Part II, 2003
Part II, 2003
Jump to course
B2.10
comment(a) For which polynomials of degree does the equation define a smooth affine curve?
(b) Now let be the completion of the curve defined in (a) to a projective curve. For which polynomials of degree is a smooth projective curve?
(c) Suppose that , defined in (b), is a smooth projective curve. Consider a map , given by . Find the degree and the ramification points of .
B3.10
comment(a) Let be an affine algebraic variety. Define the tangent space for . Show that the set
is closed, for every .
(b) Let be an irreducible projective curve, , and a rational map. Show, carefully quoting any theorems that you use, that if is smooth at then extends to a regular map at .
B4.9
commentLet be a smooth curve of genus 0 over an algebraically closed field . Show that
Now let be a plane projective curve defined by an irreducible homogeneous cubic polynomial.
(a) Show that if is smooth then is not isomorphic to . Standard results on the canonical class may be assumed without proof, provided these are clearly stated.
(b) Show that if has a singularity then there exists a non-constant morphism from to .
B2.8
commentDefine the fundamental group of a topological space and explain briefly why a continuous map gives rise to a homomorphism between fundamental groups.
Let be a subspace of the Euclidean space which contains all of the points with , and which does not contain any of the points . Show that has an infinite fundamental group.
B3.7
commentDefine a covering map. Prove that any covering map induces an injective homomorphisms of fundamental groups.
Show that there is a non-trivial covering map of the real projective plane. Explain how to use this to find the fundamental group of the real projective plane.
B4.5
commentState the Mayer-Vietoris theorem. You should give the definition of all the homomorphisms involved.
Compute the homology groups of the union of the 2 -sphere with the line segment from the North pole to the South pole.
A2.10
comment(i) Consider a network with node set and set of directed arcs equipped with functions and with . Given we define the differential by for . We say that is a feasible differential if
Write down a necessary and sufficient condition on for the existence of a feasible differential and prove its necessity.
Assuming Minty's Lemma, describe an algorithm to construct a feasible differential and outline how this algorithm establishes the sufficiency of the condition you have given.
(ii) Let , where are finite sets. A matching in is a subset such that, for all and ,
A matching is maximal if for any other matching with we must have . Formulate the problem of finding a maximal matching in in terms of an optimal distribution problem on a suitably defined network, and hence in terms of a standard linear optimization problem.
[You may assume that the optimal distribution subject to integer constraints is integervalued.]
A3.10
comment(i) Consider the problem
where and . State and prove the Lagrangian sufficiency theorem.
In each of the following cases, where and , determine whether the Lagrangian sufficiency theorem can be applied to solve the problem:
(ii) Consider the problem in
where is a positive-definite symmetric matrix, is an matrix, and . Explain how to reduce this problem to the solution of simultaneous linear equations.
Consider now the problem
Describe the active set method for its solution.
Consider the problem
where . Draw a diagram partitioning the -plane into regions according to which constraints are active at the minimum.
A4.11
commentDefine the optimal distribution problem. State what it means for a circuit to be flow-augmenting, and what it means for to be unbalanced. State the optimality theorem for flows. Describe the simplex-on-a-graph algorithm, giving a brief justification of its stopping rules.
Consider the problem of finding, in the network shown below, a minimum-cost flow from to of value 2 . Here the circled numbers are the upper arc capacities, the lower arc capacities all being zero, and the uncircled numbers are costs. Apply the simplex-on-agraph algorithm to solve this problem, taking as initial flow the superposition of a unit flow along the path and a unit flow along the path .
Part II 2003
B1.23
commentDefine the differential cross section . Show how it may be related to a scattering amplitude defined in terms of the behaviour of a wave function satisfying suitable boundary conditions as .
For a particle scattering off a potential show how , where is the scattering angle, may be expanded, for energy , as
and find in terms of the phase shift . Obtain the optical theorem relating and .
Suppose that
Why for may be dominant, and what is the expected behaviour of for ?
[For large
Legendre polynomials satisfy
B2.22
commentThe Hamiltonian for a single electron atom has energy eigenstates with energy eigenvalues . There is an interaction with an electromagnetic wave of the form
where is the polarisation vector. At the atom is in the state . Find a formula for the probability amplitude, to first order in , to find the atom in the state at time . If the atom has a size and what are the selection rules which are relevant? For large, under what circumstances will the transition rate be approximately constant?
[You may use the result
B3.23
commentConsider the two Hamiltonians
where are three linearly independent vectors. For each of the Hamiltonians and , what are the symmetries of and what unitary operators are there such that ?
For derive Bloch's theorem. Suppose that has energy eigenfunction with energy where for large . Assume that for each . In a suitable approximation derive the energy eigenvalues for when . Verify that the energy eigenfunctions and energy eigenvalues satisfy Bloch's theorem. What happens if ?
B4.24
commentAtoms of mass in an infinite one-dimensional periodic array, with interatomic spacing , have perturbed positions , for integer . The potential between neighbouring atoms is
for positive constant . Write down the Lagrangian for the variables . Find the frequency of a normal mode of wavenumber . Define the Brillouin zone and explain why may be restricted to lie within it.
Assume now that the array is periodically-identified, so that there are effectively only atoms in the array and the atomic displacements satisfy the periodic boundary conditions . Determine the allowed values of within the Brillouin zone. Show, for allowed wavenumbers and , that
By writing as
where the sum is over allowed values of , find the Lagrangian for the variables , and hence the Hamiltonian as a function of and the conjugate momenta . Show that the Hamiltonian operator of the quantum theory can be written in the form
where is a constant and are harmonic oscillator annihilation and creation operators. What is the physical interpretation of and ? How does this show that phonons have quantized energies?
B2.13
commentLet be the sum of independent exponential random variables of rate . Compute the moment generating function of .
Consider, for each fixed and for , an queue with arrival rate and with service times distributed as . Assume that the queue is empty at time 0 and write for the earliest time at which a customer departs leaving the queue empty. Show that, as converges in distribution to a random variable whose moment generating function satisfies
Hence obtain the mean value of .
For what service-time distribution would the empty-to-empty time correspond exactly to ?
B3.13
commentState the product theorem for Poisson random measures.
Consider a system of queues, each with infinitely many servers, in which, for , customers leaving the th queue immediately arrive at the th queue. Arrivals to the first queue form a Poisson process of rate . Service times at the th queue are all independent with distribution , and independent of service times at other queues, for all . Assume that initially the system is empty and write for the number of customers at queue at time . Show that are independent Poisson random variables.
In the case show that
where is a Poisson process of rate .
Suppose now that arrivals to the first queue stop at time . Determine the mean number of customers at the th queue at each time .
B4.12
commentExplain what is meant by a renewal process and by a renewal-reward process.
State and prove the law of large numbers for renewal-reward processes.
A component used in a manufacturing process has a maximum lifetime of 2 years and is equally likely to fail at any time during that period. If the component fails whilst in use, it is replaced immediately by a similar component, at a cost of . The factory owner may alternatively replace the component before failure, at a time of his choosing, at a cost of . What should the factory owner do?
A1.10
comment(i) We work over the field of two elements. Define what is meant by a linear code of length . What is meant by a generator matrix for a linear code?
Define what is meant by a parity check code of length . Show that a code is linear if and only if it is a parity check code.
Give the original Hamming code in terms of parity checks and then find a generator matrix for it.
[You may use results from the theory of vector spaces provided that you quote them correctly.]
(ii) Suppose that and let be the largest information rate of any binary error correcting code of length which can correct errors.
Show that
where
[You may assume any form of Stirling's theorem provided that you quote it correctly.]
A2.9
comment(i) Answer the following questions briefly but clearly.
(a) How does coding theory apply when the error rate ?
(b) Give an example of a code which is not a linear code.
(c) Give an example of a linear code which is not a cyclic code.
(d) Give an example of a general feedback register with output , and initial fill , such that
for all .
(e) Explain why the original Hamming code can not always correct two errors.
(ii) Describe the Rabin-Williams scheme for coding a message as modulo a certain . Show that, if is chosen appropriately, breaking this code is equivalent to factorising the product of two primes.
B1.5
commentLet be a graph of order . Prove that if has edges then it contains two triangles with a common edge. Here, is the Turán number.
Suppose instead that has exactly one triangle. Show that has at most edges, and that this number can be attained.
B2.5
commentProve Ramsey's theorem in its usual infinite form, namely, that if is finitely coloured then there is an infinite subset such that is monochromatic.
Now let the graph be coloured with an infinite number of colours in such a way that there is no infinite with monochromatic. By considering a suitable 2-colouring of the set of 4 -sets, show that there is an infinite with the property that any two edges of of the form with have different colours.
By considering two further 2-colourings of , show that there is an infinite such that any two non-incident edges of have different colours.
B4.1
commentWrite an essay on the Kruskal-Katona theorem. As well as stating the theorem and giving a detailed sketch of a proof, you should describe some further results that may be derived from it.
A1.13
comment(i) Suppose , are independent binomial observations, with , , where are known, and we wish to fit the model
where are given covariates, each of dimension . Let be the maximum likelihood estimators of . Derive equations for and state without proof the form of the approximate distribution of .
(ii) In 1975 , data were collected on the 3-year survival status of patients suffering from a type of cancer, yielding the following table
\begin{tabular}{ccrr} & & \multicolumn{2}{c}{ survive? } \ age in years & malignant & yes & no \ under 50 & no & 77 & 10 \ under 50 & yes & 51 & 13 \ & no & 51 & 11 \ & yes & 38 & 20 \ & no & 7 & 3 \ & yes & 6 & 3 \end{tabular}
Here the second column represents whether the initial tumour was not malignant or was malignant.
