Part II, 2009
Part II, 2009
Jump to course
Paper 1, Section II, G
commentDefine what is meant by a rational map from a projective variety to . What is a regular point of a rational map?
Consider the rational map given by
Show that is not regular at the points and that it is regular elsewhere, and that it is a birational map from to itself.
Let be the plane curve given by the vanishing of the polynomial over a field of characteristic zero. Show that is irreducible, and that determines a birational equivalence between and a nonsingular plane quartic.
Paper 2, Section II, G
commentLet be an irreducible variety over an algebraically closed field . Define the tangent space of at a point . Show that for any integer , the set is a closed subvariety of .
Assume that has characteristic different from 2. Let be the variety given by the ideal , where
Determine the singular subvariety of , and compute at each singular point . [You may assume that is irreducible.]
Paper 3, Section II, G
commentLet be a smooth projective curve, and let be an effective divisor on . Explain how defines a morphism from to some projective space. State the necessary and sufficient conditions for to be finite. State the necessary and sufficient conditions for to be an isomorphism onto its image.
Let have genus 2 , and let be an effective canonical divisor. Show that the morphism is a morphism of degree 2 from to .
By considering the divisor for points with , show that there exists a birational morphism from to a singular plane quartic.
[You may assume the Riemann-Roch Theorem.]
Paper 4, Section II, G
commentState the Riemann-Roch theorem for a smooth projective curve , and use it to outline a proof of the Riemann-Hurwitz formula for a non-constant morphism between projective nonsingular curves in characteristic zero.
Let be a smooth projective plane cubic over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, written in normal form for a homogeneous cubic polynomial , and let be the point at infinity. Taking the group law on for which is the identity element, let be a point of order 3 . Show that there exists a linear form such that .
Let be nonzero linear forms. Suppose the lines are distinct, do not meet at a point of , and are nowhere tangent to . Let be given by the vanishing of the polynomials
Show that has genus 4 . [You may assume without proof that is an irreducible smooth curve.]
Paper 1, Section II, G
commentLet be the space obtained by identifying two copies of the Möbius strip along their boundary. Use the Seifert-Van Kampen theorem to find a presentation of the fundamental group . Show that is an infinite non-abelian group.
Paper 2, Section II,
commentLet be a connected covering map. Define the notion of a deck transformation (also known as covering transformation) for . What does it mean for to be a regular (normal) covering map?
If contains points for each , we say is -to-1. Show that is regular under either of the following hypotheses:
(1) is 2-to-1,
(2) is abelian.
Give an example of a 3 -to-1 cover of which is regular, and one which is not regular.
Paper 3, Section II, G
comment(i) Suppose that and are chain complexes, and are chain maps. Define what it means for and to be chain homotopic.
Show that if and are chain homotopic, and are the induced maps, then .
(ii) Define the Euler characteristic of a finite chain complex.
Given that one of the sequences below is exact and the others are not, which is the exact one?
Justify your choice.
Paper 4, Section II, G
commentLet be the subset of given by , where and are defined as follows:
Compute
Paper 1, Section II,
commentConsider the scaled one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a potential such that there is a complete set of real, normalized bound states , with discrete energies , satisfying
Show that the quantity
where is a real, normalized trial function depending on one or more parameters , can be used to estimate , and show that .
Let the potential be . Using a suitable one-parameter family of either Gaussian or piecewise polynomial trial functions, find a good estimate for in this case.
How could you obtain a good estimate for ? [ You should suggest suitable trial functions, but DO NOT carry out any further integration.]
Paper 2, Section II, D
commentA particle scatters quantum mechanically off a spherically symmetric potential . In the sector, and assuming , the radial wavefunction satisfies
and . The asymptotic behaviour of , for large , is
where is a constant. Show that if is analytically continued to complex , then
Deduce that for real for some real function , and that
For a certain potential,
where is a real, positive constant. Evaluate the scattering length and the total cross section .
Briefly explain the significance of the zeros of .
Paper 3, Section II, D
commentAn electron of charge and mass is subject to a magnetic field of the form , where is everywhere greater than some positive constant . In a stationary state of energy , the electron's wavefunction satisfies
where is the vector potential and and are the Pauli matrices.
Assume that the electron is in a spin down state and has no momentum along the -axis. Show that with a suitable choice of gauge, and after separating variables, equation (*) can be reduced to
where depends only on is a rescaled energy, and a rescaled magnetic field strength. What is the relationship between and ?
Show that can be factorized in the form where
for some function , and deduce that is non-negative.
Show that zero energy states exist for all and are therefore infinitely degenerate.
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentWhat are meant by Bloch states and the Brillouin zone for a quantum mechanical particle moving in a one-dimensional periodic potential?
Derive an approximate value for the lowest-lying energy gap for the Schrödinger equation
when is small and positive.
Estimate the width of this gap in the case that is large and positive.
Paper 1, Section II, J
comment(a) Let be a continuous-time Markov chain on a countable state space I. Explain what is meant by a stopping time for the chain . State the strong Markov property. What does it mean to say that is irreducible?
(b) Let be a Markov chain on with -matrix given by such that:
(1) for all , but for all , and
(2) for all , but if .
Is irreducible? Fix , and assume that , where . Show that if is the first jump time, then there exists such that , uniformly over . Let and define recursively for ,
Let be the event . Show that , for .
(c) Let be the Markov chain from (b). Define two events and by
Show that for all .
Paper 2, Section II, J
commentLet , be a sequence of independent, identically distributed positive random variables, with a common probability density function . Call a record value if . Consider the sequence of record values
where
Define the record process by and
(a) By induction on , or otherwise, show that the joint probability density function of the random variables is given by:
where is the cumulative distribution function for .
(b) Prove that the random variable has a Poisson distribution with parameter of the form
and determine the 'instantaneous rate' .
[Hint: You may use the formula
for any
Paper 3, Section II, J
comment(a) Define the Poisson process with rate , in terms of its holding times. Show that for all times has a Poisson distribution, with a parameter which you should specify.
(b) Let be a random variable with probability density function
Prove that is distributed as the sum of three independent exponential random variables of rate . Calculate the expectation, variance and moment generating function of .
