Part II, 2006
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1.II.21H
commentCompute the homology groups of the "pinched torus" obtained by identifying a meridian circle on the torus to a point, for some point .
2.II.21H
commentState the simplicial approximation theorem. Compute the number of 0 -simplices (vertices) in the barycentric subdivision of an -simplex and also compute the number of -simplices. Finally, show that there are at most countably many homotopy classes of continuous maps from the 2-sphere to itself.
3.II.20H
commentLet be the union of two circles identified at a point: the "figure eight". Classify all the connected double covering spaces of . If we view these double coverings just as topological spaces, determine which of them are homeomorphic to each other and which are not.
4.II.21H
commentFix a point in the torus . Let be the group of homeomorphisms from the torus to itself such that . Determine a non-trivial homomorphism from to the group .
[The group consists of matrices with integer coefficients that have an inverse which also has integer coefficients.]
Establish whether each in the kernel of is homotopic to the identity map.
1.II.33A
commentConsider a particle of mass and momentum moving under the influence of a spherically symmetric potential such that for . Define the scattering amplitude and the phase shift . Here is the scattering angle. How is related to the differential cross section?
Obtain the partial-wave expansion
Let be a solution of the radial Schrödinger equation, regular at , for energy and angular momentum . Let
Obtain the relation
Suppose that
for some , with all other small for . What does this imply for the differential cross section when ?
[For , the two independent solutions of the radial Schrödinger equation are and with
Note that the Wronskian is independent of
2.II.33D
commentState and prove Bloch's theorem for the electron wave functions for a periodic potential where is a lattice vector.
What is the reciprocal lattice? Explain why the Bloch wave-vector is arbitrary up to , where is a reciprocal lattice vector.
Describe in outline why one can expect energy bands . Explain how may be restricted to a Brillouin zone and show that the number of states in volume is
Assuming that the velocity of an electron in the energy band with Bloch wave-vector is
show that the contribution to the electric current from a full energy band is zero. Given that for each occupied energy level, show that the contribution to the current density is then
where is the electron charge.
3.II.33A
commentConsider a one-dimensional crystal of lattice space , with atoms having positions and momenta , such that the classical Hamiltonian is
where we identify . Show how this may be quantized to give the energy eigenstates consisting of a ground state together with free phonons with energy where for suitable integers . Obtain the following expression for the quantum operator
where are annihilation and creation operators, respectively.
An interaction involves the matrix element
Calculate this and show that has its largest value when for integer .
Disregard the case .
[You may use the relations
and if commutes with and with
4.II.33D
commentFor the one-dimensional potential
solve the Schrödinger equation for negative energy and obtain an equation that determines possible energy bands. Show that the results agree with the tight-binding model in appropriate limits.
[It may be useful to note that
1.II.26J
comment(a) What is a -matrix? What is the relationship between the transition matrix of a continuous time Markov process and its generator ?
(b) A pond has three lily pads, labelled 1, 2, and 3. The pond is also the home of a frog that hops from pad to pad in a random fashion. The position of the frog is a continuous time Markov process on with generator
Sketch an arrow diagram corresponding to and determine the communicating classes. Find the probability that the frog is on pad 2 in equilibrium. Find the probability that the frog is on pad 2 at time given that the frog is on pad 1 at time 0 .
2.II.26J
comment(a) Define a renewal process with independent, identically-distributed holding times State without proof the strong law of large numbers for . State without proof the elementary renewal theorem for the mean value .
(b) A circular bus route consists of ten bus stops. At exactly 5am, the bus starts letting passengers in at the main bus station (stop 1). It then proceeds to stop 2 where it stops to let passengers in and out. It continues in this fashion, stopping at stops 3 to 10 in sequence. After leaving stop 10, the bus heads to stop 1 and the cycle repeats. The travel times between stops are exponentially distributed with mean 4 minutes, and the time required to let passengers in and out at each stop are exponentially distributed with mean 1 minute. Calculate approximately the average number of times the bus has gone round its route by .
When the driver's shift finishes, at exactly , he immediately throws all the passengers off the bus if the bus is already stopped, or otherwise, he drives to the next stop and then throws the passengers off. He then drives as fast as he can round the rest of the route to the main bus station. Giving reasons but not proofs, calculate approximately the average number of stops he will drive past at the end of his shift while on his way back to the main bus station, not including either the stop at which he throws off the passengers or the station itself.