Let be the number surviving, for age group and malignancy status , for and , and let be the corresponding total number. Thus , . Assume . The results from fitting the model
with give , and deviance . What do you conclude?
Why do we take in the model?
What "residuals" should you compute, and to which distribution would you refer them?
A2.12
comment(i) Suppose are independent Poisson variables, and
where are two unknown parameters, and are given covariates, each of dimension 1. Find equations for , the maximum likelihood estimators of , and show how an estimate of may be derived, quoting any standard theorems you may need.
(ii) By 31 December 2001, the number of new vCJD patients, classified by reported calendar year of onset, were
for the years
Discuss carefully the (slightly edited) output for these data given below, quoting any standard theorems you may need.
year
year
[1] 1994199519961997199819992000
tot
[1]
first.glm - glm(tot year, family = poisson)
(first.glm)
Call:
glm(formula tot year, family poisson
Coefficients
Estimate Std. Error z value
(Intercept)
year
(Dispersion parameter for poisson family taken to be 1)
Null deviance: on 6 degrees of freedom
Residual deviance: on 5 degrees of freedom
Number of Fisher Scoring iterations: 3
Part II 2003
A4.14
commentThe nave height , and the nave length for 16 Gothic-style cathedrals and 9 Romanesque-style cathedrals, all in England, have been recorded, and the corresponding output (slightly edited) is given below.
You may assume that are in suitable units, and that "style" has been set up as a factor with levels 1,2 corresponding to Gothic, Romanesque respectively.
(a) Explain carefully, with suitable graph(s) if necessary, the results of this analysis.
(b) Using the general model (in the conventional notation) explain carefully the theory needed for (a).
[Standard theorems need not be proved.]
B1.8
commentState the Implicit Function Theorem and outline how it produces submanifolds of Euclidean spaces.
Show that the unitary group is a smooth manifold and find its dimension.
Identify the tangent space to at the identity matrix as a subspace of the space of complex matrices.
B2.7
commentLet and be smooth manifolds. If is the projection onto the first factor and is the map in cohomology induced by the pull-back map on differential forms, show that is a direct summand of for each .
Taking to be zero for and , show that for and all
[You might like to use induction in n.]
B4.4
commentDefine the 'pull-back' homomorphism of differential forms determined by the smooth map and state its main properties.
If is a diffeomorphism between open subsets of with coordinates on and on and the -form is equal to on , state and prove the expression for as a multiple of .
Define the integral of an -form over an oriented -manifold and prove that it is well-defined.
Show that the inclusion map , of an oriented -submanifold (without boundary) into , determines an element of . If and , for and fixed in , what is the relation between and , where is the fundamental cohomology class of and is the projection onto the first factor?
B1.17
commentConsider the one-dimensional map , where with a real parameter. Find the range of values of for which the open interval is mapped into itself and contains at least one fixed point. Describe the bifurcation at and find the parameter value for which there is a period-doubling bifurcation. Determine whether the fixed point is an attractor at this bifurcation point.
B3.17
commentLet be a continuous one-dimensional map of the interval . Explain what is meant by saying (a) that the map is topologically transitive, and (b) that the map has a horseshoe.
Consider the tent map defined on the interval by
for . Show that if then this map is topologically transitive, and also that has a horseshoe.
B4.17
commentLet be an orientation-preserving invertible map of the circle onto itself, with a lift . Define the rotation numbers and .
Suppose that , where and are coprime integers. Prove that the map has periodic points of least period , and no periodic points with any least period not equal to .
Now suppose that is irrational. Explain the distinction between wandering and non-wandering points under . Let be the set of limit points of the sequence . Prove
(a) that the set is independent of and is the smallest closed, non-empty, -invariant subset of ;
(b) that is the set of non-wandering points of ;
(c) that is either the whole of or a Cantor set in .
A1.6
comment(i) State and prove Dulac's Criterion for the non-existence of periodic orbits in . Hence show (choosing a weighting factor of the form ) that there are no periodic orbits of the equations
(ii) State the Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem. A model of a chemical reaction (the Brusselator) is defined by the second order system
where are positive parameters. Show that there is a unique fixed point. Show that, for a suitable choice of , trajectories enter the closed region bounded by , and . Deduce that when , the system has a periodic orbit.
A2.6 B2.4
comment(i) What is a Liapunov function?
Consider the second order ODE
By finding a suitable Liapunov function of the form , where and are to be determined, show that the origin is asymptotically stable. Using your form of , find the greatest value of such that a trajectory through is guaranteed to tend to the origin as .
[Any theorems you use need not be proved but should be clearly stated.]
(ii) Explain the use of the stroboscopic method for investigating the dynamics of equations of the form , when . In particular, for , derive the equations, correct to order ,
where the brackets denote an average over the period of the unperturbed oscillator.
Find the form of the right hand sides of these equations explicitly when , where . Show that apart from the origin there is another fixed point of , and determine its stability. Sketch the trajectories in space in the case . What do you deduce about the dynamics of the full equation?
[You may assume that .]
A3.6 B3.4
comment(i) Define the Poincaré index of a curve for a vector field . Explain why the index is uniquely given by the sum of the indices for small curves around each fixed point within . Write down the indices for a saddle point and for a focus (spiral) or node, and show that the index of a periodic solution of has index unity.
A particular system has a periodic orbit containing five fixed points, and two further periodic orbits. Sketch the possible arrangements of these orbits, assuming there are no degeneracies.
(ii) A dynamical system in depending on a parameter has a homoclinic orbit when . Explain how to determine the stability of this orbit, and sketch the different behaviours for and in the case that the orbit is stable.
Now consider the system
where are constants. Show that the origin is a saddle point, and that if there is an orbit homoclinic to the origin then are related by
where the integral is taken round the orbit. Evaluate this integral for small by approximating by its form when . Hence give conditions on (small) that lead to a stable homoclinic orbit at the origin. [Note that .]
A4.6
commentExplain what is meant by a steady-state bifurcation of a fixed point of an ODE , in , where is a real parameter. Give examples for of equations exhibiting saddle-node, transcritical and pitchfork bifurcations.
Consider the system in , with ,
Show that the fixed point has a bifurcation when , while the fixed points have a bifurcation when . By finding the first approximation to the extended centre manifold, construct the normal form at the bifurcation point in each case, and determine the respective bifurcation types. Deduce that for just greater than , and for just less than 1 , there is a stable pair of "mixed-mode" solutions with .
B1.21
commentA particle of charge and mass moves non-relativistically with 4 -velocity along a trajectory . Its electromagnetic field is determined by the Liénard-Wiechert potential
where and denotes the spatial part of the 4 -vector .
Derive a formula for the Poynting vector at very large distances from the particle. Hence deduce Larmor's formula for the rate of loss of energy due to electromagnetic radiation by the particle.
A particle moves in the plane in a constant magnetic field . Initially it has kinetic energy ; derive a formula for the kinetic energy of this particle as a function of time.
B2.20
commentA plane electromagnetic wave of frequency and wavevector has an electromagnetic potential given by
where is the amplitude of the wave and is the polarization vector. Explain carefully why there are two independent polarization states for such a wave, and why .
A wave travels in the positive -direction with polarization vector . It is incident at on a plane surface which conducts perfectly in the -direction, but not at all in the -direction. Find an expression for the electromagnetic potential of the radiation that is reflected from this surface.
B4.21
commentDescribe the physical meaning of the various components of the stress-energy tensor of the electromagnetic field.
Suppose that one is given an electric field and a magnetic field . Show that the angular momentum about the origin of these fields is
where the integral is taken over all space.
A point electric charge is at the origin, and has electric field
A point magnetic monopole of strength is at and has magnetic field
Find the component, along the axis between the electric charge and the magnetic monopole, of the angular momentum of the electromagnetic field about the origin.
[Hint: You may find it helpful to express both and as gradients of scalar potentials.]
A B
comment(i) Using Maxwell's equations as they apply to magnetostatics, show that the magnetic field can be described in terms of a vector potential on which the condition may be imposed. Hence derive an expression, valid at any point in space, for the vector potential due to a steady current distribution of density that is non-zero only within a finite domain.
(ii) Verify that the vector potential that you found in Part (i) satisfies , and use it to obtain the Biot-Savart law expression for . What is the corresponding result for a steady surface current distribution of density ?
In cylindrical polar coordinates (oriented so that ) a surface current
flows in the plane . Given that
show that the magnetic field at the point has -component
State, with justification, the full result for at the point .
A2
comment(i) A plane electromagnetic wave has electric and magnetic fields
for constant vectors , constant positive angular frequency and constant wavevector . Write down the vacuum Maxwell equations and show that they imply
Show also that , where is the speed of light.
(ii) State the boundary conditions on and at the surface of a perfect conductor. Let be the surface charge density and s the surface current density on . How are and related to and ?
A plane electromagnetic wave is incident from the half-space upon the surface of a perfectly conducting medium in . Given that the electric and magnetic fields of the incident wave take the form with
and
find .
Reflection of the incident wave at produces a reflected wave with electric field
with
By considering the boundary conditions at on the total electric field, show that
Show further that the electric charge density on the surface takes the form
for a constant that you should determine. Find the magnetic field of the reflected wave and hence the surface current density on the surface .
