Part IB, 2016
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Paper 1, Section II, G
commentLet be a metric space.
(a) What does it mean to say that is a Cauchy sequence in ? Show that if is a Cauchy sequence, then it converges if it contains a convergent subsequence.
(b) Let be a Cauchy sequence in .
(i) Show that for every , the sequence converges to some .
(ii) Show that as .
(iii) Let be a subsequence of . If are such that , show that as .
(iv) Show also that for every and ,
(v) Deduce that has a subsequence such that for every and ,
and
(c) Suppose that every closed subset of has the property that every contraction mapping has a fixed point. Prove that is complete.
Paper 2, Section I, G
comment(a) What does it mean to say that the function is differentiable at the point ? Show from your definition that if is differentiable at , then is continuous at .
(b) Suppose that there are functions such that for every ,
Show that is differentiable at if and only if each is differentiable at .
(c) Let be given by
Determine at which points the function is differentiable.
Paper 2, Section II, G
comment(a) What is a norm on a real vector space?
(b) Let be the space of linear maps from to . Show that
defines a norm on , and that if then .
(c) Let be the space of real matrices, identified with in the usual way. Let be the subset
Show that is an open subset of which contains the set .
(d) Let be the map . Show carefully that the series converges on to . Hence or otherwise, show that is twice differentiable at 0 , and compute its first and second derivatives there.
Paper 3, Section I, G
comment(a) Let be a subset of . What does it mean to say that a sequence of functions is uniformly convergent?
(b) Which of the following sequences of functions are uniformly convergent? Justify your answers.
(i)
(ii) .
(iii) , .
(iv) .
Paper 3, Section II, G
commentLet be a metric space.
(a) What does it mean to say that a function is uniformly continuous? What does it mean to say that is Lipschitz? Show that if is Lipschitz then it is uniformly continuous. Show also that if is a Cauchy sequence in , and is uniformly continuous, then the sequence is convergent.
(b) Let be continuous, and be sequentially compact. Show that is uniformly continuous. Is necessarily Lipschitz? Justify your answer.
(c) Let be a dense subset of , and let be a continuous function. Show that there exists at most one continuous function such that for all , . Prove that if is uniformly continuous, then such a function exists, and is uniformly continuous.
[A subset is dense if for any nonempty open subset , the intersection is nonempty.]
Paper 4, Section I, G
comment(a) What does it mean to say that a mapping from a metric space to itself is a contraction?
(b) State carefully the contraction mapping theorem.
(c) Let . By considering the metric space with
or otherwise, show that there exists a unique solution of the system of equations
Paper 4, Section II, G
comment(a) Let be a real vector space. What does it mean to say that two norms on are Lipschitz equivalent? Prove that every norm on is Lipschitz equivalent to the Euclidean norm. Hence or otherwise, show that any linear map from to is continuous.
(b) Let be a linear map between normed real vector spaces. We say that is bounded if there exists a constant such that for all . Show that is bounded if and only if is continuous.
(c) Let denote the space of sequences of real numbers such that is convergent, with the norm . Let be the sequence with and if . Let be the sequence . Show that the subset is linearly independent. Let be the subspace it spans, and consider the linear map defined by
Is continuous? Justify your answer.
Paper 3, Section II, G
comment(a) Prove Cauchy's theorem for a triangle.
(b) Write down an expression for the winding number of a closed, piecewise continuously differentiable curve about a point which does not lie on .
(c) Let be a domain, and a holomorphic function with no zeroes in . Suppose that for infinitely many positive integers the function has a holomorphic -th root. Show that there exists a holomorphic function such that .
Paper 4, Section I, G
commentState carefully Rouché's theorem. Use it to show that the function has exactly one zero in the quadrant
and that .
Paper 1, Section I, A
commentClassify the singularities of the following functions at both and at the point at infinity on the extended complex plane:
Paper 1, Section II, A
commentLet and let , for real.
(a) Let A be the map defined by , using the principal branch. Show that A maps the region to the left of the parabola on the plane, with the negative real axis removed, into the vertical strip of the plane between the lines and .