3.II.25J
commentA passenger plane with numbered seats is about to take off; seats have already been taken, and now the last passenger enters the cabin. The first passengers were advised by the crew, rather imprudently, to take their seats completely at random, but the last passenger is determined to sit in the place indicated on his ticket. If his place is free, he takes it, and the plane is ready to fly. However, if his seat is taken, he insists that the occupier vacates it. In this case the occupier decides to follow the same rule: if the free seat is his, he takes it, otherwise he insists on his place being vacated. The same policy is then adopted by the next unfortunate passenger, and so on. Each move takes a random time which is exponentially distributed with mean . What is the expected duration of the plane delay caused by these displacements?
4.II.26J
comment(a) Let be a Poisson process of rate . Let be a number between 0 and 1 and suppose that each jump in is counted as type one with probability and type two with probability , independently for different jumps and independently of the Poisson process. Let be the number of type-one jumps and the number of type-two jumps by time . What can you say about the pair of processes and ? What if we fix probabilities with and consider types instead of two?
(b) A person collects coupons one at a time, at jump times of a Poisson process of rate . There are types of coupons, and each time a coupon of type is obtained with probability , independently of the previously collected coupons and independently of the Poisson process. Let be the first time when a complete set of coupon types is collected. Show that
Let be the total number of coupons collected by the time the complete set of coupon types is obtained. Show that . Hence, or otherwise, deduce that does not depend on .
1.II
commentTwo real functions of a real variable are given on an interval , where . Suppose that attains its minimum precisely at , with , and that . For a real argument , define
Explain how to obtain the leading asymptotic behaviour of as (Laplace's method).
The modified Bessel function is defined for by:
Show that
as with fixed.
3.II B
commentThe Airy function is defined by
where the contour begins at infinity along the ray and ends at infinity along the ray . Restricting attention to the case where is real and positive, use the method of steepest descent to obtain the leading term in the asymptotic expansion for as :
Hint: put
4.II
comment(a) Outline the Liouville-Green approximation to solutions of the ordinary differential equation
in a neighbourhood of infinity, in the case that, near infinity, has the convergent series expansion
with .
In the case
explain why you expect a basis of two asymptotic solutions , with
as , and show that .
(b) Determine, at leading order in the large positive real parameter , an approximation to the solution of the eigenvalue problem:
where is greater than a positive constant for .
1.I.9C
commentHamilton's equations for a system with degrees of freedom can be written in vector form as
where is a -vector and the matrix takes the form
where 1 is the identity matrix. Derive the condition for a transformation of the form to be canonical. For a system with a single degree of freedom, show that the following transformation is canonical for all nonzero values of :
1.II.15C
comment(a) In the Hamiltonian framework, the action is defined as
Derive Hamilton's equations from the principle of least action. Briefly explain how the functional variations in this derivation differ from those in the derivation of Lagrange's equations from the principle of least action. Show that is a constant of the motion whenever .
(b) What is the invariant quantity arising in Liouville's theorem? Does the theorem depend on assuming ? State and prove Liouville's theorem for a system with a single degree of freedom.
(c) A particle of mass bounces elastically along a perpendicular between two parallel walls a distance apart. Sketch the path of a single cycle in phase space, assuming that the velocity changes discontinuously at the wall. Compute the action as a function of the energy and the constants . Verify that the period of oscillation is given by . Suppose now that the distance changes slowly. What is the relevant adiabatic invariant? How does change as a function of ?
2.I.9C
commentTwo point masses, each of mass , are constrained to lie on a straight line and are connected to each other by a spring of force constant . The left-hand mass is also connected to a wall on the left by a spring of force constant . The right-hand mass is similarly connected to a wall on the right, by a spring of force constant , so that the potential energy is
where is the distance from equilibrium of the mass. Derive the equations of motion. Find the frequencies of the normal modes.
3.I.9C
commentA pendulum of length oscillates in the plane, making an angle with the vertical axis. The pivot is attached to a moving lift that descends with constant acceleration , so that the position of the bob is
Given that the Lagrangian for an unconstrained particle is
determine the Lagrangian for the pendulum in terms of the generalized coordinate . Derive the equation of motion in terms of . What is the motion when ?
Find the equilibrium configurations for arbitrary . Determine which configuration is stable when
and when
3.II.15C
commentA particle of mass is constrained to move on the surface of a sphere of radius .
The Lagrangian is given in spherical polar coordinates by
where gravity is constant. Find the two constants of the motion.
The particle is projected horizontally with velocity from a point whose depth below the centre is . Find such that the particle trajectory
(i) just grazes the horizontal equatorial plane ;
(ii) remains at depth for all time .