A3.5 B3.3
comment(i) Given the electric field (in cartesian components)
use the Maxwell equation
to find subject to the boundary condition that as .
Let be the planar rectangular surface in the -plane with corners at
where is a constant and is some function of time. The magnetic flux through is given by the surface integral
Compute as a function of .
Let be the closed rectangular curve that bounds the surface , taken anticlockwise in the -plane, and let be its velocity (which depends, in this case, on the segment of being considered). Compute the line integral
Hence verify that
(ii) A surface is bounded by a time-dependent closed curve such that in time it sweeps out a volume . By considering the volume integral
and using the divergence theorem, show that the Maxwell equation implies that
where is the magnetic flux through as given in Part (i). Hence show, using (1) and Stokes' theorem, that (2) is a consequence of Maxwell's equations.
A4.5
commentLet be the electric field due to a continuous static charge distribution for which as . Starting from consideration of a finite system of point charges, deduce that the electrostatic energy of the charge distribution is
where the volume integral is taken over all space.
A sheet of perfectly conducting material in the form of a surface , with unit normal , carries a surface charge density . Let denote the normal components of the electric field on either side of . Show that
Three concentric spherical shells of perfectly conducting material have radii with . The innermost and outermost shells are held at zero electric potential. The other shell is held at potential . Find the potentials in and in . Compute the surface charge density on the shell of radius . Use the formula to compute the electrostatic energy of the system.
B1.25
commentConsider a two-dimensional horizontal vortex sheet of strength at height above a horizontal rigid boundary at , so that the inviscid fluid velocity is
Examine the temporal linear instabililty of the sheet and determine the relevant dispersion relationship.
For what wavelengths is the sheet unstable?
Evaluate the temporal growth rate and the wave propagation speed in the limit of both short and long waves. Comment briefly on the significance of your results.
B2 24
commentA plate is drawn vertically out of a bath and the resultant liquid drains off the plate as a thin film. Using lubrication theory, show that the governing equation for the thickness of the film, is
where is time and is the distance down the plate measured from the top.
Verify that
satisfies and identify the function . Using this relationship or otherwise, determine an explicit expression for the thickness of the film assuming that it was initially of uniform thickness .
B3.24
commentA steady two-dimensional jet is generated in an infinite, incompressible fluid of density and kinematic viscosity by a point source of momentum with momentum flux in the direction per unit length located at the origin.
Using boundary layer theory, analyse the motion in the jet and show that the -component of the velocity is given by
where
Show that satisfies the differential equation
Write down the appropriate boundary conditions for this equation. [You need not solve the equation.]
B4.26
commentShow that the complex potential in the complex plane,
describes irrotational, inviscid flow past the rigid cylinder , placed in a uniform flow with circulation .
Show that the transformation
maps the circle in the plane onto the flat plate airfoil in the plane . Hence, write down an expression for the complex potential, , of uniform flow past the flat plate, with circulation . Indicate very briefly how the value of might be chosen to yield a physical solution.
Calculate the turning moment, , exerted on the flat plate by the flow.
(You are given that
where is the fluid density and the integral is to be completed around a contour enclosing the circle ).
A2.13 B2.21
comment(i) Define the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics in relation to the Schrödinger picture. Explain how the two pictures provide equivalent descriptions of observable results.
Derive the equation of motion for an operator in the Heisenberg picture.
(ii) For a particle moving in one dimension, the Hamiltonian is
where and are the position and momentum operators, and the state vector is .
Eigenstates of and satisfy
Use standard methods in the Dirac formalism to show that
Calculate and express in terms of the position space wave function .
Compute the momentum space Hamiltonian for the harmonic oscillator with potential .
A3.13 B3.21
comment(i) What are the commutation relations satisfied by the components of an angular momentum vector ? State the possible eigenvalues of the component when has eigenvalue .
Describe how the Pauli matrices
are used to construct the components of the angular momentum vector for a spin system. Show that they obey the required commutation relations.
Show that and each have eigenvalues . Verify that has eigenvalue
(ii) Let and denote the standard operators and state vectors of angular momentum theory. Assume units where . Consider the operator
Show that
Show that the state vectors are eigenvectors of . Suppose that is measured for a system in the state ; show that the probability that the result is equals
Consider the case . Evaluate the probability that the measurement of will result in .
A4.15 B4.22
commentDiscuss the quantum mechanics of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator using creation and annihilation operators, showing how the energy levels are calculated.
A quantum mechanical system consists of two interacting harmonic oscillators and has the Hamiltonian
For , what are the degeneracies of the three lowest energy levels? For compute, to lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory, the energies of the ground state and first excited state.
[Standard results for perturbation theory may be stated without proof.]
A1.3
comment(i) Let be a continuous linear map between two Hilbert spaces . Define the adjoint of . Explain what it means to say that is Hermitian or unitary.
Let be a bounded continuous function. Show that the map
with is a continuous linear map and find its adjoint. When is Hermitian? When is it unitary?
(ii) Let be a closed, non-empty, convex subset of a real Hilbert space . Show that there exists a unique point with minimal norm. Show that is characterised by the property
Does this result still hold when is not closed or when is not convex? Justify your answers.
A2.3 B2.2
comment(i) Define the dual of a normed vector space . Show that the dual is always a complete normed space.
Prove that the vector space , consisting of those real sequences for which the norm
is finite, has the vector space of all bounded sequences as its dual.
(ii) State the Stone-Weierstrass approximation theorem.
Let be a compact subset of . Show that every can be uniformly approximated by a sequence of polynomials in variables.
Let be a continuous function on . Deduce that
A3.3 B3.2
comment(i) Let be a point of the compact interval and let be defined by . Show that
is a continuous, linear map but that
is not continuous.
(ii) Consider the space of -times continuously differentiable functions on the interval . Write
for . Show that is a complete normed space. Is the space also complete?
Let be an -times continuously differentiable map and define
Show that is a continuous linear map when is equipped with the norm .
A4.3
comment(i) State the Monotone Convergence Theorem and explain briefly how to prove it.
(ii) For which real values of is ?
Let . Using the Monotone Convergence Theorem and the identity
prove carefully that
B1.7
commentWhat does it mean to say that a field is algebraically closed? Show that a field is algebraically closed if and only if, for any finite extension and every homomorphism , there exists a homomorphism whose restriction to is .
Let be a field of characteristic zero, and an algebraic extension such that every nonconstant polynomial over has at least one root in . Prove that is algebraically closed.
B3.6
commentLet be a separable polynomial of degree over a field . Explain what is meant by the Galois group of over . Explain how can be identified with a subgroup of the symmetric group . Show that as a permutation group, is transitive if and only if is irreducible over .
Show that the Galois group of over is , stating clearly any general results you use.
Now let be a finite extension of prime degree . By considering the degrees of the splitting fields of over and , show that also.
B4.3
commentWrite an essay on finite fields and their Galois theory.
A1.15 B1.24
comment(i) The worldline of a massive particle moving in a spacetime with metric obeys the geodesic equation
where is the particle's proper time and are the Christoffel symbols; these are the equations of motion for the Lagrangian
where is the particle's mass, and . Why is the choice of worldline parameter irrelevant? Among all possible worldlines passing through points and , why is the one that extremizes the proper time elapsed between and ?
Explain how the equations of motion for a massive particle may be obtained from the alternative Lagrangian
What can you conclude from the fact that has no explicit dependence on ? How are the equations of motion for a massless particle obtained from ?
(ii) A photon moves in the Schwarzschild metric
Given that the motion is confined to the plane , obtain the radial equation
where and are constants, the physical meaning of which should be stated.
Setting , obtain the equation
Using the approximate solution
obtain the standard formula for the deflection of light passing far from a body of mass with impact parameter . Reinstate factors of and to give your result in physical units.
A2.15 B2.23
comment(i) What is a "stationary" metric? What distinguishes a stationary metric from a "static" metric?
A Killing vector field of a metric satisfies
Show that this is equivalent to
Hence show that a constant vector field with one non-zero component, say, is a Killing vector field if is independent of .
(ii) Given that is a Killing vector field, show that is constant along the geodesic worldline of a massive particle with 4-velocity . Hence find the energy of a particle of unit mass moving in a static spacetime with metric
where and are functions only of the space coordinates . By considering a particle with speed small compared with that of light, and given that , show that to lowest order in the Newtonian approximation, and that is the Newtonian potential.
A metric admits an antisymmetric tensor satisfying
Given a geodesic , let . Show that is parallelly propagated along the geodesic, and that it is orthogonal to the tangent vector of the geodesic. Hence show that the scalar
is constant along the geodesic.
A4.17 B4.25
commentWhat are "inertial coordinates" and what is their physical significance? [A proof of the existence of inertial coordinates is not required.] Let be the origin of inertial coordinates and let be the curvature tensor at (with all indices lowered). Show that can be expressed entirely in terms of second partial derivatives of the metric , evaluated at . Use this expression to deduce that (a) (b) (c) .
Starting from the expression for in terms of the Christoffel symbols, show (again by using inertial coordinates) that
Obtain the contracted Bianchi identities and explain why the Einstein equations take the form
where is the energy-momentum tensor of the matter and is an arbitrary constant.
A2.7
comment(i) What are geodesic polar coordinates at a point on a surface with a Riemannian metric ?
Assume that
for geodesic polar coordinates and some function . What can you say about and at ?
