Complex Methods
Complex Methods
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Paper 3, Section I, B
commentFind the value of for which the function
satisfies Laplace's equation. For this value of , find a complex analytic function of which is the real part.
Paper 4, Section II, B
commentLet be defined for . Define the Laplace transform of . Find an expression for the Laplace transform of in terms of .
Three radioactive nuclei decay sequentially, so that the numbers of the three types obey the equations
where are constants. Initially, at and . Using Laplace transforms, find .
By taking an appropriate limit, find when and .
Paper 3, Section I, D
commentBy considering the transformation , find a solution to Laplace's equation inside the unit disc , subject to the boundary conditions
where is constant. Give your answer in terms of .
Paper 4, Section II, D
comment(a) Using the Bromwich contour integral, find the inverse Laplace transform of .
The temperature of mercury in a spherical thermometer bulb obeys the radial heat equation
with unit diffusion constant. At the mercury is at a uniform temperature equal to that of the surrounding air. For the surrounding air temperature lowers such that at the edge of the thermometer bulb
where is a constant.
(b) Find an explicit expression for .
(c) Show that the temperature of the mercury at the centre of the thermometer bulb at late times is
[You may assume that the late time behaviour of is determined by the singular part of at
Paper 3, Section I, A
comment(a) Let . Define the branch cut of as such that
Show that is an odd function.
(b) Let .
(i) Show that is a branch point of .
(ii) Define the branch cuts of as such that
Find , where denotes just above the branch cut, and denotes just below the branch cut.
Paper 4, Section II, A
comment(a) Find the Laplace transform of
for .
[You may use without proof that
(b) By using the Laplace transform, show that the solution to
can be written as
for some to be determined.
[You may use without proof that a particular solution to
is given by
Paper 3, Section I, A
commentBy using the Laplace transform, show that the solution to
subject to the conditions and , is given by
when .
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentBy using Fourier transforms and a conformal mapping
with and , and a suitable real constant , show that the solution to
is given by
where is to be determined.
In the case of , give explicitly as a function of . [You need not evaluate the integral.]
Paper 3, Section I, A
commentThe function has Fourier transform
where is a real constant. Using contour integration, calculate for . [Jordan's lemma and the residue theorem may be used without proof.]
Paper 4, Section II, A
comment(a) Show that the Laplace transform of the Heaviside step function is
for .
(b) Derive an expression for the Laplace transform of the second derivative of a function in terms of the Laplace transform of and the properties of at .
(c) A bar of length has its end at fixed. The bar is initially at rest and straight. The end at is given a small fixed transverse displacement of magnitude at . You may assume that the transverse displacement of the bar satisfies the wave equation with some wave speed , and so the tranverse displacement is the solution to the problem:
(i) Show that the Laplace transform of , defined as
is given by
(ii) By use of the binomial theorem or otherwise, express as an infinite series.
(iii) Plot the transverse displacement of the midpoint of the bar against time.
Paper 3, Section I, B
commentFind the Fourier transform of the function
using an appropriate contour integration. Hence find the Fourier transform of its derivative, , and evaluate the integral
Paper 4, Section II, B
comment(i) State and prove the convolution theorem for Laplace transforms of two realvalued functions.
(ii) Let the function , be equal to 1 for and zero otherwise, where is a positive parameter. Calculate the Laplace transform of . Hence deduce the Laplace transform of the convolution . Invert this Laplace transform to obtain an explicit expression for .
[Hint: You may use the notation
Paper 3, Section I, B
commentFind the most general cubic form
which satisfies Laplace's equation, where and are all real. Hence find an analytic function which has such a as its real part.
Paper 4, Section II, B
commentFind the Laplace transforms of for a positive integer and where and is the Heaviside step function.
Consider a semi-infinite string which is initially at rest and is fixed at one end. The string can support wave-like motions, and for it is allowed to fall under gravity. Therefore the deflection from its initial location satisfies
with
where is a constant. Use Laplace transforms to find .
[The convolution theorem for Laplace transforms may be quoted without proof.]
Paper 3, Section I, D
commentLet for , and let .
(i) Find the Laplace transforms of and , where is the Heaviside step function.
(ii) Given that the Laplace transform of is , find expressions for the Laplace transforms of and .
(iii) Use Laplace transforms to solve the equation
in the case .