4.I.9C
commentCalculate the principal moments of inertia for a uniform cylinder, of mass , radius and height , about its centre of mass. For what height-to-radius ratio does the cylinder spin like a sphere?
1.I.4G
commentDefine a linear feedback shift register. Explain the Berlekamp-Massey method for "breaking" a key stream produced by a linear feedback shift register of unknown length. Use it to find the feedback polynomial of a linear feedback shift register with output sequence
2.I.4G
commentLet and be alphabets of sizes and . What does it mean to say that an -ary code is decipherable? Show that if is decipherable then the word lengths satisfy
Find a decipherable binary code consisting of codewords 011, 0111, 01111, 11111, and three further codewords of length 2. How do you know the example you have given is decipherable?
2.II.12G
commentDefine a cyclic code. Show that there is a bijection between the cyclic codes of length , and the factors of in .
If is an odd integer then we can find a finite extension of that contains a primitive th root of unity . Show that a cyclic code of length with defining set has minimum distance at least . Show that if and then we obtain Hamming's original code.
[You may quote a formula for the Vandermonde determinant without proof.]
3.I.4G
commentWhat does it mean to say that a binary code has length , size and minimum distance ? Let be the largest value of for which there exists an -code. Prove that
where .
3.II.12G
commentDescribe the RSA system with public key and private key . Briefly discuss the possible advantages or disadvantages of taking (i) or (ii) .
Explain how to factor when both the private key and public key are known.
Describe the bit commitment problem, and briefly indicate how RSA can be used to solve it.
4.I.4G
commentA binary erasure channel with erasure probability is a discrete memoryless channel with channel matrix
State Shannon's second coding theorem, and use it to compute the capacity of this channel.
1.I.10D
comment(a) Introduce the concept of comoving co-ordinates in a homogeneous and isotropic universe and explain how the velocity of a galaxy is determined by the scale factor . Express the Hubble parameter today in terms of the scale factor.
(b) The Raychaudhuri equation states that the acceleration of the universe is determined by the mass density and the pressure as
Now assume that the matter constituents of the universe satisfy . In this case explain clearly why the Hubble time sets an upper limit on the age of the universe; equivalently, that the scale factor must vanish at some time with .
The observed Hubble time is years. Discuss two reasons why the above upper limit does not seem to apply to our universe.
2.I.10D
commentThe total energy of a gas can be expressed in terms of a momentum integral
where is the particle momentum, is the particle energy and is the average number of particles in the momentum range . Consider particles in a cubic box of side with . Explain why the momentum varies as
Consider the overall change in energy due to the volume change . Given that the volume varies slowly, use the thermodynamic result (at fixed particle number and entropy ) to find the pressure
Use this expression to derive the equation of state for an ultrarelativistic gas.
During the radiation-dominated era, photons remain in equilibrium with energy density and number density . Briefly explain why the photon temperature falls inversely with the scale factor, . Discuss the implications for photon number and entropy conservation.
2.II.15D
comment(a) Consider a homogeneous and isotropic universe filled with relativistic matter of mass density and scale factor . Consider the energy of a small fluid element in a comoving volume where . Show that for slow (adiabatic) changes in volume, the density will satisfy the fluid conservation equation
where is the pressure.
(b) Suppose that a flat universe is filled with two matter components:
(i) radiation with an equation of state .
(ii) a gas of cosmic strings with an equation of state .
Use the fluid conservation equation to show that the total relativistic mass density behaves as
where and are respectively the radiation and string densities today (that is, at when ). Assuming that both the Hubble parameter today and the ratio are known, show that the Friedmann equation can be rewritten as
Solve this equation to find the following solution for the scale factor
Show that the scale factor has the expected asymptotic behaviour at early times .
Hence show that the age of this universe today is
and that the time of equal radiation and string densities is
3.I.10D
comment(a) Consider a spherically symmetric star with outer radius , density and pressure . By balancing the gravitational force on a shell at radius against the force due to the pressure gradient, derive the pressure support equation
where . Show that this implies
Suggest appropriate boundary conditions at and , together with a brief justification.
(b) Describe qualitatively the endpoint of stellar evolution for our sun when all its nuclear fuel is spent. Your discussion should briefly cover electron degeneracy pressure and the relevance of stability against inverse beta-decay.
[Note that , where are the masses of the neutron, proton and electron respectively.]
