional source terms. Those effects are implicitly excluded in this calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 320 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For finite-thickness disk relaxation, assume a well-separated range and approximately virialized self-gravity. The three factors have distinct origins. Replacing the characteristic encounter speed by shortens the diffusion time by : the variance-production rate has one inverse power of speed, and the target random velocity squared has two powers. Concentrating the same number of stars into volume of order , rather than , raises the number volume density by and shortens the time by . Finally, only separations below the thickness sample a three-dimensional encounter geometry. The logarithmic upper cutoff becomes , and therefore the inverse-logarithm time acquires . More distant encounters have the planar geometry and provide a convergent, non-logarithmic correction. A smaller Coulomb logarithm in stellar dynamics actually partly offsets the first two shortenings.
Thus, using the same cutoff for this comparison,For actual point particles the disk cutoff is , whereas the spherical one is ; one must use the appropriate cutoff in each logarithm rather than silently identifying them. For a softened calculation it is instead of order the larger of the weak-deflection scale and the softening length. The formula is not valid when approaches that cutoff.
Write and , with simulation duration and allowed fractional diffusion . Combining the paper's spherical normalization and its comparison formula gives the leading criterionThe spherical comparison logarithm cancels when its numerical convention and a common comparison cutoff are used; order-one shape factors remain approximate. In an unsoftened disk with , . Hence the implicit requirement is , in the regime . For , the stellar relaxation time is of order of the spherical value apart from logarithms; gives a time of order 100 crossing times in this estimate. Negligible relaxation over that duration requires an additional margin. A disk generally needs far more particles than a round galaxy for the same relaxation tolerance; no universal minimum follows without duration, thickness and softening. Collective spiral or bending responses are a separate source of evolution even in a collisionless stellar system.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 320 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a regular Lagrangian define the canonical momentum components . Require the velocity Hessian to be invertible locally so that the velocities can be expressed in terms of . The Legendre transform in mechanics definesThe explicit time argument cannot generally be omitted when the given Lagrangian depends on time. Its differential is , since the terms cancel. The Euler-Lagrange equations give , and comparison yields Hamilton's equations:For the time-independent stellar gravitational potential below, is conserved. Its sign convention differs from the binding energy in question 2: here is the ordinary specific orbital energy.
The prescribed nondegenerate prolate spheroidal coordinates require ; equality collapses the coordinate family. Their physical velocity components are , and . Per unit stellar mass the Lagrangian is , so . Its Hamiltonian isThis uses acceleration , as specified, rather than importing the opposite gravitational potential convention.
For the Stäckel potential, use the Hamilton-Jacobi equation with principal function . Axisymmetry makes constant. Write and . Multiplying by and usingseparates it as , where . Each side depends on its own coordinate only and therefore equals a constant, chosen as . Here is the generating function of the gravitational potential, not the gravitational constant. HenceThis proves the conserved axisymmetric Stäckel third integral. Eliminating between the two expressions and using givesAt regular generic phase-space points the three separation constants are independent; special circular or degenerate orbits can reduce their local independence. Thus the model is an integrable Hamiltonian system.
For the intended regular, phase-mixed steady model, Jeans theorem permits a galactic distribution function . At any fixed point, and depend on and only through their squares, and depends only on . Thus is even separately in and , whether or not it is even in . Odd integration proves velocity-ellipsoid alignment in a Stäckel potential:The argument allows azimuthal streaming: it does not require zero mean . The means in the two meridional directions vanish, so the off-diagonal velocity covariance also vanishes. Second moments must exist for this conclusion.
There is a hypothesis behind the printed universal wording. On a generic nonresonant regular invariant torus, a continuous steady distribution is constant along a dense orbit and hence depends only on the torus integrals; this justifies the phase-mixed form. Bare stationarity alone is not sufficient in a degenerate resonant gravitational potential with additional integrals. For example is a Stäckel Hamiltonian: choose , up to a constant vacuum shift. The additional conserved quantity gives a positive normalizable steady tracer for . Its local . At azimuth zero and a regular point where the direction has a radial component, this gives nonzero . This tracer need not itself source the harmonic gravitational potential. It exhibits why the stronger, ordinary phase-mixed three-integral assumption is necessary instead of claiming that every imaginable steady distribution has the asserted alignment.