Consider a renewal process with holding times having density . Prove that the renewal function has the form
where and is the Poisson process of rate .
(c) Consider the delayed renewal process with holding times where , are the holding times of from (b). Specify the distribution of for which the delayed process becomes the renewal process in equilibrium.
[You may use theorems from the course provided that you state them clearly.]
Paper 4, Section II, J
commentA flea jumps on the vertices of a triangle ; its position is described by a continuous time Markov chain with a -matrix
(a) Draw a diagram representing the possible transitions of the flea together with the rates of each of these transitions. Find the eigenvalues of and express the transition probabilities , in terms of these eigenvalues.
[Hint: . Specifying the equilibrium distribution may help.]
Hence specify the probabilities where is a Poisson process of rate
(b) A second flea jumps on the vertices of the triangle as a Markov chain with Q-matrix
where is a given real number. Let the position of the second flea at time be denoted by . We assume that is independent of . Let . Show that exists and is independent of the starting points of and . Compute this limit.
Paper 1, Section II, A
commentConsider the integral
in the limit , given that has the asymptotic expansion
as , where . State Watson's lemma.
Now consider the integral
where and the real function has a unique maximum in the interval at , with , such that
By making a monotonic change of variable from to a suitable variable (Laplace's method), or otherwise, deduce the existence of an asymptotic expansion for as . Derive the leading term
The gamma function is defined for by
By means of the substitution , or otherwise, deduce Stirling's formula
as
Paper 3, Section II, A
commentConsider the contour-integral representation
of the Bessel function for real , where is any contour from to .
Writing , give in terms of the real quantities the equation of the steepest-descent contour from to which passes through .
Deduce the leading term in the asymptotic expansion of , valid as
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentThe differential equation
has a singular point at . Assuming that , write down the Liouville Green lowest approximations for , with .
The Airy function satisfies with
and as . Writing
show that obeys
Derive the expansion
where is a constant.
Paper 1, Section I, E
commentLagrange's equations for a system with generalized coordinates are given by
where is the Lagrangian. The Hamiltonian is given by
where the momentum conjugate to is
Derive Hamilton's equations in the form
Explain what is meant by the statement that is an ignorable coordinate and give an associated constant of the motion in this case.
The Hamiltonian for a particle of mass moving on the surface of a sphere of radius under a potential is given by
where the generalized coordinates are the spherical polar angles . Write down two constants of the motion and show that it is possible for the particle to move with constant provided that
Paper 2, Section , E
commentA system of three particles of equal mass moves along the axis with denoting the coordinate of particle . There is an equilibrium configuration for which , and .
Particles 1 and 2, and particles 2 and 3, are connected by springs with spring constant that provide restoring forces when the respective particle separations deviate from their equilibrium values. In addition, particle 1 is connected to the origin by a spring with spring constant . The Lagrangian for the system is
where the generalized coordinates are and .
Write down the equations of motion. Show that the generalized coordinates can oscillate with a period , where
and find the form of the corresponding normal mode in this case.
Paper 2, Section II, E
commentA symmetric top of unit mass moves under the action of gravity. The Lagrangian is given by
where the generalized coordinates are the Euler angles , the principal moments of inertia are and and the distance from the centre of gravity of the top to the origin is .
Show that and are constants of the motion. Show further that, when , with , the equation of motion for is
Find the possible equilibrium values of in the two cases:
(i) ,
(ii) .
By considering linear perturbations in the neighbourhoods of the equilibria in each case, find which are unstable and give expressions for the periods of small oscillations about the stable equilibria.
Paper 3, Section I, E
comment(a) Show that the principal moments of inertia of a uniform circular cylinder of radius , length and mass about its centre of mass are and , with the axis being directed along the length of the cylinder.
(b) Euler's equations governing the angular velocity of an arbitrary rigid body as viewed in the body frame are
and
Show that, for the cylinder of part is constant. Show further that, when , the angular momentum vector precesses about the axis with angular velocity given by
Paper 4, Section I, E
comment(a) A Hamiltonian system with degrees of freedom has the Hamiltonian , where are the coordinates and are the momenta.
A second Hamiltonian system has the Hamiltonian . Neither nor contains the time explicitly. Show that the condition for to be invariant under the evolution of the coordinates and momenta generated by the Hamiltonian is that the Poisson bracket vanishes. Deduce that is a constant of the motion for evolution under .
Show that, when , where is constant, the motion it generates is a translation of each by an amount , while the corresponding remains fixed. What do you infer is conserved when is invariant under this transformation?
(b) When and is a function of and only, find when
Paper 4, Section II, E
commentThe Hamiltonian for a particle of mass , charge and position vector , moving in an electromagnetic field, is given by
where is the vector potential. Write down Hamilton's equations and use them to derive the equations of motion for the charged particle.
Show that, when , there are solutions for which and for which the particle motion is such that
where . Show in addition that the Hamiltonian may be written as
where
Assuming that is constant, find the action
associated with the motion.
It is now supposed that varies on a time-scale much longer than and thus is slowly varying. Show by applying the theory of adiabatic invariance that the motion in the direction takes place under an effective potential and give an expression for it.
Paper 1, Section I, H
commentI am putting up my Christmas lights. If I plug in a set of bulbs and one is defective, none will light up. A badly written note left over from the previous year tells me that exactly one of my 10 bulbs is defective and that the probability that the th bulb is defective is .
(i) Find an explicit procedure for identifying the defective bulb in the least expected number of steps.
[You should explain your method but no proof is required.]
(ii) Is there a different procedure from the one you gave in (i) with the same expected number of steps? Either write down another procedure and explain briefly why it gives the same expected number or explain briefly why no such procedure exists.
(iii) Because I make such a fuss about each test, my wife wishes me to tell her the maximum number of trials that might be required. Will the procedure in (i) give the minimum ? Either write down another procedure and explain briefly why it gives a smaller or explain briefly why no such procedure exists.
Paper 1, Section II, H
comment(i) State and prove Gibbs' inequality.
(ii) A casino offers me the following game: I choose strictly positive numbers with . I give the casino my entire fortune and roll an -sided die. With probability the casino returns for . If I intend to play the game many times (staking my entire fortune each time) explain carefully why I should choose to maximise .