(b) Let be the map defined by . Show that maps the vertical strip of the -plane between the lines and into the region inside the unit circle on the -plane, with the part of the negative real axis removed.
(c) Using the results of parts (a) and (b), show that the map C, defined by , maps the region to the left of the parabola on the -plane, including the negative real axis, onto the unit disc on the -plane.
Paper 2, Section II, A
commentLet for a positive integer . Let be the anticlockwise contour defined by the square with its four vertices at and . Let
Show that is uniformly bounded on the contours as , and hence that as .
Using this result, establish that
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 1, Section II, D
comment(a) From the differential form of Maxwell's equations with and a time-independent electric field, derive the integral form of Gauss's law.
(b) Derive an expression for the electric field around an infinitely long line charge lying along the -axis with charge per unit length . Find the electrostatic potential up to an arbitrary constant.
(c) Now consider the line charge with an ideal earthed conductor filling the region . State the boundary conditions satisfied by and on the surface of the conductor.
(d) Show that the same boundary conditions at are satisfied if the conductor is replaced by a second line charge at with charge per unit length .
(e) Hence or otherwise, returning to the setup in (c), calculate the force per unit length acting on the line charge.
(f) What is the charge per unit area on the surface of the conductor?
Paper 2, Section I,
comment(a) Derive the integral form of Ampère's law from the differential form of Maxwell's equations with a time-independent magnetic field, and .
(b) Consider two perfectly-conducting concentric thin cylindrical shells of infinite length with axes along the -axis and radii and . Current flows in the positive -direction in each shell. Use Ampère's law to calculate the magnetic field in the three regions: (i) , (ii) and (iii) , where .
(c) If current now flows in the positive -direction in the inner shell and in the negative -direction in the outer shell, calculate the magnetic field in the same three regions.
Paper 2, Section II, D
comment(a) State the covariant form of Maxwell's equations and define all the quantities that appear in these expressions.
(b) Show that is a Lorentz scalar (invariant under Lorentz transformations) and find another Lorentz scalar involving and .
(c) In some inertial frame the electric and magnetic fields are respectively and . Find the electric and magnetic fields, and , in another inertial frame that is related to by the Lorentz transformation,
where is the velocity of in and .
(d) Suppose that and where , and is a real constant. An observer is moving in with velocity parallel to the -axis. What must be for the electric and magnetic fields to appear to the observer to be parallel? Comment on the case .
Paper 3, Section II, D
comment(a) State Faraday's law of induction for a moving circuit in a time-dependent magnetic field and define all the terms that appear.
(b) Consider a rectangular circuit DEFG in the plane as shown in the diagram below. There are two rails parallel to the -axis for starting at at and at . A battery provides an electromotive force between and driving current in a positive sense around DEFG. The circuit is completed with a bar resistor of resistance , length and mass that slides without friction on the rails; it connects at and at . The rest of the circuit has no resistance. The circuit is in a constant uniform magnetic field parallel to the -axis.
[In parts (i)-(iv) you can neglect any magnetic field due to current flow.]
(i) Calculate the current in the bar and indicate its direction on a diagram of the circuit.
(ii) Find the force acting on the bar.
(iii) If the initial velocity and position of the bar are respectively and , calculate and for .
(iv) If , find the total energy dissipated in the circuit after and verify that total energy is conserved.
(v) Describe qualitatively the effect of the magnetic field caused by the induced current flowing in the circuit when .
Paper 4, Section I, D
comment(a) Starting from Maxwell's equations, show that in a vacuum,
(b) Suppose that where and are real constants.
(i) What are the wavevector and the polarisation? How is related to ?
(ii) Find the magnetic field .
(iii) Compute and interpret the time-averaged value of the Poynting vector, .
Paper 1, Section I, C
commentConsider the flow field in cartesian coordinates given by
where is a constant. Let denote the whole of excluding the axis.
(a) Determine the conditions on and for the flow to be both incompressible and irrotational in .
(b) Calculate the circulation along any closed curve enclosing the axis.
Paper 1, Section II,
comment(a) For a velocity field , show that , where is the flow vorticity.
(b) For a scalar field , show that if , then is constant along the flow streamlines.