The geometry follows by multiplying the coordinate-defining equation and evaluating at :Constant surfaces are prolate spheroids, with equatorial semiaxis and polar semiaxis . Constant interior surfaces are two-sheeted hyperboloids. Their common foci lie at . The orbit volume in an axisymmetric Stäckel potential is determined byIts allowed coordinate intervals have turning boundaries or coordinate endpoints. A typical bound orbit with oscillates between inner and outer spheroids, oscillates vertically between hyperboloidal limits, and circulates about the symmetry axis with . The equatorial fold joins the positive and negative branches; it is not necessarily a physical turning point in .
For three incommensurate frequencies, the regular trajectory densely samples its projected allowed volume, with nonuniform occupation determined by its speeds. It does not follow one coordinate surface, and it need not close. Resonant orbits may be closed or lie in a smaller projected set; confines azimuthal motion to a meridional plane (with the usual axis coordinate qualification), and circular or equatorial limits are also lower-dimensional. Smooth Stäckel separation removes the generic chaotic behavior of nonintegrable potentials; it does not assert that every orbit fills a three-dimensional volume.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 34D b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 22F iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The defining integral is well-defined and bounded for every dimension: and the multiplier is supported on a finite-volume ball. However the asserted general-dimensional conclusion is false for the Euclidean radial cutoff printed in the original PDF. The nonintegrability of a radial triangular Fourier cutoff in three dimensions is a source issue, not an omitted conjugate or OCR substitution.
For a direct counterexample in , take the Schwartz function , whose Fourier transform is the same Gaussian. With and , radial integration givesThe amplitude vanishes at both endpoints, and . Two integrations by parts, with a further one to bound the remainder, giveThe integral diverges logarithmically for every fixed . For example, restrict to the periodic subintervals on which ; the error is smaller than half the leading term at sufficiently large . Thus , even for this smooth integrable .
The familiar intended argument is valid in one dimension. There the inverse Fourier kernel isand by Fubini's theorem. Its mass outside any fixed neighbourhood of zero tends to zero by scaling, soby continuity of translations in . For arbitrary dimension, replacing the radial cutoff by the product gives a tensor product of these integrable kernels and the same approximate identity proof. These are explicit valid repairs, not claims that the PDF specified a product cutoff.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 34D iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The expansion about the liquid-gas critical point isDifferentiating at fixed gives the requested . At coexistence , so to leading nontrivial order keep the cubic odd part .
Let , for this leading cubic model. Equality of endpoint pressures gives . The Maxwell condition in pressure coordinates is . Since the endpoint pressures agree, its first term vanishes, leavingIf , these two equations would imply , contrary to distinct phases. Therefore , and the pressure equality gives . HenceThus the coexistence gap has exponent one half. The printed equality is a leading-order statement, not an exact identity for the full Van der Waals equation. Discarded asymmetric terms shift both phase volumes at higher order. This distinction is needed even though the leading cubic calculation has exact antisymmetry within its truncation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 9C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For a thin spherical shell, the radial pressure force per unit volume is . By the shell theorem, the inward gravitational acceleration is , because exterior spherical shells contribute no force. Balancing force densities in hydrostatic equilibrium givesThe second equation is mass conservation; it closes the pressure-support equation once an equation of state is supplied.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 329 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Put , so . Balancing the viscous and pressure terms in the axisymmetric viscous-sheet stretching equations, together with fixed volume, suggests a similarity solutionThe conservation of mass equation becomesThere is no ongoing source at the origin, so the integration constant vanishes and wherever . Thus . Substitution into radial force balance givesA differentiable cannot have nonzero derivative on an interval while being fixed there at . Hence : the spreading sheet has uniform thickness.