[You should assume and for each ]
(iii) Determine the appropriate . Let . Show that, if , then, in the long run with high probability, my fortune increases. Show that, if , the casino can choose in such a way that, in the long run with high probability, my fortune decreases. Is it true that, if , any choice of will ensure that, in the long run with high probability, my fortune decreases? Why?
Paper 2, Section I,
commentKnowing that
and that 3953 is the product of two primes and , find and .
[You should explain your method in sufficient detail to show that it is reasonably general.]
Paper 2, Section II, H
commentDescribe the construction of the Reed-Miller code . Establish its information rate and minimum weight.
Show that every codeword in has even weight. By considering with and , or otherwise, show that . Show that, in fact,
Paper 3, Section I,
commentDefine a binary code of length 15 with information rate which will correct single errors. Show that it has the rate stated and give an explicit procedure for identifying the error. Show that the procedure works.
[Hint: You may wish to imitate the corresponding discussion for a code of length 7 .]
Paper 4, Section I, H
commentWhat is a general feedback register? What is a linear feedback register? Give an example of a general feedback register which is not a linear feedback register and prove that it has the stated property.
By giving proofs or counterexamples, establish which, if any, of the following statements are true and which, if any, are false.
(i) Given two linear feedback registers, there always exist non-zero initial fills for which the outputs are identical.
(ii) If two linear feedback registers have different lengths, there do not exist non-zero initial fills for which the outputs are identical.
(iii) If two linear feedback registers have different lengths, there exist non-zero initial fills for which the outputs are not identical.
(iv) There exist two linear feedback registers of different lengths and non-zero initial fills for which the outputs are identical.
Paper 1, Section I, D
commentPrior to a time years, the Universe was filled with a gas of photons and non-relativistic free electrons and protons maintained in equilibrium by Thomson scattering. At around years, the protons and electrons began combining to form neutral hydrogen,
[You may assume that the equilibrium number density of a non-relativistic species is given by
while the photon number density is
Deduce Saha's equation for the recombination process stating clearly your assumptions and the steps made in the calculation,
where is the ionization energy of hydrogen.
Consider now the fractional ionization where is the baryon number of the Universe and is the baryon to photon ratio. Find an expression for the ratio
in terms only of and constants such as and .
Suggest a reason why neutral hydrogen forms at a temperature which is much lower than the hydrogen ionization temperature .
Paper 1, Section II, D
comment(i) In a homogeneous and isotropic universe, the scalefactor obeys the Friedmann equation
where is the matter density which, together with the pressure , satisfies
Use these two equations to derive the Raychaudhuri equation,
(ii) Conformal time is defined by taking , so that where primes denote derivatives with respect to . For matter obeying the equation of state , show that the Friedmann and energy conservation equations imply
where and we take today. Use the Raychaudhuri equation to derive the expression
For a closed universe, by solving first for (or otherwise), show that the scale factor satisfies
where are constants. [Hint: You may assume that const.]
For a closed universe dominated by pressure-free matter , find the complete parametric solution
Paper 2, Section I, D
comment(a) The equilibrium distribution for the energy density of a massless neutrino takes the form
Show that this can be expressed in the form , where the constant need not be evaluated explicitly.
(b) In the early universe, the entropy density at a temperature is where is the total effective spin degrees of freedom. Briefly explain why , each term of which consists of two separate components as follows: the contribution from each massless species in equilibrium is
and a similar sum for massless species which have decoupled,
where in each case is the degeneracy and is the temperature of the species .
The three species of neutrinos and antineutrinos decouple from equilibrium at a temperature , after which positrons and electrons annihilate at , leaving photons in equilibrium with a small excess population of electrons. Using entropy considerations, explain why the ratio of the neutrino and photon temperatures today is given by
Paper 3, Section I, D
comment(a) Write down an expression for the total gravitational potential energy of a spherically symmetric star of outer radius in terms of its mass density and the total mass inside a radius , satisfying the relation .
An isotropic mass distribution obeys the pressure-support equation,
where is the pressure. Multiply this expression by and integrate with respect to to derive the virial theorem relating the kinetic and gravitational energy of the star
where you may assume for a non-relativistic ideal gas that , with the average pressure.
(b) Consider a white dwarf supported by electron Fermi degeneracy pressure , where is the electron mass and is the number density. Assume a uniform density , so the total mass of the star is given by where is the proton mass. Show that the total energy of the white dwarf can be written in the form
where are positive constants which you should specify. Deduce that the white dwarf has a stable radius at which the energy is minimized, that is,
Paper 3, Section II, D
commentIn the Zel'dovich approximation, particle trajectories in a flat expanding universe are described by , 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 is the mass density, is the pressure and is the Newtonian potential which satisfies the Poisson equation .
(i) Show that the fractional density perturbation and the pressure gradient are given by
where has components is the homogeneous background density and is the sound speed. [You may assume that the Jacobian for
Use this result to integrate the Poisson equation once and obtain then the evolution equation for the comoving displacement:
[You may assume that the integral of is , that is irrotational and that the Raychaudhuri equation is for .]
Consider the Fourier expansion of the density perturbation using the comoving wavenumber and obtain the evolution equation for the mode :
(ii) Consider a flat matter-dominated universe with (background density and with an equation of state to show that becomes
where the constant . Seek power law solutions of the form to find the growing and decaying modes
Paper 4, Section I, D
comment(a) Consider the motion of three galaxies at positions in an isotropic and homogeneous universe. Assuming non-relativistic velocities , show that spatial homogeneity implies
that is, that the velocity field is linearly related to by
where the matrix coefficients are independent of . Further show that isotropy implies Hubble's law,
where the Hubble parameter is independent of . Presuming to be a function of time , show that Hubble's law can be integrated to obtain the solution
where is a constant (comoving) position and the scalefactor satisfies .
(b) Define the cosmological horizon . For models with where , show that the cosmological horizon is finite. Briefly explain the horizon problem.
Paper 1, Section II, H
comment(i) Define manifold and manifold with boundary for subsets .