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentLet and be the circles and , respectively, and let be the (finite) region between the circles. Use the conformal mapping
to solve the following problem:
Paper 3, Section I, A
commentState the formula for the Laplace transform of a function , defined for .
Let be periodic with period (i.e. ). If is defined to be equal to in and zero elsewhere and its Laplace transform is , show that the Laplace transform of is given by
Hence, or otherwise, find the inverse Laplace transform of
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentState the convolution theorem for Fourier transforms.
The function satisfies
on the half-plane , subject to the boundary conditions
Using Fourier transforms, show that
and hence that
Paper 3, Section I, D
commentWrite down the function that satisfies
The circular arcs and in the complex -plane are defined by
respectively. You may assume without proof that the mapping from the complex -plane to the complex -plane defined by
takes to the line and to the line , where , and that the region in the -plane exterior to both the circles and maps to the region in the -plane given by .
Use the above mapping to solve the problem
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentState and prove the convolution theorem for Laplace transforms.
Use Laplace transforms to solve
with , where is the Heaviside function. You may assume that the Laplace transform, , of exists for Re sufficiently large.
Paper 3, Section I, A
comment(a) Prove that the real and imaginary parts of a complex differentiable function are harmonic.
(b) Find the most general harmonic polynomial of the form
where and are real.
(c) Write down a complex analytic function of of which is the real part.
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentA linear system is described by the differential equation
with initial conditions
The Laplace transform of is defined as
You may assume the following Laplace transforms,
(a) Use Laplace transforms to determine the response, , of the system to the signal
(b) Determine the response, , given that its Laplace transform is
(c) Given that
leads to the response with Laplace transform
determine .
Paper 3, Section I,
commentUse the residue calculus to evaluate (i) and (ii) ,
where is the circle .
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentThe function satisfies Laplace's equation in the half-space , together with boundary conditions
Using Fourier transforms, show that
where
Suppose that . Using contour integration and the convolution theorem, or otherwise, show that
[You may assume the convolution theorem of Fourier transforms, i.e. that if are the Fourier transforms of two functions , then is the Fourier transform of .]
3.I.5C
commentUsing the contour integration formula for the inversion of Laplace transforms find the inverse Laplace transforms of the following functions: (a) real and non-zero , (b) .
[You may use the fact that .]
4.II.15C
commentLet be the domain (i.e., cut along the negative -axis). Show, by a suitable choice of branch, that the mapping
maps onto the strip .
How would a different choice of branch change the result?
Let be the domain . Find an analytic transformation that maps to , where is the strip defined above.
commentShow that the function is harmonic. Find its harmonic conjugate and the analytic function whose real part is . Sketch the curves and .
4.II.15F
comment(i) Use the definition of the Laplace transform of :
to show that, for ,
(ii) Use contour integration to find the inverse Laplace transform of
(iii) Verify the result in (ii) by using the results in (i) and the convolution theorem.
(iv) Use Laplace transforms to solve the differential equation
subject to the initial conditions
3.I.5D
commentThe transformation
maps conformally the interior of the unit disc onto the upper half-plane , and maps the upper and lower unit semicircles and onto the positive and negative real axis and , respectively.
Consider the Dirichlet problem in the upper half-plane:
Its solution is given by the formula
Using this result, determine the solution to the Dirichlet problem in the unit disc:
Briefly explain your answer.
4.II.15D
commentDenote by the convolution of two functions, and by the Fourier transform, i.e.,
(a) Show that, for suitable functions and , the Fourier transform of the convolution is given by .
(b) Let
and let be the convolution of with itself. Find the Fourier transforms of and , and, by applying Parseval's theorem, determine the value of the integral
3.I.5F
commentDefine a harmonic function and state when the harmonic functions and are conjugate
Let and be two pairs of harmonic conjugate functions. Prove that are also harmonic conjugate.
4.II.15F
commentDetermine the Fourier expansion of the function , where , in the two cases where is an integer and is a real non-integer.
Using the Parseval identity in the case , find an explicit expression for the sum
1.I.5A
commentDetermine the poles of the following functions and calculate their residues there. (i) , (ii) , (iii) .
1.II.16A
commentLet and be two polynomials such that
where are distinct non-real complex numbers and . Using contour integration, determine
carefully justifying all steps.