4.I.10D
commentThe number density of fermions of mass at equilibrium in the early universe with temperature , is given by the integral
where , and is the chemical potential. Assuming that the fermions remain in equilibrium when they become non-relativistic , show that the number density can be expressed as
[Hint: You may assume
Suppose that the fermions decouple at a temperature given by where . Assume also that . By comparing with the photon number density at , where , show that the ratio of number densities at decoupling is given by
Now assume that , (which implies ), and that the fermion mass , where is the proton mass. Explain clearly why this new fermion would be a good candidate for solving the dark matter problem of the standard cosmology.
4.II.15D
commentThe perturbed motion of cold dark matter particles (pressure-free, ) in an expanding universe can be parametrized by the trajectories
where is the scale factor of the universe, is the unperturbed comoving trajectory and is the comoving displacement. The particle equation of motion is , where the Newtonian potential satisfies the Poisson equation with mass density .
(a) Discuss how matter conservation in a small volume ensures that the perturbed density and the unperturbed background density are related by
By changing co-ordinates with the Jacobian
show that the fractional density perturbation can be written to leading order as
where .
Use this result to integrate the Poisson equation once. Hence, express the particle equation of motion in terms of the comoving displacement as
Infer that the density perturbation evolution equation is
[Hint: You may assume that the integral of is . Note also that the Raychaudhuri equation (for ) is .]
(b) Find the general solution of equation in a flat universe dominated by cold dark matter . Discuss the effect of late-time or dark energy domination on the growth of density perturbations.
1.II.24H
comment(a) State and prove the inverse function theorem for a smooth map between manifolds without boundary.
[You may assume the inverse function theorem for functions in Euclidean space.]
(b) Let be a real polynomial in variables such that for some integer ,
for all real and all . Prove that the set of points where is a -dimensional submanifold of , provided it is not empty and .
[You may use the pre-image theorem provided that it is clearly stated.]
(c) Show that the manifolds with are all diffeomorphic. Is with necessarily diffeomorphic to with ?
2.II
commentLet be a surface.
(a) Define the exponential map at a point . Assuming that exp is smooth, show that is a diffeomorphism in a neighbourhood of the origin in .
(b) Given a parametrization around , define the Christoffel symbols and show that they only depend on the coefficients of the first fundamental form.
(c) Consider a system of normal co-ordinates centred at , that is, Cartesian coordinates in and parametrization given by , where is an orthonormal basis of . Show that all of the Christoffel symbols are zero at .
3.II.23H
commentLet be a connected oriented surface.
(a) Define the Gauss map of . Given , show that the derivative of ,
is self-adjoint.
(b) Show that if is a diffeomorphism, then the Gaussian curvature is positive everywhere. Is the converse true?
4.II.24H
comment(a) Let be an oriented surface and let be a real number. Given a point and a vector with unit norm, show that there exist and a unique curve parametrized by arc-length and with constant geodesic curvature such that and .
[You may use the theorem on existence and uniqueness of solutions of ordinary differential equations.]
(b) Let be an oriented surface with positive Gaussian curvature and diffeomorphic to . Show that two simple closed geodesics in must intersect. Is it true that two smooth simple closed curves in with constant geodesic curvature must intersect?
1.I.7E
commentFind the fixed points of the system
Local linearization shows that all the fixed points with are saddle points. Why can you be certain that this remains true when nonlinear terms are taken into account? Classify the fixed point with by its local linearization. Show that the equation has Hamiltonian form, and thus that your classification is correct even when the nonlinear effects are included.
Sketch the phase plane.
1.II.14E
comment(a) An autonomous dynamical system in has a periodic orbit with period . The linearized evolution of a small perturbation is given by . Obtain the differential equation and initial condition satisfied by the matrix .
Define the Floquet multipliers of the orbit. Explain why one of the multipliers is always unity and show that the other is given by
(b) Use the 'energy-balance' method for nearly Hamiltonian systems to find a leadingorder approximation to the amplitude of the limit cycle of the equation
where and .
Compute a leading-order approximation to the nontrivial Floquet multiplier of the limit cycle and hence determine its stability.
[You may assume that and .]
2.I.7E
commentExplain what is meant by a strict Lyapunov function on a domain containing the origin for a dynamical system in . Define the domain of stability of a fixed point .
By considering the function show that the origin is an asymptotically stable fixed point of
Show also that its domain of stability includes and is contained in .
2.II.14E
commentLet be a continuous one-dimensional map of an interval . Explain what is meant by saying (a) that has a horseshoe, (b) that is chaotic (Glendinning's definition).
Consider the tent map defined on the interval by
with .