(ii) Let and be manifolds and a smooth map. Define what it means for to be a regular value of .
(iii) Let and let denote the set . Let denote the set . Show that is an -dimensional manifold and is an -dimensional manifold with boundary, with .
[You may use standard theorems involving regular values of smooth functions provided that you state them clearly.]
(iv) For , consider the map taking to . Show that is smooth. Now let be a smooth map such that . Show that is not smoothly homotopic to the identity map.
Paper 2, Section II, H
comment(a) Let be a smooth regular curve, parametrized by arc length, such that for all . Define the Frenet frame associated to and derive the Frenet formulae, identifying curvature and torsion.
(b) Let be as above such that , where denote the curvature of , respectively, and denote the torsion. Show that there exists a and such that
[You may appeal to standard facts about ordinary differential equations provided that they are clearly stated.]
(c) Let be a closed regular plane curve, bounding a region . Let denote the area of , and let denote the signed curvature at .
Show that there exists a point such that
[You may appeal to any standard theorem provided that it is clearly stated.]
Paper 3, Section II, H
comment(a) State and prove the Theorema Egregium.
(b) Let be a minimal surface without boundary in which is closed as a subset of , and assume that is not contained in a closed ball. Let be a plane in with the property that as , where for ,
Here denotes the Euclidean distance between and and . Assume moreover that contains no planar points. Show that intersects .
Paper 4, Section II, H
comment(a) Let be a compact surface (without boundary) in . State the global GaussBonnet formula for , identifying all terms in the formula.
(b) Let be a surface. Define what it means for a curve to be a geodesic. State a theorem concerning the existence of geodesics and define the exponential map.
(c) Let be an isometry and let be a geodesic. Show that is a geodesic. If denotes the Gaussian curvature of , and denotes the Gaussian curvature of , show that .
Now suppose is a smooth map such that is a geodesic for all a geodesic. Is necessarily an isometry? Give a proof or counterexample.
Similarly, suppose is a smooth map such that . Is necessarily an isometry? Give a proof or counterexample.
Paper 1, Section I, E
commentLet be a two-dimensional dynamical system with a fixed point at . Define a Lyapunov function and explain what it means for to be Lyapunov stable.
Determine the values of for which is a Lyapunov function in a sufficiently small neighbourhood of the origin for the system
What can be deduced about the basin of attraction of the origin using when
Paper 2, Section I, E
commentFor each of the one-dimensional systems
(i) ,
(ii) ,
determine the location and stability of all the fixed points. For each system sketch bifurcation diagrams in the plane in each of the two cases and . Identify and carefully describe all the bifurcation points that occur.
[Detailed calculations are not required, but bifurcation diagrams must be clearly labelled, and the locations of bifurcation points should be given.]
Paper 3, Section I, E
commentConsider the one-dimensional real map , where . Locate the fixed points and explain for what ranges of the parameter each fixed point exists. For what range of does map the open interval into itself?
Determine the location and type of all the bifurcations from the fixed points which occur. Sketch the location of the fixed points in the plane, indicating stability.
Paper 3, Section II, E
commentConsider the dynamical system
where and .
(i) Find and classify the fixed points. Show that a bifurcation occurs when .
(ii) After shifting coordinates to move the relevant fixed point to the origin, and setting , carry out an extended centre manifold calculation to reduce the two-dimensional system to one of the canonical forms, and hence determine the type of bifurcation that occurs when . Sketch phase portraits in the cases and .
(iii) Sketch the phase portrait in the case . Prove that periodic orbits exist if and only if .
Paper 4, Section I,
commentConsider the two-dimensional dynamical system given in polar coordinates by
where is continuously differentiable and -periodic. Find a periodic orbit for and, using the hint or otherwise, compute the Floquet multipliers of in terms of . Explain why one of the Floquet multipliers is independent of . Give a sufficient condition for to be asymptotically stable.
Investigate the stability of and the dynamics of in the case .
[Hint: The determinant of the fundamental matrix satisfies
Paper 4, Section II, E
commentLet be closed bounded intervals in , and let be a continuous map.
Explain what is meant by the statement that ' -covers ' (written . For a collection of intervals define the associated directed graph and transition matrix . Derive an expression for the number of (not necessarily least) period- points of in terms of .
Let have a 5 -cycle
such that for where indices are taken modulo 5 . Write down the directed graph and transition matrix for the -covering relations between the intervals . Compute the number of -cycles which are guaranteed to exist for , for each integer , and the intervals the points move between.
Explain carefully whether or not is guaranteed to have a horseshoe. Must be chaotic? Could be a unimodal map? Justify your answers.
Similarly, a continuous map has a 5 -cycle
For what integer values of , is guaranteed to have an -cycle?
Is guaranteed to have a horseshoe? Must be chaotic? Justify your answers.
Paper 1, Section II, C
commentThe action for a modified version of electrodynamics is given by
where is an arbitrary constant, and is a conserved current.
(i) By varying , derive the field equations analogous to Maxwell's equations by demanding that for an arbitrary variation .
(ii) Show that .
(iii) Suppose that the current is a function of position only. Show that
Paper 3, Section II, C
commentA particle of charge of moves along a trajectory in spacetime where is the proper time on the particle's world-line.
Explain briefly why, in the gauge , the potential at the spacetime point is given by
Evaluate this integral for a point charge moving relativistically along the -axis, , at constant velocity so that
Check your result by starting from the potential of a point charge at rest
and making an appropriate Lorentz transformation.
Paper 4, Section II, C
commentIn a superconductor, the charge carriers have a charge , mass and number density . Describe how to construct the superconducting current in terms of the vector potential A and the wavefunction of the charge carriers.
Show that the current is gauge invariant.
Derive the Helmholtz equation
for a time-independent magnetic field and evaluate the length scale in terms of and .
Why does this imply that magnetic flux cannot exist in a superconductor?
Paper 1, Section II, E
commentExplain the assumptions of lubrication theory and its use in determining the flow in thin films.
A cylindrical roller of radius a rotates at angular velocity below the free surface at of a fluid of density and dynamic viscosity . The gravitational acceleration is , and the pressure above the free surface is . The minimum distance of the roller below the fluid surface is , where . The depth of the roller below the free surface may be approximated by , where is the horizontal distance.