(c) State the Euler equations satisfied by an inviscid fluid of constant density subject to conservative body forces.
(i) If the flow is irrotational, show that an exact first integral of the Euler equations may be obtained.
(ii) If the flow is not irrotational, show that although an exact first integral of the Euler equations may not be obtained, a similar quantity is constant along the flow streamlines provided the flow is steady.
(iii) If the flow is now in a frame rotating with steady angular velocity , establish that a similar quantity is constant along the flow streamlines with an extra term due to the centrifugal force when the flow is steady.
Paper 2, Section I, C
commentA steady, two-dimensional unidirectional flow of a fluid with dynamic viscosity is set up between two plates at and . The plate at is stationary while the plate at moves with constant speed . The fluid is also subject to a constant pressure gradient . You may assume that the fluid velocity has the form .
(a) State the equation satisfied by and its boundary conditions.
(b) Calculate .
(c) Show that the value of may be chosen to lead to zero viscous shear stress acting on the bottom plate and calculate the resulting flow rate.
Paper 3, Section II, C
commentA layer of thickness of a fluid of density is located above a layer of thickness of a fluid of density . The two-fluid system is bounded by two impenetrable surfaces at and and is assumed to be two-dimensional (i.e. independent of ). The fluid is subsequently perturbed, and the interface between the two fluids is denoted .
(a) Assuming irrotational motion in each fluid, state the equations and boundary conditions satisfied by the flow potentials, and .
(b) The interface is perturbed by small-amplitude waves of the form , with . State the equations and boundary conditions satisfied by the linearised system.
(c) Calculate the dispersion relation of the waves relating the frequency to the wavenumber .
Paper 4, Section II, C
comment(a) Show that for an incompressible fluid, , where is the flow vorticity,
(b) State the equation of motion for an inviscid flow of constant density in a rotating frame subject to gravity. Show that, on Earth, the local vertical component of the centrifugal force is small compared to gravity. Present a scaling argument to justify the linearisation of the Euler equations for sufficiently large rotation rates, and hence deduce the linearised version of the Euler equations in a rapidly rotating frame.
(c) Denoting the rotation rate of the frame as , show that the linearised Euler equations may be manipulated to obtain an equation for the velocity field in the form
(d) Assume that there exist solutions of the form . Show that where the angle is to be determined.
Paper 1, Section I, F
comment(a) Describe the Poincaré disc model for the hyperbolic plane by giving the appropriate Riemannian metric.
(b) Let be some point. Write down an isometry with .
(c) Using the Poincaré disc model, calculate the distance from 0 to re with
(d) Using the Poincaré disc model, calculate the area of a disc centred at a point and of hyperbolic radius .
Paper 2, Section II, F
comment(a) Let be a hyperbolic triangle, with the angle at at least . Show that the side has maximal length amongst the three sides of .
[You may use the hyperbolic cosine formula without proof. This states that if and are the lengths of , and respectively, and and are the angles of the triangle at and respectively, then
(b) Given points in the hyperbolic plane, let be any point on the hyperbolic line segment joining to , and let be any point not on the hyperbolic line passing through . Show that
where denotes hyperbolic distance.
(c) The diameter of a hyperbolic triangle is defined to be
Show that the diameter of is equal to the length of its longest side.
Paper 3, Section I,
comment(a) State Euler's formula for a triangulation of a sphere.
(b) A sphere is decomposed into hexagons and pentagons with precisely three edges at each vertex. Determine the number of pentagons.
Paper 3, Section II, F
comment(a) Define the cross-ratio of four distinct points . Show that the cross-ratio is invariant under Möbius transformations. Express in terms of .
(b) Show that is real if and only if lie on a line or circle in .
(c) Let lie on a circle in , given in anti-clockwise order as depicted.
Show that is a negative real number, and that is a positive real number greater than 1 . Show that . Use this to deduce Ptolemy's relation on lengths of edges and diagonals of the inscribed 4-gon:
Paper 4, Section II, F
commentLet be a simple curve in parameterised by arc length with for all , and consider the surface of revolution in defined by the parameterisation
(a) Calculate the first and second fundamental forms for . Show that the Gaussian curvature of is given by
(b) Now take . What is the integral of the Gaussian curvature over the surface of revolution determined by and ?