(ii) Given that the Gaussian curvature may be computed by the formula , show that for small the area of the geodesic disc of radius centred at is
where is a function satisfying .
A3.7
comment(i) Suppose that is a curve in the Euclidean -plane and that is parameterized by its arc length . Suppose that in Euclidean is the surface of revolution obtained by rotating about the -axis. Take as coordinates on , where is the angle of rotation.
Show that the Riemannian metric on induced from the Euclidean metric on is
(ii) For the surface described in Part (i), let and . Show that, along any geodesic on , the quantity is constant. Here is the metric tensor on .
[You may wish to compute for any vector field , where are functions of . Then use symmetry to compute , which is the rate of change of along .]
A4.7
commentWrite an essay on the Theorema Egregium for surfaces in .
A ,
comment(i) State and prove a result of Euler relating the number of vertices, edges and faces of a plane graph. Use this result to exhibit a non-planar graph.
(ii) State the vertex form of Menger's Theorem and explain how it follows from an appropriate version of the Max-flow-min-cut Theorem. Let . Show that every -connected graph of order at least contains a cycle of length at least .
A1.8
comment(i) State Brooks' Theorem, and prove it in the case of a 3 -connected graph.
(ii) Let be a bipartite graph, with vertex classes and , each of order . If contains no cycle of length 4 show that
For which integers are there examples where equality holds?
A4.9
commentWrite an essay on the vertex-colouring of graphs drawn on compact surfaces other than the sphere. You should include a proof of Heawood's bound, and an example of a surface for which this bound is not attained.
A1.4
comment(i) Let be a prime number. Show that a group of order has a nontrivial normal subgroup, that is, is not a simple group.
(ii) Let and be primes, . Show that a group of order has a normal Sylow -subgroup. If has also a normal Sylow -subgroup, show that is cyclic. Give a necessary and sufficient condition on and for the existence of a non-abelian group of order . Justify your answer.
A2.4 B2.3
comment(i) In each of the following two cases, determine a highest common factor in :
(a) ;
(b) .
(ii) State and prove the Eisenstein criterion for irreducibility of polynomials with integer coefficients. Show that, if is prime, the polynomial
is irreducible over .
A3.4
comment(i) Let be the splitting field of the polynomial over the rationals. Find the Galois group of and describe its action on the roots of .
(ii) Let be the splitting field of the polynomial (where ) over the rationals. Assuming that the polynomial is irreducible, prove that the Galois group of the extension is either , or , or the dihedral group .
A4.4
commentWrite an essay on the theory of invariants. Your essay should discuss the theorem on the finite generation of the ring of invariants, the theorem on elementary symmetric functions, and some examples of calculation of rings of invariants.
B1.3
comment(i) Let be a prime number. Show that a group of order has a nontrivial normal subgroup, that is, is not a simple group.
(ii) Let and be primes, . Show that a group of order has a normal Sylow -subgroup. If has also a normal Sylow -subgroup, show that is cyclic. Give a necessary and sufficient condition on and for the existence of a non-abelian group of order . Justify your answer.
B1.10
commentLet be a Hilbert space and let .
(a) Define what it means for to be (i) invertible, and (ii) bounded below. Prove that is invertible if and only if both and are bounded below.
(b) Define what it means for to be normal. Prove that is normal if and only if for all . Deduce that, if is normal, then every point of Sp is an approximate eigenvalue of .
(c) Let be a self-adjoint operator, and let be a sequence in such that for all and as . Show, by direct calculation, that
and deduce that at least one of is an approximate eigenvalue of .
(d) Deduce that, with as in (c),
B3.8
commentLet be the space of all functions on the real line of the form , where is a polynomial with complex coefficients. Make into an inner-product space, in the usual way, by defining the inner product to be
You should assume, without proof, that this equation does define an inner product on . Define the norm by for . Now define a sequence of functions on by
Prove that is an orthogonal sequence in and that it spans .
For every define the Fourier transform of by
Show that
(a) for ;
(b) for all and ,
(c) for all .
B4.7
commentLet be a Hilbert space and let .
(a) Show that if then is invertible.
(b) Prove that if is invertible and if satisfies , then is invertible.
(c) Define what it means for to be compact. Prove that the set of compact operators on is a closed subset of .
(d) Prove that is compact if and only if there is a sequence in , where each operator has finite rank, such that as .
(e) Suppose that , where is invertible and is compact. Prove that then, also, , where is invertible and has finite rank.
B1.14
commentA binary Huffman code is used for encoding symbols occurring with probabilities where . Let be the length of a shortest codeword and of a longest codeword. Determine the maximal and minimal values of and , and find binary trees for which they are attained.
B2.14
commentLet be a binary linear code of length , rank and distance . Let be a codeword with exactly non-zero digits.
(a) Prove that (the Singleton bound).
(b) Prove that truncating on the non-zero digits of produces a code of length , rank and distance for some . Here is the integer satisfying .
[Hint: Assume the opposite. Then, given and its truncation , consider the coordinates where and have 1 in common (i.e. ) and where they differ e.g. and .]
(c) Deduce that (an improved Singleton bound).
B4.13
commentState and prove the Fano and generalized Fano inequalities.
A B1.12
comment(i) State Zorn's Lemma. Use Zorn's Lemma to prove that every real vector space has a basis.
(ii) State the Bourbaki-Witt Theorem, and use it to prove Zorn's Lemma, making clear where in the argument you appeal to the Axiom of Choice.
Conversely, deduce the Bourbaki-Witt Theorem from Zorn's Lemma.
If is a non-empty poset in which every chain has an upper bound, must be chain-complete?
A3.8 B3.11
comment(i) What does it mean for a function from to to be recursive? Write down a function that is not recursive. You should include a proof that your example is not recursive.
(ii) What does it mean for a subset of to be recursive, and what does it mean for it to be recursively enumerable? Give, with proof, an example of a set that is recursively enumerable but not recursive. Prove that a set is recursive if and only if both it and its complement are recursively enumerable. If a set is recursively enumerable, must its complement be recursively enumerable?
[You may assume the existence of any universal recursive functions or universal register machine programs that you wish.]
A4.8 B4.10
commentWrite an essay on propositional logic. You should include all relevant definitions, and should cover the Completeness Theorem, as well as the Compactness Theorem and the Decidability Theorem.
[You may assume that the set of primitive propositions is countable. You do not need to give proofs of simple examples of syntactic implication, such as the fact that is a theorem or that and syntactically imply .]
B2.11
commentState the Axiom of Replacement.
Show that for any set there is a transitive set that contains , indicating where in your argument you have used the Axiom of Replacement. No form of recursion theorem may be assumed without proof.
Which of the following are true and which are false? Give proofs or counterexamples as appropriate. You may assume standard properties of ordinals.
(a) If is a transitive set then is an ordinal.
(b) If each member of a set is an ordinal then is an ordinal.
(c) If is a transitive set and each member of is an ordinal then is an ordinal.
A1.1 B1.1
comment(i) Let be a simple symmetric random walk in , starting from , and set . Determine the quantities and and .
(ii) Let be a discrete-time Markov chain with state-space and transition matrix . What does it mean to say that a state is recurrent? Prove that is recurrent if and only if , where denotes the entry in .
Show that the simple symmetric random walk in is recurrent.
A2.1
comment(i) What is meant by a Poisson process of rate ? Show that if and are independent Poisson processes of rates and respectively, then is also a Poisson process, and determine its rate.
(ii) A Poisson process of rate is observed by someone who believes that the first holding time is longer than all subsequent holding times. How long on average will it take before the observer is proved wrong?
A3.1 B3.1
comment(i) Consider the continuous-time Markov chain with state-space and -matrix
Set
and
Determine which, if any, of the processes and are Markov chains.
(ii) Find an invariant distribution for the chain given in Part (i). Suppose . Find, for all , the probability that .
A4.1
commentConsider a pack of cards labelled . We repeatedly take the top card and insert it uniformly at random in one of the 52 possible places, that is, either on the top or on the bottom or in one of the 50 places inside the pack. How long on average will it take for the bottom card to reach the top?
Let denote the probability that after iterations the cards are found in increasing order. Show that, irrespective of the initial ordering, converges as , and determine the limit . You should give precise statements of any general results to which you appeal.
Show that, at least until the bottom card reaches the top, the ordering of cards inserted beneath it is uniformly random. Hence or otherwise show that, for all ,
A2.17
comment(i) Explain how to solve the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind,
in the case where is of the separable (degenerate) form
(ii) For what values of the real constants and does the equation
have (a) a unique solution, (b) no solution?
A3.17
comment(i) Explain what is meant by the assertion: "the series is asymptotic to as .
Consider the integral
where is real and has the asymptotic expansion
as , with . State Watson's lemma describing the asymptotic behaviour of as , and determine an expression for the general term in the asymptotic series.
(ii) Let
for . Show that
as .
Suggest, for the case that is smaller than unity, the point at which this asymptotic series should be truncated so as to produce optimal numerical accuracy.
A4.21
commentLet denote the solution for of
subject to the conditions that and as , where ; it may be assumed that for . Write in the form
and consider an asymptotic expansion of the form
valid in the limit with . Find and .
It is known that the solution is of the form
where
and the constant factor depends on . By letting , show that the expression
satisfies the relevant differential equation with an error of as . Comment on the relationship between your answers for and .
B1.19
commentBy considering the integral
where is a large circle centred on the origin, show that
where
By using , deduce that .