(i) State the conditions for lubrication theory to be applicable to this problem. On the further assumption that the free surface may be taken to be flat, find the flow above the roller and calculate the horizontal volume flux (per unit length in the third dimension) and the horizontal pressure gradient.
(ii) Use the pressure gradient you have found to estimate the order of magnitude of the departure of the free surface from , and give conditions on the parameters that ensure that , as required for part (i).
[Hint: Integrals of the form
satisfy and
for
Paper 2, Section II, E
commentShow that two-dimensional Stokes flow in cylindrical polar coordinates has a stream function , with , that satisfies the biharmonic equation
Give, in terms of and/or its derivatives, the boundary conditions satisfied by on an impermeable plane of constant which is either (a) rigid or (b) stress-free.
A rigid plane passes through the origin and lies along . Fluid with viscosity is confined in the region . A uniform tangential stress is applied on . Show that the resulting flow may be described by a stream function of the form , where is to be found. Hence show that the radial flow on is given by
By expanding this expression for small show that and have the same sign, provided that is not too large. Discuss the situation when , where tan .
[Hint: In plane polar coordinates
and the component of the stress tensor takes the form
Paper 3, Section II, E
commentAn axisymmetric incompressible Stokes flow has the Stokes stream function in spherical polar coordinates . Give expressions for the components and of the flow field in terms of , and show that
where
Write down the equation satisfied by .
Verify that the Stokes stream function
represents the Stokes flow past a stationary sphere of radius , when the fluid at large distance from the sphere moves at speed along the axis of symmetry.
A sphere of radius a moves vertically upwards in the direction at speed through fluid of density and dynamic viscosity , towards a free surface at . Its distance from the surface is much greater than . Assuming that the surface remains flat, show that the conditions of zero vertical velocity and zero tangential stress at can be approximately met for large by combining the Stokes flow for the sphere with that of an image sphere of the same radius located symmetrically above the free surface. Hence determine the leading-order behaviour of the horizontal flow on the free surface as a function of , the horizontal distance from the sphere's centre line.
What is the size of the next correction to your answer as a power of [Detailed calculation is not required.]
[Hint: For an axisymmetric vector field ,
Paper 4 , Section II, E
commentTwo regions of inviscid fluid with the same density are separated by a thin membrane at . The fluid in has the uniform velocity in Cartesian coordinates, while the fluid in is at rest.
The membrane is now slightly perturbed to . The dynamical effect of the membrane is to induce a pressure difference across it equal to , where is a constant and the sign is such that the pressure is higher below the interface when .
On the assumption that the flow remains irrotational and all perturbations are small, derive the relation between and for disturbances of the form , where is real but may be complex. Show that there is instability only for , where is to be determined. Find the maximum growth rate and the value of for which this is obtained.
Paper 1, Section I, B
commentFind all second order linear ordinary homogenous differential equations which have a regular singular point at , a regular singular point at , and for which every other point in the complex -plane is an analytic point.
[You may use without proof Liouville's theorem.]
Paper 1, Section II, B
commentLet be defined by
Let be defined by
where the above integral is along the negative imaginary axis of the complex -plane and the real constants and are to be determined.
Using Cauchy's theorem, or otherwise, compute and hence find a formula for the analytic continuation of for .
Paper 2, Section I, B
commentThe Hilbert transform of a function is defined by
where denotes the Cauchy principal value.
(i) Compute the Hilbert transform of .
(ii) Solve the following Riemann-Hilbert problem: Find and , which are analytic functions in the upper and lower half -planes respectively, such that
Paper 2, Section II, C
commentConsider the initial-boundary value problem
where vanishes sufficiently fast for all as .
(i) Express the solution as an integral (which you should not evaluate) in the complex -plane
(ii) Explain how to use appropriate contour deformation so that the relevant integrand decays exponentially as .
Paper 3, Section , B
commentSuppose that the real function satisfies Laplace's equation in the upper half complex -plane, , where
The function can then be expressed in terms of the Poisson integral
By employing the formula
where is a complex constant with , show that the analytic function whose real part is is given by
where is a real constant.
Paper 4, Section I, D
commentShow that
where denotes the Gamma function
Paper 1, Section II, H
commentDefine a -isomorphism, , where are fields containing a field , and define .
Suppose and are algebraic over . Show that and are -isomorphic via an isomorphism mapping to if and only if and have the same minimal polynomial.
Show that is finite, and a subgroup of the symmetric group , where is the degree of .
Give an example of a field of characteristic and and of the same degree, such that is not isomorphic to . Does such an example exist if is finite? Justify your answer.
Paper 2, Section II, H
commentFor each of the following polynomials over , determine the splitting field and the Galois group . (1) . (2) .
Paper 3, Section II, H
commentLet , the function field in one variable, and let . The group acts as automorphisms of by . Show that , where .
[State clearly any theorems you use.]
Is a separable extension?
Now let
and let act on by . (The group structure on is given by matrix multiplication.) Compute . Describe your answer in the form for an explicit .
Is a Galois extension? Find the minimum polynomial for over the field .
Paper 4, Section II, H
comment(a) Let be a field. State what it means for to be a primitive th root of unity.
Show that if is a primitive th root of unity, then the characteristic of does not divide . Prove any theorems you use.
(b) Determine the minimum polynomial of a primitive 10 th root of unity over .
Show that .
(c) Determine .
[Hint: Write a necessary and sufficient condition on for a finite field to contain a primitive 10 th root of unity.]
Paper 1, Section II, D
commentWrite down the differential equations governing geodesic curves both when is an affine parameter and when it is a general one.
A conformal transformation of a spacetime is given by
Obtain a formula for the new Christoffel symbols in terms of the old ones and the derivatives of . Hence show that null geodesics in the metric are also geodesic in the metric .
Show that the Riemann tensor has only one independent component in two dimensions, and hence derive
where is the Ricci scalar.
It is given that in a 2-dimensional spacetime transforms as
where . Assuming that the equation can always be solved, show that can be chosen to set to be the metric of 2-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Hence show that all null curves in are geodesic.