[You may use the Gauss-Bonnet theorem without proof.]
(c) Now suppose has constant curvature , and suppose there are two points such that is a smooth closed embedded surface. Show that is a unit sphere, minus two antipodal points.
[Do not attempt to integrate an expression of the form when . Study the behaviour of the surface at the largest and smallest possible values of .]
Paper 1, Section II, E
comment(a) Let be an ideal of a commutative ring and assume where the are prime ideals. Show that for some .
(b) Show that is a maximal ideal of . Show that the quotient ring is isomorphic to
(c) For , let be the ideal in . Show that is a maximal ideal. Find a maximal ideal of such that for any . Justify your answers.
Paper 2, Section I, E
commentLet be an integral domain.
Define what is meant by the field of fractions of . [You do not need to prove the existence of .]
Suppose that is an injective ring homomorphism from to a field . Show that extends to an injective ring homomorphism .
Give an example of and a ring homomorphism from to a ring such that does not extend to a ring homomorphism .
Paper 2, Section II, E
comment(a) State Sylow's theorems and give the proof of the second theorem which concerns conjugate subgroups.
(b) Show that there is no simple group of order 351 .
(c) Let be the finite field and let be the multiplicative group of invertible matrices over . Show that every Sylow 3-subgroup of is abelian.
Paper 3, Section I, E
commentLet be a group of order . Define what is meant by a permutation representation of . Using such representations, show is isomorphic to a subgroup of the symmetric group . Assuming is non-abelian simple, show is isomorphic to a subgroup of . Give an example of a permutation representation of whose kernel is .
Paper 3, Section II, E
comment(a) Define what is meant by an algebraic integer . Show that the ideal
in is generated by a monic irreducible polynomial . Show that , considered as a -module, is freely generated by elements where .
(b) Assume satisfies . Is it true that the ideal (5) in is a prime ideal? Is there a ring homomorphism ? Justify your answers.
(c) Show that the only unit elements of are 1 and . Show that is not a UFD.
Paper 4, Section I,
commentGive the statement and the proof of Eisenstein's criterion. Use this criterion to show is irreducible in where is a prime.
Paper 4, Section II, E
commentLet be a Noetherian ring and let be a finitely generated -module.
(a) Show that every submodule of is finitely generated.
(b) Show that each maximal element of the set
is a prime ideal. [Here, maximal means maximal with respect to inclusion, and
(c) Show that there is a chain of submodules
such that for each the quotient is isomorphic to for some prime ideal .
Paper 1, Section ,
comment(a) Consider the linear transformation given by the matrix
Find a basis of in which is represented by a diagonal matrix.
(b) Give a list of matrices such that any linear transformation with characteristic polynomial
and minimal polynomial
is similar to one of the matrices on your list. No two distinct matrices on your list should be similar. [No proof is required.]
Paper 1, Section II, F
commentLet denote the vector space over or of matrices with entries in . Let denote the trace functional, i.e., if , then
(a) Show that Tr is a linear functional.
(b) Show that for .
(c) Show that is unique in the following sense: If is a linear functional such that for each , then is a scalar multiple of the trace functional. If, in addition, , then Tr.
(d) Let be the subspace spanned by matrices of the form for . Show that is the kernel of Tr.
Paper 2, Section I, F
commentFind a linear change of coordinates such that the quadratic form
takes the form
for real numbers and .
Paper 2, Section II, F
commentLet denote the vector space over a field or of matrices with entries in . Given , consider the two linear transformations defined by
(a) Show that .
[For parts (b) and (c), you may assume the analogous result without proof.]
(b) Now let . For , write for the conjugate transpose of , i.e., . For , define the linear transformation by
Show that .