Find the non-zero fixed point and the points that satisfy
Sketch a graph of and showing the points corresponding to and . Hence show that has a horseshoe if .
Explain briefly why has a horseshoe when and why there are periodic points arbitrarily close to for , but no such points for .
3.I.7E
commentState the normal-form equations for (a) a saddle-node bifurcation, (b) a transcritical bifurcation, and (c) a pitchfork bifurcation, for a dynamical system .
Consider the system
Compute the extended centre manifold near , and the evolution equation on the centre manifold, both correct to second order in and . Deduce the type of bifurcation and show that the equation can be put in normal form, to the same order, by a change of variables of the form for suitably chosen and .
4.I.7E
commentConsider the logistic map for . Show that there is a period-doubling bifurcation of the nontrivial fixed point at . Show further that the bifurcating 2 -cycle is given by the roots of
Show that there is a second period-doubling bifurcation at .
commentA particle of rest mass and charge is moving along a trajectory , where is the particle's proper time, in a given external electromagnetic field with 4-potential . Consider the action principle where the action is and
and variations are taken with fixed endpoints.
Show first that the action is invariant both under reparametrizations where and are constants and also under a change of electromagnetic gauge. Next define the generalized momentum , and obtain the equation of motion
where the tensor should be defined and you may assume that . Then verify from that indeed .
How does differ from the momentum of an uncharged particle? Comment briefly on the principle of minimal coupling.
1.II
commentand are two reference frames with moving with constant speed in the -direction relative to . The co-ordinates and are related by where
and . What is the transformation rule for the scalar potential and vector potential A between the two frames?
As seen in there is an infinite uniform stationary distribution of charge along the -axis with uniform line density . Determine the electric and magnetic fields and B both in and . Check your answer by verifying explicitly the invariance of the two quadratic Lorentz invariants.
Comment briefly on the limit .
4.II
commentThe retarded scalar potential produced by a charge distribution is
where and . By use of an appropriate delta function rewrite the integral as an integral over both and involving .
Now specialize to a point charge moving on a path so that we may set
By performing the volume integral first obtain the Liénard-Wiechert potential
where and should be specified.
Obtain the corresponding result for the magnetic potential.
1.II.36B
commentWrite down the boundary conditions that are satisfied at the interface between two viscous fluids in motion. Briefly discuss the physical meaning of these boundary conditions.
A layer of incompressible fluid of density and viscosity flows steadily down a plane inclined at an angle to the horizontal. The layer is of uniform thickness measured perpendicular to the plane and the viscosity of the overlying air can be neglected. Using co-ordinates parallel and perpendicular to the plane, write down the equations of motion, and the boundary conditions on the plane and on the free top surface. Determine the pressure and velocity fields. Show that the volume flux down the plane is per unit cross-slope width.
Consider now the case where a second layer of fluid, of uniform thickness , viscosity , and density flows steadily on top of the first layer. Determine the pressure and velocity fields in each layer. Why does the velocity profile in the bottom layer depend on but not on ?
2.II.36B
commentA very long cylinder of radius a translates steadily at speed in a direction perpendicular to its axis and parallel to a plane boundary. The centre of the cylinder remains a distance above the plane, where , and the motion takes place through an incompressible fluid of viscosity .
Consider the force per unit length parallel to the plane that must be applied to the cylinder to maintain the motion. Explain why scales according to .
Approximating the lower cylindrical surface by a parabola, or otherwise, determine the velocity and pressure gradient fields in the space between the cylinder and the plane. Hence, by considering the shear stress on the plane, or otherwise, calculate explicitly.
[You may use
3.II.36B
commentDefine the rate of strain tensor in terms of the velocity components .
Write down the relation between , the pressure and the stress tensor in an incompressible Newtonian fluid of viscosity .
Prove that is the local rate of dissipation per unit volume in the fluid.
Incompressible fluid of density and viscosity occupies the semi-infinite domain above a rigid plane boundary that oscillates with velocity , where and are constants. The fluid is at rest at . Determine the velocity field produced by the boundary motion after any transients have decayed.
Evaluate the time-averaged rate of dissipation in the fluid, per unit area of boundary.
4.II.37B
A line force of magnitude is applied in the positive -direction to an unbounded fluid, generating a thin two-dimensional jet along the positive -axis. The fluid is at rest at and there is negligible motion in . Write down the pressure gradient within the boundary layer. Deduce that the function defined by
is independent of for . Interpret this result, and explain why . Use scaling arguments to deduce that there is a similarity solution having stream function
Hence show that satisfies