Discuss the null geodesics if the line element of is
where or and .
Paper 2, Section II, D
commentA spacetime has line element
where and are constants. Calculate the Christoffel symbols.
Find the constraints on and for this spacetime to be a solution of the vacuum Einstein equations with zero cosmological constant. For which values is the spacetime flat?
Show that it is not possible to have all of and strictly positive, so that if they are all non-zero, the spacetime expands in at least one direction and contracts in at least one direction.
[The Riemann tensor is given in terms of the Christoffel symbols by
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentThe Schwarzschild metric is given by
where is the mass in gravitational units. By using the radial component of the geodesic equations, or otherwise, show for a particle moving on a geodesic in the equatorial plane with constant that
Show that such an orbit is stable for .
An astronaut circles the Earth freely for a long time on a circular orbit of radius , while the astronaut's twin remains motionless on Earth, which is assumed to be spherical, with radius , and non-rotating. Show that, on returning to Earth, the astronaut will be younger than the twin only if .
Paper 1, Section I, F
commentExplain what is meant by stereographic projection from the 2-dimensional sphere to the complex plane.
Prove that and are the images under stereographic projection of antipodal points on the sphere if and only if .
Paper 1, Section II, F
commentDefine frieze group and crystallographic group and give three examples of each, identifying them as abstract groups as well as geometrically.
Let be a discrete group of isometries of the Euclidean plane which contains a translation. Prove that contains no element of order 5 .
Paper 2, Section , F
commentDescribe the geodesics in the hyperbolic plane (in a model of your choice).
Let and be geodesics in the hyperbolic plane which do not meet either in the plane or at infinity. By considering the action on a suitable third geodesic, or otherwise, prove that the composite of the reflections in the two geodesics has infinite order.
Paper 3, Section I, F
commentExplain why there are discrete subgroups of the Möbius group which abstractly are free groups of rank 2 .
Paper 4, Section I, F
commentFor every , show that there is a closed bounded totally disconnected subset of some Euclidean space, such that has Hausdorff dimension at least . [Standard properties of Hausdorff dimension may be quoted without proof if carefully stated.]
Paper 4, Section II, F
commentDefine three-dimensional hyperbolic space, the translation length of an isometry of hyperbolic 3 -space, and the axis of a hyperbolic isometry. Briefly explain how and why the latter two concepts are related.
Find the translation length of the isometries defined by (i) and (ii) .
Paper 1, Section II,
comment(i) State and prove Hall's theorem concerning matchings in bipartite graphs.
(ii) The matching number of a graph is the maximum size of a family of independent edges (edges without shared vertices) in . Deduce from Hall's theorem that if is a -regular bipartite graph on vertices (some ) then has matching number .
(iii) Now suppose that is an arbitrary -regular graph on vertices (some . Show that has a matching number at least . [Hint: Let be the set of vertices in a maximal set of independent edges. Consider the edges of with exactly one endpoint in .]
For , show that there are infinitely many graphs for which equality holds.
Paper 2, Section II, F
comment(i) Define the Turán graph . State and prove Turán's theorem.
(ii) For each value of and with , exhibit a graph on vertices that has fewer edges than and yet is maximal -free (meaning that contains no but the addition of any edge to produces a ). In the case , determine the smallest number of edges that such a can have.
Paper 3, Section II, F
comment(a) State Brooks' theorem concerning the chromatic number of a graph . Prove it in the case when is 3-connected.
[If you wish to assume that is regular, you should explain why this assumption is justified.]
(b) State Vizing's theorem concerning the edge-chromatic number of a graph .
(c) Are the following statements true or false? Justify your answers.
(1) If is a connected graph on more than two vertices then .
(2) For every ordering of the vertices of a graph , if we colour using the greedy algorithm (on this ordering) then the number of colours we use is at most .
(3) For every ordering of the edges of a graph , if we edge-colour using the greedy algorithm (on this ordering) then the number of colours we use is at most .
Paper 4, Section II, F
commentLet denote the number of triangles in a random graph chosen from . Find the mean and variance of . Hence show that is a threshold for the existence of a triangle, in the sense that if then almost surely does not contain a triangle, while if then almost surely does contain a triangle.
Now let , and let denote the number of edges of (chosen as before from . By considering the mean of , show that for each there exists a graph on vertices with at least edges that is triangle-free. Is this within a constant factor of the best-possible answer (meaning the greatest number of edges that a triangle-free graph on vertices can have)?
Paper 1, Section II, B
commentLet be a smooth function on a -dimensional phase space with local coordinates . Write down the Hamilton equations with the Hamiltonian given by and state the Arnold-Liouville theorem.
By establishing the existence of sufficiently many first integrals demonstrate that the system of coupled harmonic oscillators with the Hamiltonian
where are constants, is completely integrable. Find the action variables for this system.
Paper 2, Section II, B
commentLet be a Schrödinger operator and let be another differential operator which does not contain derivatives with respect to and such that
Show that the eigenvalues of are independent of , and deduce that if is an eigenfunction of then so is . [You may assume that is self-adjoint.]
Let be an eigenfunction of corresponding to an eigenvalue which is nondegenerate. Show that there exists a function such that
Assume
where are functions. Show that the system is equivalent to a pair of first order matrix PDEs
where and are matrices which should be determined.
Paper 3, Section II, B
commentConsider the partial differential equation
where and are non-negative integers.
(i) Find a Lie point symmetry of of the form
where are non-zero constants, and find a vector field generating this symmetry. Find two more vector fields generating Lie point symmetries of (*) which are not of the form and verify that the three vector fields you have found form a Lie algebra.
(ii) Put in a Hamiltonian form.
Paper 1, Section II, H
comment(a) State and prove the Baire category theorem.
(b) Let be a normed space. Show that every proper linear subspace has empty interior.
(c) Let be the vector space of all real polynomials in one variable. Using the Baire category theorem and the result from (b), prove that for any norm on , the normed space is not a Banach space.
Paper 2, Section II, H
commentFor and a sequence , where for all , let
Let for all and .