(c) Again let . Let be the set of Hermitian matrices. [Note that is not a vector space over but only over For and , define . Show that is an -linear operator on , and show that as such,
Paper 3, Section II, F
commentLet be a linear transformation defined on a finite dimensional inner product space over . Recall that is normal if and its adjoint commute. Show that being normal is equivalent to each of the following statements:
(i) where are self-adjoint operators and ;
(ii) there is an orthonormal basis for consisting of eigenvectors of ;
(iii) there is a polynomial with complex coefficients such that .
Paper 4, Section I, F
commentFor which real numbers do the vectors
not form a basis of ? For each such value of , what is the dimension of the subspace of that they span? For each such value of , provide a basis for the spanned subspace, and extend this basis to a basis of .
Paper 4, Section II, F
comment(a) Let be a linear transformation between finite dimensional vector spaces over a field or .
Define the dual map of . Let be the dual map of . Given a subspace , define the annihilator of . Show that and the image of coincide. Conclude that the dimension of the image of is equal to the dimension of the image of . Show that .
(b) Now suppose in addition that are inner product spaces. Define the adjoint of . Let be linear transformations between finite dimensional inner product spaces. Suppose that the image of is equal to the kernel of . Then show that is an isomorphism.
Paper 1, Section II, H
commentLet be a simple symmetric random walk on the integers, starting at .
(a) What does it mean to say that a Markov chain is irreducible? What does it mean to say that an irreducible Markov chain is recurrent? Show that is irreducible and recurrent.
[Hint: You may find it helpful to use the limit
You may also use without proof standard necessary and sufficient conditions for recurrence.]
(b) What does it mean to say that an irreducible Markov chain is positive recurrent? Determine, with proof, whether is positive recurrent.
(c) Let
be the first time the chain returns to the origin. Compute for a fixed number .
Paper 2, Section II, H
comment(a) Prove that every open communicating class of a Markov chain is transient. Prove that every finite transient communicating class is open. Give an example of a Markov chain with an infinite transient closed communicating class.
(b) Consider a Markov chain with state space and transition probabilities given by the matrix
(i) Compute for a fixed .
(ii) Compute for some .
(iii) Show that converges as , and determine the limit.
[Results from lectures can be used without proof if stated carefully.]
Paper 3, Section I, H
commentLet be a Markov chain such that . Prove that
where . [You may use the strong Markov property without proof.]
Paper 4, Section I, H
commentConsider two boxes, labelled and B. Initially, there are no balls in box and balls in box B. Each minute later, one of the balls is chosen uniformly at random and is moved to the opposite box. Let denote the number of balls in box A at time , so that .
(a) Find the transition probabilities of the Markov chain and show that it is reversible in equilibrium.
(b) Find , where is the next time that all balls are again in box .
Paper 1, Section II, A
comment(a) Consider the general self-adjoint problem for on :
where is the eigenvalue, and . Prove that eigenfunctions associated with distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal with respect to a particular inner product which you should define carefully.
(b) Consider the problem for given by
(i) Recast this problem into self-adjoint form.
(ii) Calculate the complete set of eigenfunctions and associated eigenvalues for this problem. [Hint: You may find it useful to make the substitution
(iii) Verify that the eigenfunctions associated with distinct eigenvalues are indeed orthogonal.
Paper 2, Section I, A
commentUse the method of characteristics to find in the first quadrant , where satisfies
with boundary data .
Paper 2, Section II, A
commentConsider a bar of length with free ends, subject to longitudinal vibrations. You may assume that the longitudinal displacement of the bar satisfies the wave equation with some wave speed :
for and with boundary conditions:
for . The bar is initially at rest so that
for , with a spatially varying initial longitudinal displacement given by
for , where is a real constant.
(a) Using separation of variables, show that
(b) Determine a periodic function such that this solution may be expressed as
Paper 3, Section , A
commentCalculate the Green's function given by the solution to
where and is the Dirac -function. Use this Green's function to calculate an explicit solution to the boundary value problem
where , and .
Paper 3, Section II, B
(a) Show that the Fourier transform of , for , is
stating clearly any properties of the Fourier transform that you use.
[Hint: You may assume that .]
(b) Consider now the Cauchy problem for the diffusion equation in one space dimension, i.e. solving for satisfying:
where is a positive constant and is specified. Consider the following property of a solution:
Property P: If the initial data