B2.18
commentLet be the Laplace transform of , where satisfies
and
Show that
and hence deduce that
Use the inversion formula for Laplace transforms to find for and deduce that a solution of the above boundary value problem exists only if . Hence find for .
B3.19
commentLet
where is a path beginning at and ending at (on the real axis). Identify the saddle points and sketch the paths of constant phase through these points.
Hence show that as .
B4.19
commentBy setting , where and are to be suitably chosen, explain how to find integral representations of the solutions of the equation
where is a non-zero real constant and is complex. Discuss in the particular case that is restricted to be real and positive and distinguish the different cases that arise according to the of .
Show that in this particular case, by choosing as a closed contour around the origin, it is possible to express a solution in the form
where is a constant.
Show also that for there are solutions that satisfy
where is a constant.
A2.18
comment(i) Write down the shock condition associated with the equation
where . Discuss briefly two possible heuristic approaches to justifying this shock condition.
(ii) According to shallow water theory, waves on a uniformly sloping beach are described by the equations
where is the constant slope of the beach, is the gravitational acceleration, is the fluid velocity, and is the elevation of the fluid surface above the undisturbed level.
Find the characteristic velocities and the characteristic form of the equations.
What are the Riemann variables and how do they vary with on the characteristics?
A3.18
comment(i) Write down a Lax pair for the equation
Discuss briefly, without giving mathematical details, how this pair can be used to solve the Cauchy problem on the infinite line for this equation. Discuss how this approach can be used to solve the analogous problem for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.
(ii) Let satisfy the equations
where is a constant.
(a) Show that the above equations are compatible provided that both satisfy the Sine-Gordon equation
(b) Use the above result together with the fact that
to show that the one-soliton solution of the Sine-Gordon equation is given by
where is a constant.
A4.22
commentLet denote the boundary values of functions which are analytic inside and outside a disc of radius centred at the origin. Let denote the boundary of this disc.
Suppose that satisfy the jump condition
(a) Show that the associated index is 1 .
(b) Find the canonical solution of the homogeneous problem, i.e. the solution satisfying
(c) Find the general solution of the Riemann-Hilbert problem satisfying the above jump condition as well as
(d) Use the above result to solve the linear singular integral problem
B1.9
commentLet , where , and let be the ring of algebraic integers of . Show that the field polynomial of , with and rational, is .
Let . By verifying that and determining the field polynomial, or otherwise, show that is in .
By computing the traces of , show that the elements of have the form
where are integers. By further computing the norm of , show that can be expressed as with integers. Deduce that form an integral basis for .
B2.9
commentBy Dedekind's theorem, or otherwise, factorise and 7 into prime ideals in the field . Show that the ideal equations
hold in , where . Hence, prove that the ideal class group of is cyclic of order
[It may be assumed that the Minkowski constant for is .]
B4.6
commentWrite an essay on the Dirichlet unit theorem with particular reference to quadratic fields.
A1.9
comment(i) Let be an odd prime and a strictly positive integer. Prove that the multiplicative group of relatively prime residue classes modulo is cyclic.
[You may assume that the result is true for .]
(ii) Let , where and are distinct odd primes. Let denote the set of all integers which are relatively prime to . We recall that is said to be an Euler pseudo-prime to the base if
If is an Euler pseudo-prime to the base , but is not an Euler pseudo-prime to the base , prove that is not an Euler pseudo-prime to the base . Let denote any of the primes . Prove that there exists a such that
and deduce that is not an Euler pseudo-prime to this base . Hence prove that is not an Euler pseudo-prime to the base for at least half of all the relatively prime residue classes .
A3.9
comment(i) Let be a real number and let , where the product is taken over all primes . Prove that .
(ii) Define the continued fraction of any positive irrational real number . Illustrate your definition by computing the continued fraction of .
Suppose that are positive integers with and that has the periodic continued fraction . Prove that .
A4.10
commentWrite an essay describing the factor base method for factorising a large odd positive integer . Your essay should include a detailed explanation of how the continued fraction of can be used to find a suitable factor base.
A1.20 B1.20
comment(i) The linear algebraic equations , where is symmetric and positive-definite, are solved with the Gauss-Seidel method. Prove that the iteration always converges.
(ii) The Poisson equation is given in the bounded, simply connected domain , with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions on . It is approximated by the fivepoint formula
where , and is in the interior of .
Assume for the sake of simplicity that the intersection of with the grid consists only of grid points, so that no special arrangements are required near the boundary. Prove that the method can be written in a vector notation, with a negative-definite matrix .
A2.19 B2.19
comment(i) Explain briefly what is meant by the convergence of a numerical method for ordinary differential equations.
(ii) Suppose the sufficiently-smooth function obeys the Lipschitz condition: there exists such that
Prove from first principles, without using the Dahlquist equivalence theorem, that the trapezoidal rule
for the solution of the ordinary differential equation
converges.
A3.19 B3.20
comment(i) The diffusion equation
with the initial condition and zero boundary conditions at and , is solved by the finite-difference method
where and .
Assuming sufficient smoothness of the function , and that remains constant as and become small, prove that the exact solution satisfies the numerical scheme with error .
(ii) For the problem defined in Part (i), assume that there exist such that . Prove that the method is stable for .
[Hint: You may use without proof the Gerschgorin theorem: All the eigenvalues of the matrix are contained in , where
A4.23 B4.20
commentWrite an essay on the conjugate gradient method. Your essay should include:
(a) a statement of the method and a sketch of its derivation;
(b) discussion, without detailed proofs, but with precise statements of relevant theorems, of the conjugacy of the search directions;
(c) a description of the standard form of the algorithm;
(d) discussion of the connection of the method with Krylov subspaces.
B2.15
commentThe owner of a put option may exercise it on any one of the days , or not at all. If he exercises it on day , when the share price is , his profit will be . Suppose the share price obeys , where are i.i.d. random variables for which . Let be the maximal expected profit the owner can obtain when there are further days to go and the share price is . Show that
(a) is non-decreasing in ,
(b) is non-decreasing in , and
(c) is continuous in .
Deduce that there exists a non-decreasing sequence, , such that expected profit is maximized by exercising the option the first day that .
Now suppose that the option never expires, so effectively . Show by examples that there may or may not exist an optimal policy of the form 'exercise the option the first day that .
B3.14
commentState Pontryagin's Maximum Principle (PMP).
In a given lake the tonnage of fish, , obeys
where is the rate at which fish are extracted. It is desired to maximize
choosing under the constraints , and if . Assume the PMP with an appropriate Hamiltonian . Now define and . Show that there exists such that on the optimal trajectory maximizes
and
Suppose that and that under an optimal policy it is not optimal to extract all the fish. Argue that is impossible and describe qualitatively what must happen under the optimal policy.
B4.14
commentThe scalars , are related by the equations
where is a sequence of uncorrelated random variables with means of 0 and variances of 1. Given that is an unbiased estimate of of variance 1 , the control variable is to be chosen at time on the basis of the information , where and . Let be the Kalman filter estimates of computed from
by appropriate choices of . Show that the variance of is .
Define and
Show that , where and
How would the expression for differ if had a variance different from
B1.18
comment(a) Define characteristic hypersurfaces and state a local existence and uniqueness theorem for a quasilinear partial differential equation with data on a non-characteristic hypersurface.
(b) Consider the initial value problem
for a function with initial data given for . Obtain a formula for the solution by the method of characteristics and deduce that a solution exists for all .
Derive the following (well-posedness) property for solutions and corresponding to data and respectively:
(c) Consider the initial value problem
for a function with initial data given for . Obtain a formula for the solution by the method of characteristics and hence show that if for all , then the solution exists for all . Show also that if there exists with , then the solution does not exist for all .
B2.17
comment(a) If is a radial function on (i.e. with for ), and , then show that is harmonic on if and only if
for .
(b) State the mean value theorem for harmonic functions and prove it for .
(c) Generalise the statement and the proof of the mean value theorem to the case of a subharmonic function, i.e. a function such that .
B3.18
commentConsider the initial value problem
to be solved for , subject to the initial conditions
for in the Schwarz space . Use the Fourier transform in to obtain a representation for the solution in the form
where should be determined explicitly. Explain carefully why your formula gives a smooth solution to (1) and why it satisfies the initial conditions (2), referring to the required properties of the Fourier transform as necessary.
Next consider the case . Find a tempered distribution (depending on ) such that (3) can be written
and (using the definition of Fourier transform of tempered distributions) show that the formula reduces to
State and prove the Duhamel principle relating to the solution of the -dimensional inhomogeneous wave equation
to be solved for , subject to the initial conditions
for a function. State clearly assumptions used on the solvability of the homogeneous problem.
[Hint: it may be useful to consider the Fourier transform of the tempered distribution defined by the function .]
B4.18
commentDiscuss the basic properties of the Fourier transform and how it is used in the study of partial differential equations.
The essay should include: definition and basic properties, inversion theorem, applications to establishing well-posedness of evolution partial differential equations with constant coefficients.
A1.2 B1.2
comment(i) Consider particles moving in 3 dimensions. The Cartesian coordinates of these particles are . Now consider an invertible change of coordinates to coordinates , so that one may express as . Show that the velocity of the system in Cartesian coordinates is given by the following expression:
Furthermore, show that Lagrange's equations in the two coordinate systems are related via
(ii) Now consider the case where there are constraints applied, . By considering the , and a set of independent coordinates , as a set of new coordinates, show that the Lagrange equations of the constrained system, i.e.