(a) Let with and . Prove Hölder's inequality:
(b) Use Hölder's inequality to prove the triangle inequality (known, in this case, as the Minkowski inequality):
(c) Let and let be a closed, convex subset of . Let with . Prove that there exists such that
[You may use without proof the fact that for every and for every ,
Paper 3, Section II, H
comment(a) State the Arzela-Ascoli theorem, explaining the meaning of all concepts involved.
(b) Prove the Arzela-Ascoli theorem.
(c) Let be a compact topological space. Let be a sequence in the Banach space of real-valued continuous functions over equipped with the supremum norm . Assume that for every , the sequence is monotone increasing and that for some . Show that as .
Paper 4, Section II, H
commentLet be a Banach space and let be a bounded linear map.
(a) Define the spectrum , the resolvent set and the point spectrum of .
(b) What does it mean for to be a compact operator?
(c) Show that if is a compact operator on and , then has at most finitely many linearly independent eigenvectors with eigenvalues having modulus larger than .
[You may use without proof the fact that for any finite dimensional proper subspace of a Banach space , there exists with and .]
(d) For a sequence of complex numbers, let be defined by
Give necessary and sufficient conditions on the sequence for to be compact, and prove your assertion.
Paper 1, Section II, G
commentProve that if On is a definable function, then there is a definable function On satisfying
Define the notion of an initial ordinal, and explain its significance for cardinal arithmetic. State Hartogs' lemma. Using the recursion theorem define, giving justification, a function On On which enumerates the infinite initial ordinals.
Is there an ordinal with Justify your answer.
Paper 2, Section II, G
comment(i) Give an axiom system and rules of inference for the classical propositional calculus, and explain the notion of syntactic entailment. What does it mean to say that a set of propositions is consistent? Let be a set of primitive propositions and let be a maximal consistent set of propositional formulae in the language based on . Show that there is a valuation with respect to which all members of are true.
[You should state clearly but need not prove those properties of syntactic entailment which you use.]
(ii) Exhibit a theory which axiomatizes the collection of groups all of whose nonunit elements have infinite order. Is this theory finitely axiomatizable? Is the theory of groups all of whose elements are of finite order axiomatizable? Justify your answers.
Paper 3, Section II, G
commentLet be a subset of a (von Neumann) ordinal taken with the induced ordering. Using the recursion theorem or otherwise show that is order isomorphic to a unique ordinal . Suppose that . Show that .
Suppose that is an increasing sequence of subsets of , with an initial segment of whenever . Show that . Does this result still hold if the condition on initial segments is omitted? Justify your answer.
Suppose that is a decreasing sequence of subsets of . Why is the sequence eventually constant? Is it the case that ? Justify your answer.
Paper 4, Section II, G
commentWhat is a transitive class? What is the significance of this notion for models of set theory?
Prove that for any set there is a least transitive set , the transitive closure of , with . Show that for any set , one has , and deduce that .
A set is hereditarily countable when every member of is countable. Let be the collection of hereditarily countable sets with the usual membership relation. Is HC transitive? Show that satisfies the axiom of unions. Show that satisfies the axiom of separation. What other axioms of ZF set theory are satisfied in
Paper 1, Section I, A
commentA discrete model for a population consists of
where is discrete time and . What do and represent in this model? Show that for there is a stable fixed point.
Suppose the initial condition is , and that . Show, with the help of a cobweb, that the population is bounded by
and attains those bounds.
Paper 2, Section , A
commentConsider the reaction system
where the s are the rate constants, and the reactant concentrations of and are kept constant. Write down the governing differential equation system for the concentrations of and and nondimensionalise the equations by setting and so that they become
by suitable choice of . Thus find and . Determine the positive steady state and show that there is a bifurcation value at which the steady state becomes unstable to a Hopf bifurcation. Find the period of the oscillations in the neighbourhood of .
Paper 2, Section II, A
commentTravelling bands of microorganisms, chemotactically directed, move into a food source, consuming it as they go. A model for this is given by
where and are the bacteria and nutrient respectively and , and are positive constants. Look for travelling wave solutions, as functions of where is the wave speed, with the boundary conditions as as , as . Hence show that and satisfy
where the prime denotes differentiation with respect to . Integrating , find an algebraic relationship between and .
In the special case where show that
where is an arbitrary positive constant which is equivalent to a linear translation; it may be set to 1 . Sketch the wave solutions and explain the biological interpretation.
Paper 3, Section I, A
commentConsider an organism moving on a one-dimensional lattice of spacing , taking steps either to the right or the left at regular time intervals . In this random walk there is a slight bias to the right, that is the probabilities of moving to the right and left, and , are such that , where . Write down the appropriate master equation for this process. Show by taking the continuum limit in space and time that , the probability that an organism initially at is at after time , obeys
Express the constants and in terms of and .
Paper 3, Section II, A
commentAn activator-inhibitor reaction diffusion system in dimensionless form is given by
where and are positive constants. Which is the activitor and which the inhibitor? Determine the positive steady states and show, by an examination of the eigenvalues in a linear stability analysis of the spatially uniform situation, that the reaction kinetics is stable if .
Determine the conditions for the steady state to be driven unstable by diffusion. Show that the parameter domain for diffusion-driven instability is given by , , and sketch the parameter space in which diffusion-driven instability occurs. Further show that at the bifurcation to such an instability the critical wave number is given by .
Paper 4, Section I, A
commentThe diffusion equation for a chemical concentration in three dimensions which depends only on the radial coordinate is
The general similarity solution of this equation takes the form
where and are to be determined. By direct substitution into and the requirement of a valid similarity solution, find one relation involving the exponents. Use the conservation of the total number of molecules to determine a second relation. Comment on the relationship between these exponents and the ones appropriate to the similarity solution of the one-dimensional diffusion equation. Show that obeys
and that the relevant solution describing the spreading of a delta-function initial condition is , where is a suitable normalisation that need not be found.
Paper 1, Section II, H
commentSuppose that is a number field with ring of integers .
(i) Suppose that is a sub- -module of of finite index and that is closed under multiplication. Define the discriminant of and of , and show that
(ii) Describe when .
[You may assume that the polynomial has discriminant .]
(iii) Suppose that are monic quadratic polynomials with equal discriminant , and that is square-free. Show that is isomorphic to .
