Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 105 3 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write and . If , the unique global classical solution isIt is , and the chain rule makes its value constant along every characteristic curve. The same calculation proves classical uniqueness. No boundedness of is needed for this classical statement.
For , a bounded weak solution on the positive half-line is defined byfor every compactly supported test function on . The analogous backward-time identity defines the solution on all real time. The term is essential: this is transport, not the conservative equation .
The same inverse-flow formula defines the unique weak solution, with , equality almost everywhere, and a representative continuous into on each compact spatial set. For a direct uniqueness argument, change variables in the weak identity and put . Using givesinitially for compactly supported . Since and are continuous on compact sets, approximation in the spatial parameter permits : both and are uniformly approximable there, which are the only derivatives left in this identity. Hence and almost everywhere. This also verifies existence by reversing the argument, and avoids assuming second derivatives of the field. Local continuity follows by approximating by continuous functions on compact flow tubes.
This is the weak transport solution under characteristic coordinates. The weak-strong uniqueness principle says that a weak solution in the specified class agrees with a classical solution having the same data for as long as that classical solution exists. Here it holds globally in the bounded class whenever the classical initial data are also bounded.