(where the are Lagrange multipliers) imply Lagrange's equations for the unconstrained coordinates, i.e.
A2.2 B2.1
comment(i) The trajectory of a non-relativistic particle of mass and charge moving in an electromagnetic field obeys the Lorentz equation
Show that this equation follows from the Lagrangian
where is the electromagnetic scalar potential and the vector potential, so that
(ii) Let . Consider a particle moving in a constant magnetic field which points in the direction. Show that the particle moves in a helix about an axis pointing in the direction. Evaluate the radius of the helix.
A3.2
comment(i) An axisymmetric bowling ball of mass has the shape of a sphere of radius . However, it is biased so that the centre of mass is located a distance away from the centre, along the symmetry axis.
The three principal moments of inertia about the centre of mass are . The ball starts out in a stable equilibrium at rest on a perfectly frictionless flat surface with the symmetry axis vertical. The symmetry axis is then tilted through , the ball is spun about this axis with an angular velocity , and the ball is released.
Explain why the centre of mass of the ball moves only in the vertical direction during the subsequent motion. Write down the Lagrangian for the ball in terms of the usual Euler angles and .
(ii) Show that there are three independent constants of the motion. Eliminate two of the angles from the Lagrangian and find the effective Lagrangian for the coordinate .
Find the maximum and minimum values of in the motion of the ball when the quantity is (a) very small and (b) very large.
A4.2
commentThe action of a Hamiltonian system may be regarded as a function of the final coordinates , and the final time by setting
where the initial coordinates and time are held fixed, and are the solutions to Hamilton's equations with Hamiltonian , satisfying .
(a) Show that under an infinitesimal change of the final coordinates and time , the change in is
(b) Hence derive the Hamilton-Jacobi equation
(c) If we can find a solution to ,
where are integration constants, then we can use as a generating function of type , where
Show that the Hamiltonian in the new coordinates vanishes.
(d) Write down and solve the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator, where . Show the solution takes the form . Using this as a generating function show that the new coordinates are constants of the motion and give their physical interpretation.
A1.12 B1.15
comment(i) A public health official is seeking a rational policy of vaccination against a relatively mild ailment which causes absence from work. Surveys suggest that of the population are already immune, but accurate tests to detect vulnerability in any individual are too costly for mass screening. A simple skin test has been developed, but is not completely reliable. A person who is immune to the ailment will have a negligible reaction to the skin test with probability , a moderate reaction with probability and a strong reaction with probability 0.1. For a person who is vulnerable to the ailment the corresponding probabilities are and . It is estimated that the money-equivalent of workhours lost from failing to vaccinate a vulnerable person is 20 , that the unnecessary cost of vaccinating an immune person is 8 , and that there is no cost associated with vaccinating a vulnerable person or failing to vaccinate an immune person. On the basis of the skin test, it must be decided whether to vaccinate or not. What is the Bayes decision rule that the health official should adopt?
(ii) A collection of students each sit exams. The ability of the th student is represented by and the performance of the th student on the th exam is measured by . Assume that, given , an appropriate model is that the variables are independent, and
for a known positive constant . It is reasonable to assume, a priori, that the are independent with
where and are population parameters, known from experience with previous cohorts of students.
Compute the posterior distribution of given the observed exam marks vector
Suppose now that is also unknown, but assumed to have a distribution, for known . Compute the posterior distribution of given and Find, up to a normalisation constant, the form of the marginal density of given .
A2.11 B2.16
comment(i) Outline briefly the Bayesian approach to hypothesis testing based on Bayes factors.
(ii) Let be independent random variables, both uniformly distributed on . Find a minimal sufficient statistic for . Let , . Show that is ancilliary and explain why the Conditionality Principle would lead to inference about being drawn from the conditional distribution of given . Find the form of this conditional distribution.
A3.12 B3.15
comment(i) Let be independent, identically distributed random variables, with the exponential density .
Obtain the maximum likelihood estimator of . What is the asymptotic distribution of ?
What is the minimum variance unbiased estimator of Justify your answer carefully.
(ii) Explain briefly what is meant by the profile log-likelihood for a scalar parameter of interest , in the presence of a nuisance parameter . Describe how you would test a null hypothesis of the form using the profile log-likelihood ratio statistic.
In a reliability study, lifetimes are independent and exponentially distributed, with means of the form where are unknown and are known constants. Inference is required for the mean lifetime, , for covariate value .
Find, as explicitly as possible, the profile log-likelihood for , with nuisance parameter .
Show that, under , the profile likelihood ratio statistic has a distribution which does not depend on the value of . How might the parametric bootstrap be used to obtain a test of of exact size ?
[Hint: if is exponentially distributed with mean 1 , then is exponentially distributed with mean .]
A4.13 B4.15
commentWrite an account, with appropriate examples, of inference in multiparameter exponential families. Your account should include a discussion of natural statistics and their properties and of various conditional tests on natural parameters.
B1.13
commentState and prove the first Borel-Cantelli Lemma.
Suppose that is a sequence of events in a common probability space such that whenever and that .
Let be the indicator function of and let
Use Chebyshev's inequality to show that
Deduce, using the first Borel-Cantelli Lemma, that infinitely often .
B2.12
commentLet be a Hilbert space and let be a closed subspace of . Let . Show that there is a unique decomposition such that and .
Now suppose is a probability space and let . Suppose is a sub- -algebra of . Define using a decomposition of the above type. Show that for each set .
Let be two sub- -algebras of . Show that (a) ; (b) .
No general theorems about projections on Hilbert spaces may be quoted without proof.
B3.12
commentExplain what is meant by the characteristic function of a real-valued random variable and prove that is also a characteristic function of some random variable.
Let us say that a characteristic function is infinitely divisible when, for each , we can write for some characteristic function . Prove that, in this case, the limit
exists for all real and is continuous at .
Using Lévy's continuity theorem for characteristic functions, which you should state carefully, deduce that is a characteristic function. Hence show that, if is infinitely divisible, then cannot vanish for any real .
B4.11
commentLet be integrable with respect to Lebesgue measure on . Prove that, if
for every sub-interval of , then almost everywhere on .
Now define
Prove that is continuous on . Show that, if is zero on , then is zero almost everywhere on .
Suppose now that is bounded and Lebesgue integrable on . By applying the Dominated Convergence Theorem to
or otherwise, show that, if is differentiable on , then almost everywhere on .
The functions have the properties:
(a) converges pointwise to a differentiable function on ,
(b) each has a continuous derivative with on ,
(c) converges pointwise to some function on .
Deduce that
almost everywhere on .
A1.14
comment(i) An electron of mass and spin moves freely inside a cubical box of side . Verify that the energy eigenstates of the system are where the spatial wavefunction is given by
and
Give the corresponding energy eigenvalues.
A second electron is inserted into the box. Explain how the Pauli principle determines the structure of the wavefunctions associated with the lowest energy level and the first excited energy level. What are the values of the energy in these two levels and what are the corresponding degeneracies?
(ii) When the side of the box, , is large, the number of eigenstates available to the electron with energy in the range is . Show that
A large number, , of electrons are inserted into the box. Explain how the ground state is constructed and define the Fermi energy, . Show that in the ground state
When a magnetic field in the -direction is applied to the system, an electron with spin up acquires an additional energy and an electron with spin down an energy , where is the magnetic moment of the electron and . Describe, for the case , the structure of the ground state of the system of electrons in the box and show that
Calculate the induced magnetic moment, , of the ground state of the system and show that for a weak magnetic field the magnetic moment is given by
A2.14
comment(i) A system of distinguishable non-interacting particles has energy levels with degeneracy , for each particle. Show that in thermal equilibrium the number of particles with energy is given by
where and are parameters whose physical significance should be briefly explained.
A gas comprises a set of atoms with non-degenerate energy levels . Assume that the gas is dilute and the motion of the atoms can be neglected. For such a gas the atoms can be treated as distinguishable. Show that when the system is at temperature , the number of atoms at level and the number at level satisfy
where is Boltzmann's constant.
(ii) A system of bosons has a set of energy levels with degeneracy , for each particle. In thermal equilibrium at temperature the number of particles in level is
What is the value of when the particles are photons?
Given that the density of states for photons of frequency in a cubical box of side is
where is the speed of light, show that at temperature the density of photons in the frequency range is where
Deduce the energy density, , for photons of frequency .
The cubical box is occupied by the gas of atoms described in Part (i) in the presence of photons at temperature . Consider the two atomic levels and where and . The rate of spontaneous photon emission for the transition is . The rate of absorption is and the rate of stimulated emission is . Show that the requirement that these processes maintain the atoms and photons in thermal equilibrium yields the relations
and
A4.16
commentDescribe the energy band structure available to electrons moving in crystalline materials. How can it be used to explain the properties of crystalline materials that are conductors, insulators and semiconductors?
Where does the Fermi energy lie in an intrinsic semiconductor? Describe the process of doping of semiconductors and explain the difference between -type and -type doping. What is the effect of the doping on the position of the Fermi energy in the two cases?
Why is there a potential difference across a junction of -type and -type semiconductors?
Derive the relation
between the current, , and the voltage, , across an junction, where is the total minority current in the semiconductor and is the charge on the electron, is the temperature and is Boltzmann's constant. Your derivation should include an explanation of the terms majority current and minority current.
Why can the junction act as a rectifier?