2.I.5A
commentLet the functions and be analytic in an open, nonempty domain and assume that there. Prove that if in then there exists such that .
2.II.16A
commentProve by using the Cauchy theorem that if is analytic in the open disc then there exists a function , analytic in , such that , .
4.I.5A
commentState and prove the Parseval formula.
[You may use without proof properties of convolution, as long as they are precisely stated.]
4.II.15A
comment(i) Show that the inverse Fourier transform of the function
is
(ii) Determine, by using Fourier transforms, the solution of the Laplace equation
given in the strip , together with the boundary conditions
where has been given above.
[You may use without proof properties of Fourier transforms.]
1.I.7B
commentLet and be a pair of conjugate harmonic functions in a domain .
Prove that
also form a pair of conjugate harmonic functions in .
1.II.16B
commentSketch the region which is the intersection of the discs
Find a conformal mapping that maps onto the right half-plane . Also find a conformal mapping that maps onto .
[Hint: You may find it useful to consider maps of the form .]
2.I.7B
comment(a) Using the residue theorem, evaluate
(b) Deduce that
2.II.16B
comment(a) Show that if satisfies the equation
where is a constant, then its Fourier transform satisfies the same equation, i.e.
(b) Prove that, for each , there is a polynomial of degree , unique up to multiplication by a constant, such that
is a solution of for some .
(c) Using the fact that satisfies for some constant , show that the Fourier transform of has the form
where is also a polynomial of degree .
(d) Deduce that the are eigenfunctions of the Fourier transform operator, i.e. for some constants
4.I.8B
commentFind the Laurent series centred on 0 for the function
in each of the domains (a) , (b) , (c) .
4.II.17B
commentLet
and let be the boundary of the domain
(a) Using the residue theorem, determine
(b) Show that the integral of along the circular part of tends to 0 as .
(c) Deduce that
1.I.7B
commentUsing contour integration around a rectangle with vertices
prove that, for all real ,
Hence derive that the function is an eigenfunction of the Fourier transform
i.e. is a constant multiple of .
1.II.16B
comment(a) Show that if is an analytic function at and , then is conformal at , i.e. it preserves angles between paths passing through .
(b) Let be the disc given by , and let be the half-plane given by , where . Construct a map of the domain onto , and hence find a conformal mapping of onto the disc . [Hint: You may find it helpful to consider a mapping of the form , where ad .]
2.I.7B
commentSuppose that is analytic, and that is constant in an open disk . Use the Cauchy-Riemann equations to show that is constant in .
2.II.16B
commentA function has an isolated singularity at , with Laurent expansion
(a) Define res , the residue of at the point .
(b) Prove that if is a pole of order , then
(c) Using the residue theorem and the formula above show that
4.I.8B
commentLet be a function such that . Prove that
if and only if
where is the Fourier transform of .
4.II.17B
comment(a) Using the inequality for , show that, if is continuous for large , and if as , then
where .
(b) By integrating an appropriate function along the contour formed by the semicircles and in the upper half-plane with the segments of the real axis and , show that
commentA complex function is defined for every , where is a non-empty open subset of , and it possesses a derivative at every . Commencing from a formal definition of derivative, deduce the Cauchy-Riemann equations.
1.I.7E
commentState the Cauchy integral formula.
Assuming that the function is analytic in the disc , prove that, for every , it is true that
[Taylor's theorem may be used if clearly stated.]
1.II.16E
commentLet the function be integrable for all real arguments , such that
and assume that the series
converges uniformly for all .
Prove the Poisson summation formula
where is the Fourier transform of . [Hint: You may show that
or, alternatively, prove that is periodic and express its Fourier expansion coefficients explicitly in terms of .]
Letting , use the Poisson summation formula to evaluate the sum
2.II.16E
commentLet be a rational function such that . Assuming that has no real poles, use the residue calculus to evaluate
Given that is an integer, evaluate
4.I.8F
commentConsider a conformal mapping of the form
where , and . You may assume . Show that any such which maps the unit circle onto itself is necessarily of the form
[Hint: Show that it is always possible to choose .]
4.II.17F
commentState Jordan's Lemma.
Consider the integral
for real and . The rectangular contour runs from to , to , to and back to , where is infinitesimal and positive. Perform the integral in two ways to show that
for .