B1.6
commentDefine the inner product of two class functions from the finite group into the complex numbers. Prove that characters of the irreducible representations of form an orthonormal basis for the space of class functions.
Consider the representation of the symmetric group by permutation matrices. Show that splits as a direct sum where 1 denotes the trivial representation. Is the -dimensional representation irreducible?
B2.6
commentLet be the space of homogeneous polynomials of degree in two variables and . Define a left action of on the space of polynomials by setting
where and .
Show that
(a) the representations are irreducible,
(b) the representations exhaust the irreducible representations of , and
B3.5
commentIf and are representations of the finite groups and respectively, define the tensor product as a representation of the group and show that its character is given by
Prove that
(a) if and are irreducible, then is an irreducible representation of ;
(b) each irreducible representation of is equivalent to a representation where each is irreducible
Is every representation of the tensor product of a representation of and a representation of ?
B4.2
commentAssume that the group of matrices of determinant 1 with entries from the field has presentation
Show that the subgroup generated by is central and that the quotient group can be identified with the alternating group . Assuming further that has seven conjugacy classes find the character table.
Is it true that every irreducible character is induced up from the character of a 1-dimensional representation of some subgroup?
[Hint: You may find it useful to note that may be regarded as a subgroup of , providing a faithful 2-dimensional representation; the subgroup generated by and is the quaternion group of order 8 , acting irreducibly.]
B1.11
commentProve that a holomorphic map from to itself is either constant or a rational function. Prove that a holomorphic map of degree 1 from to itself is a Möbius transformation.
Show that, for every finite set of distinct points in and any values , there is a holomorphic function with for .
B3.9
commentLet be the lattice for two non-zero complex numbers whose ratio is not real. Recall that the Weierstrass function is given by the series
the function is the (unique) odd anti-derivative of ; and is defined by the conditions
(a) By writing a differential equation for , or otherwise, show that is an odd function.
(b) Show that for some constants . Use (a) to express in terms of . [Do not attempt to express in terms of .]
(c) Show that the function is periodic with respect to the lattice and deduce that .
B4.8
comment(a) Define the degree of a meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere . State the Riemann-Hurwitz theorem.
Let and be two rational functions on the sphere . Show that
Deduce that
(b) Describe the topological type of the Riemann surface defined by the equation in . [You should analyse carefully the behaviour as and approach .]
B1.22
commentA gas in equilibrium at temperature and pressure has quantum stationary states with energies in volume . What does it mean to say that a change in volume from to is reversible?
Write down an expression for the probability that the gas is in state . How is the entropy defined in terms of these probabilities? Write down an expression for the energy of the gas, and establish the relation
for reversible changes.
By considering the quantity , derive the Maxwell relation
A gas obeys the equation of state
where is a constant and is a function of only. The gas is expanded isothermally, at temperature , from volume to volume . Find the work done on the gas. Show that the heat absorbed by the gas is given by
B3.22
commentA diatomic molecule, free to move in two space dimensions, has classical Hamiltonian
where is the particle's momentum and is its angular momentum. Write down the classical partition function for an ideal gas of such molecules in thermal equilibrium at temperature . Show that it can be written in the form
where and are the one-molecule partition functions associated with the translational and rotational degrees of freedom, respectively. Compute and and hence show that the energy of the gas is given by
where is Boltzmann's constant. How does this result illustrate the principle of equipartition of energy?
In an improved model of the two-dimensional gas of diatomic molecules, the angular momentum is quantized in integer multiples of :
Write down an expression for in this case. Given that , obtain an expression for the energy in the form
where and are constants that should be computed. How is this result compatible with the principle of equipartition of energy? Find , the specific heat at constant volume, for .
Why can the sum over in be approximated by an integral when ? Deduce that in this limit.
B4.23
commentA gas of non-interacting identical bosons in volume , with one-particle energy levels , is in equilibrium at temperature and chemical potential . Let be the number of particles in the th one-particle state. Write down an expression for the grand partition function . Write down an expression for the probability of finding a given set of occupation numbers of the one-particle states. Hence determine the mean occupation numbers (the Bose-Einstein distribution). Write down expressions, in terms of the mean occupation numbers, for the total energy and total number of particles .
Write down an expression for the grand potential in terms of . Given that
show that can be written in the form
for some function , which you should determine. Hence show that for any change of the gas that leaves the mean occupation numbers unchanged. Consider a (quasi-static) change of with this property. Using the formula
and given that for each , show that
What is the value of for photons?
Let , so that is a function only of and . Why does the energy density depend only on Using the Maxwell relation
and the first law of thermodynamics for reversible changes, show that
and hence that
for some power that you should determine. Show further that
Hence verify, given , that is left unchanged by a change of at constant .
A1.16
comment(i) Explain briefly how the relative motion of galaxies in a homogeneous and isotropic universe is described in terms of the scale factor (where is time). In particular, show that the relative velocity of two galaxies is given in terms of their relative displacement by the formula , where is a function that you should determine in terms of . Given that , obtain a formula for the distance to the cosmological horizon at time . Given further that , for and constant , compute . Hence show that as .
(ii) A homogeneous and isotropic model universe has energy density and pressure , where is the speed of light. The evolution of its scale factor is governed by the Friedmann equation
where the overdot indicates differentiation with respect to . Use the "Fluid" equation
to obtain an equation for the acceleration . Assuming and , show that cannot increase with time as long as , nor decrease if . Hence determine the late time behaviour of for . For show that an initially expanding universe must collapse to a "big crunch" at which . How does behave as ? Given that , determine the form of near the big crunch. Discuss the qualitative late time behaviour for .
Cosmological models are often assumed to have an equation of state of the form for constant . What physical principle requires ? Matter with is called "stiff matter" by cosmologists. Given that , determine for a universe that contains only stiff matter. In our Universe, why would you expect stiff matter to be negligible now even if it were significant in the early Universe?
A3.14
comment(i) The pressure and mass density , at distance from the centre of a spherically-symmetric star, obey the pressure-support equation
where , and the prime indicates differentiation with respect to . Let be the total volume of the star, and its average pressure. Use the pressure-support equation to derive the "virial theorem"
where is the total gravitational potential energy [Hint: multiply by ]. If a star is assumed to be a self-gravitating ball of a non-relativistic ideal gas then it can be shown that
where is the total kinetic energy. Use this result to show that the total energy is negative. When nuclear reactions have converted the hydrogen in a star's core to helium the core contracts until the helium is converted to heavier elements, thereby increasing the total energy of the star. Explain briefly why this converts the star into a "Red Giant". (ii) Write down the first law of thermodynamics for the change in energy of a system at temperature , pressure and chemical potential as a result of small changes in the entropy , volume and particle number . Use this to show that
The microcanonical ensemble is the set of all accessible microstates of a system at fixed . Define the canonical and grand-canonical ensembles. Why are the properties of a macroscopic system independent of the choice of thermodynamic ensemble?
The Gibbs "grand potential" can be defined as
Use the first law to find expressions for as partial derivatives of . A system with variable particle number has non-degenerate energy eigenstates labeled by , for each , with energy eigenvalues . If the system is in equilibrium at temperature and chemical potential then the probability that it will be found in a particular -particle state is given by the Gibbs probability distribution
where is Boltzmann's constant. Deduce an expression for the normalization factor as a function of and , and hence find expressions for the partial derivatives
in terms of .
Why does also depend on the volume ? Given that a change in at fixed leaves unchanged the Gibbs probability distribution, deduce that
Use your results to show that
for some constant .
A4.18
commentLet be the density of states of a particle in volume as a function of the magnitude of the particle's momentum. Explain why , where is Planck's constant. Write down the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions for the (average) number of particles of an ideal gas with momentum . Hence write down integrals for the (average) total number of particles and the (average) total energy as functions of temperature and chemical potential . Why do and also depend on the volume
Electromagnetic radiation in thermal equilibrium can be regarded as a gas of photons. Why are photons "ultra-relativistic" and how is photon momentum related to the frequency of the radiation? Why does a photon gas have zero chemical potential? Use your formula for to express the energy density of electromagnetic radiation in the form
where is a function of that you should determine up to a dimensionless multiplicative constant. Show that is independent of when , where is Boltzmann's constant. Let be the value of at the maximum of the function ; how does depend on ?
Let be the photon number density at temperature . Show that for some power , which you should determine. Why is unchanged as the volume is increased quasi-statically? How does depend on under these circumstances? Applying your result to the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), deduce how the temperature of the CMBR depends on the scale factor of the Universe. At a time when , the Universe underwent a transition from an earlier time at which it was opaque to a later time at which it was transparent. Explain briefly the reason for this transition and its relevance to the CMBR.
An ideal gas of fermions of mass is in equilibrium at temperature and chemical potential with a gas of its own anti-particles and photons . Assuming that chemical equilibrium is maintained by the reaction
determine the chemical potential of the antiparticles. Let and be the number densities of and , respectively. What will their values be for if ? Given that , but , show that
where is the fermion number density at zero chemical potential and is a positive function of the dimensionless ratio . What is when ?
Given that , obtain an expression for the ratio in terms of and the function . Supposing that is either a proton or neutron, why should you expect the ratio to remain constant as the Universe expands?
A1.11 B1.16
comment(i) In the context of a single-period financial market with traded assets, what is an arbitrage? What is an equivalent martingale measure?
A simple single-period financial market contains two assets, (a bond), and (a share). The period can be good, bad, or indifferent, with probabilities each. At the beginning of the period, time 0 , both assets are worth 1 , i.e.
and at the end of the period, time 1 , the share is worth
where . The bond is always worth 1 at the end of the period. Show that there is no arbitrage in this market if and only if .
(ii) An agent with strictly increasing strictly concave utility has wealth at time 0 , and wishes to invest his wealth in shares and bonds so as to maximise his expected utility of wealth at time 1 . Explain how the solution to his optimisation problem generates an equivalent martingale measure.
Assume now that , and . Characterise all equivalent martingale measures for this problem. Characterise all equivalent martingale measures which arise as solutions of an agent's optimisation problem.
Calculate the largest and smallest possible prices for a European call option with strike 1 and expiry 1, as the pricing measure ranges over all equivalent martingale measures. Calculate the corresponding bounds when the pricing measure is restricted to the set arising from expected-utility-maximising agents' optimisation problems.
A3.11 B3.16
comment(i) What does it mean to say that the process is a Brownian motion? What does it mean to say that the process is a martingale?
Suppose that is a Brownian motion and the process is given in terms of as
for constants . For what values of is the process
a martingale? (Here, is a positive constant.)
(ii) In a standard Black-Scholes model, the price at time of a share is represented as . You hold a perpetual American put option on this share, with strike ; you may exercise at any stopping time , and upon exercise you receive . Let . Suppose you plan to use the exercise policy: 'Exercise as soon as the price falls to or lower.' Calculate what the option would be worth if you were to follow this policy. (Assume that the riskless rate of interest is constant and equal to .) For what choice of is this value maximised?
A4.12 B4.16
commentA single-period market contains risky assets, , initially worth , and at time 1 worth random amounts whose first two moments are given by
An agent with given initial wealth is considering how to invest in the available assets, and has asked for your advice. Develop the theory of the mean-variance efficient frontier far enough to exhibit explicitly the minimum-variance portfolio achieving a required mean return, assuming that is non-singular. How does your analysis change if a riskless asset is added to the market? Under what (sufficient) conditions would an agent maximising expected utility actually choose a portfolio on the mean-variance efficient frontier?
A1.17
comment(i) Define the character of a representation of a finite group . Show that if and only if is irreducible, where
If and , what are the possible dimensions of the representation
(ii) State and prove Schur's first and second lemmas.
A3.15
comment(i) Given that the character of an transformation in the -dimensional irreducible representation is given by
show how the direct product representation decomposes into irreducible representations.
(ii) Find the decomposition of the direct product representation of into irreducible representations.
Mesons consist of one quark and one antiquark. The scalar Meson Octet consists of the following particles: , and .
Use the direct product representation of to identify the quark-type of the particles in the scalar Meson Octet. Deduce the quark-type of the singlet state contained in .
A1.19
comment(i) Explain the concepts of: traction on an element of surface; the stress tensor; the strain tensor in an elastic medium. Derive a relationship between the two tensors for a linear isotropic elastic medium, stating clearly any assumption you need to make.
(ii) State what is meant by an wave in a homogeneous isotropic elastic medium. An SH wave in a medium with shear modulus and density is incident at angle on an interface with a medium with shear modulus and density . Evaluate the form and amplitude of the reflected wave and transmitted wave. Comment on the case , where and .
A2.16
comment(i) Explain briefly what is meant by the concepts of hydrostatic equilibrium and the buoyancy frequency. Evaluate an expression for the buoyancy frequency in an incompressible inviscid fluid with stable density profile .
(ii) Explain briefly what is meant by the Boussinesq approximation.
Write down the equations describing motions of small amplitude in an incompressible, stratified, Boussinesq fluid of constant buoyancy frequency.
Derive the resulting dispersion relationship for plane wave motion. Show that there is a maximum frequency for the waves and explain briefly why this is the case.
What would be the response to a solid body oscillating at a frequency in excess of the maximum?
A4.20
commentDefine the Rossby number. Under what conditions will a fluid flow be at (a) high and (b) low values of the Rossby number? Briefly describe both an oceanographic and a meteorological example of each type of flow.
Explain the concept of quasi-geostrophy for a thin layer of homogeneous fluid in a rapidly rotating system. Write down the quasi-geostrophic approximation for the vorticity in terms of the pressure, the fluid density and the rate of rotation. Define the potential vorticity and state the associated conservation law.
A broad current flows directly eastwards ( direction) with uniform velocity across a flat ocean basin of depth . The current encounters a low, two-dimensional ridge of width and height , whose axis is aligned in the north-south direction. Neglecting any effects of stratification and assuming a constant vertical rate of rotation , such that the Rossby number is small, determine the effect of the ridge on the current. Show that the direction of the current after it leaves the ridge is dependent on the cross-sectional area of the ridge, but not on the explicit form of .
A1.18
comment(i) A solute occupying a domain has concentration and is created at a rate per unit volume; is the flux of solute per unit area; are position and time. Derive the transport equation
State Fick's Law of diffusion and hence write down the diffusion equation for for a case in which the solute flux occurs solely by diffusion, with diffusivity .
In a finite domain and the steady-state distribution of depend only on is equal to at and at . Find in the following two cases: (a) , (b) ,
where and are positive constants.
Show that there is no steady solution satisfying the boundary conditions if
(ii) For the problem of Part (i), consider the case , where and are positive constants. Calculate the steady-state solution, , assuming that for any integer .
Now let
where . Find the equations, boundary and initial conditions satisfied by . Solve the problem using separation of variables and show that
for some constants . Write down an integral expression for , show that
and comment on the behaviour of the solution for large times in the two cases and .
A3.16
comment(i) When a solid crystal grows into a supercooled infinite melt, latent heat must be removed from the interface by diffusion into the melt. Write down the equation and boundary conditions satisfied by the temperature in the melt, where is position and time, in terms of the following material properties: solid density , specific heat capacity , coefficient of latent heat per unit mass , thermal conductivity , melting temperature . You may assume that the densities of the melt and the solid are the same and that temperature in the melt far from the interface is , where is a positive constant.
A spherical crystal of radius grows into such a melt with . Use dimensional analysis to show that is proportional to .
(ii) Show that the above problem should have a similarity solution of the form
where is the radial coordinate in spherical polars and is the thermal diffusivity. Recalling that, for spherically symmetric , write down the equation and boundary conditions to be satisfied by . Hence show that the radius of the crystal is given by , where satisfies the equation
and .
Integrate the left hand side of this equation by parts, to give
Hence show that a solution with small must have , which is self-consistent if is large.
A4.19
commentA shallow layer of fluid of viscosity , density and depth lies on a rigid horizontal plane and is bounded by impermeable barriers at and . Gravity acts vertically and a wind above the layer causes a shear stress to be exerted on the upper surface in the direction. Surface tension is negligible compared to gravity.
(a) Assuming that the steady flow in the layer can be analysed using lubrication theory, show that the horizontal pressure gradient is given by and hence that
Show also that the fluid velocity at the surface is equal to , and sketch the velocity profile for .
(b) In the case in which is a constant, , and assuming that the difference between and its average value remains small compared with , show that
provided that
(c) Surfactant at surface concentration is added to the surface, so that now
where is a positive constant. The surfactant is advected by the surface fluid velocity and also experiences a surface diffusion with diffusivity . Write down the equation for conservation of surfactant, and hence show that
From equations (1), (2) and (3) deduce that
where is a constant. Assuming once more that , and that at , show further that
provided that
B1.26
commentConsider the equation
with and real constants. Find the dispersion relation for waves of frequency and wavenumber . Find the phase velocity and the group velocity , and sketch the graphs of these functions.
By multiplying by , obtain an energy equation in the form
where represents the energy density and the energy flux.
Now let , where is a real constant. Evaluate the average values of and over a period of the wave to show that
Comment on the physical meaning of this result.
B2.25
commentStarting from the equations for the one-dimensional unsteady flow of a perfect gas of uniform entropy, derive the Riemann invariants
on characteristics
A piston moves smoothly down a long tube, with position . Gas occupies the tube ahead of the piston, . Initially the gas and the piston are at rest, and the speed of sound in the gas is . For , show that the characteristics are straight lines, provided that a shock-wave has not formed. Hence find a parametric representation of the solution for the velocity of the gas.
B3.25
commentDerive the wave equation governing the velocity potential for linearised sound in a perfect gas. How is the pressure disturbance related to the velocity potential? Write down the spherically symmetric solution to the wave equation with time dependence , which is regular at the origin.
A high pressure gas is contained, at density , within a thin metal spherical shell which makes small amplitude spherically symmetric vibrations. Ignore the low pressure gas outside. Let the metal shell have radius , mass per unit surface area, and elastic stiffness which tries to restore the radius to its equilibrium value with a force per unit surface area. Show that the frequency of these vibrations is given by
B4.27
commentShow that the equations governing isotropic linear elasticity have plane-wave solutions, identifying them as or waves.
A semi-infinite elastic medium in (where is the vertical coordinate) with density and Lamé moduli and is overlaid by a layer of thickness (in ) of a second elastic medium with density and Lamé moduli and . The top surface at is free, i.e. the surface tractions vanish there. The speed of S-waves is lower in the layer, i.e. . For a time-harmonic SH-wave with horizontal wavenumber and frequency , which oscillates in the slow top layer and decays exponentially into the fast semi-infinite medium, derive the dispersion relation for the apparent wave speed ,
Show graphically that there is always one root, and at least one higher mode if .