[Hint: Classify quadratic fields in terms of discriminants.]
Paper 2, Section II, H
commentSuppose that is a number field of degree , where has exactly real embeddings.
(i) Taking for granted the fact that there is a constant such that every integral ideal of has a non-zero element such that , deduce that the class group of is finite.
(ii) Compute the class group of , given that you can take
where is the discriminant of .
(iii) Find all integer solutions of .
Paper 4, Section II, H
commentSuppose that is a number field of degree , where has exactly real embeddings.
Show that the group of units in is a finitely generated abelian group of rank at most . Identify the torsion subgroup in terms of roots of unity.
[General results about discrete subgroups of a Euclidean real vector space may be used without proof, provided that they are stated clearly.]
Find all the roots of unity in .
Paper 1, Section I, G
commentState the Chinese Remainder Theorem.
Determine all integers satisfying the congruences ,
Paper 2, Section ,
commentState the law of quadratic reciprocity for the Jacobi symbol , where are odd positive integers, and prove this law using the reciprocity law for the Legendre symbol.
Compute the Jacobi symbol .
Paper 3, Section I, G
commentFor any integer , define , where the sum is taken over all primes . Put . By studying the integer
where is an integer, prove that
Deduce that
for all .
Paper 3, Section II, G
commentLet be an odd prime. Prove that there is an equal number of quadratic residues and non-residues in the set .
If is an integer prime to , let be an integer such that . Prove that
and deduce that
Paper 4, Section I, G
commentLet denote the set of all positive definite binary quadratic forms, with integer coefficients, and having discriminant . Let be the group of all matrices with integer entries and determinant 1. Prove that is infinite, but that all elements of are equivalent under the action of the group
Paper 4, Section II, G
commentLet , where and are real, and for let
Prove that has no zeros in the half plane . Show also that for ,
where denotes the Möbius function. Assuming that has an analytic continuation to the half plane , show that if , with , and then is at most a simple zero of .
Paper 1, Section II, B
comment(i) Define the Jacobi method with relaxation for solving the linear system .
(ii) For and being the exact and the iterated solution, respectively, let be the error and the iteration matrix, so that
Express in terms of the matrix , its diagonal part and the relaxation parameter , and find the eigenvectors and the eigenvalues of for the tridiagonal matrix
[Hint: The eigenvectors and eigenvalues of are
(iii) For as above, let
be the expansion of the error with respect to the eigenvectors of .
Find the range of parameter which provides convergence of the method for any , and prove that, for any such , the rate of convergence is not faster than .
(iv) Show that, for some , the high frequency components of the error tend to zero much faster. Determine the optimal parameter which provides the largest suppression of the high frequency components per iteration, and find the corresponding attenuation factor (i.e. the least such that for .
Paper 2, Section II, B
commentThe Poisson equation in the unit square , equipped with appropriate boundary conditions on , is discretized with the nine-point formula:
where , and are grid points.
(i) Find the local error of approximation.
(ii) Prove that the error is smaller if happens to satisfy the Laplace equation
(iii) Hence show that the modified nine-point scheme
has the same smaller error as in (ii).
[Hint. The nine-point discretization of can be written as
where is the five-point discretization and
Paper 3, Section II, B
commentProve that all Toeplitz tridiagonal matrices of the form
share the same eigenvectors , with the components , where , and find their eigenvalues.
The advection equation
is approximated by the Crank-Nicolson scheme
where , and is an approximation to . Assuming that , show that the above scheme can be written in the form
where and the real matrices and should be found. Using matrix analysis, find the range of for which the scheme is stable. [Fourier analysis is not acceptable.]
Paper 4, Section II, B
comment(a) For the -step -order Backward Differentiation Formula (BDF) for ordinary differential equations,
express the polynomial in a convenient explicit form.
(b) Prove that the interval belongs to the linear stability domain of the 2-step BDF method.
Paper 2, Section II, I
commentIn the context of stochastic dynamic programming, explain what is meant by an average-reward optimal policy.
A player has a fair coin and a six-sided die. At each epoch he may choose either to toss the coin or to roll the die. If he tosses the coin and it shows heads then he adds 1 to his total score, and if it shows tails then he adds 0 . If he rolls the die then he adds the number showing. He wins a reward of whenever his total score is divisible by 3 .
Suppose the player always tosses the coin. Find his average reward per toss.
Still using the above policy, and given that he starts with a total score of , let be the expected total reward over the next epochs. Find the value of
Use the policy improvement algorithm to find a policy that produces a greater average reward than the policy of only tossing the coin.
Find the average-reward optimal policy.
Paper 3, Section II, I
commentTwo scalar systems have dynamics
where and are independent sequences of independent and identically distributed random variables of mean 0 and variance 1 . Let
where is a policy in which depends on only .
Show that is a solution to the optimality equation satisfied by , for some and which you should find.
Find the optimal controls.
State a theorem that justifies .
For each of the two cases (a) and (b) , find controls which minimize
Paper 4, Section II, I
commentExplain how transversality conditions can be helpful when employing Pontryagin's Maximum Principle to solve an optimal control problem.
A particle in starts at and follows the dynamics
where controls and are to be chosen subject to .
Using Pontryagin's maximum principle do the following:
(a) Find controls that minimize ;
(b) Suppose we wish to choose and the controls to minimize under a constraint . By expressing both and in terms of the adjoint variables, show that on an optimal trajectory,
Paper 1, Section II, B
commentConsider the initial value problem for the so-called Liouville equation
for the function on . Assume that is a given function with Lipschitz continuous on .
(i) Let , for given. Show that a solution is given by
where solve the Newtonian system
(ii) Let . Prove (by using characteristics) that remains nonnegative (as long as it exists).
(iii) Let on . Show (by a formal argument) that
for all .
(iv) Let . Use the method of characteristics to solve the initial value problem for general initial data.
Paper 2, Section II, B
comment(a) Solve the initial value problem for the Burgers equation
where
Use the method of characteristics. What is the maximal time interval in which this (weak) solution is well defined? What is the regularity of this solution?
(b) Apply the method of characteristics to the Burgers equation subject to the initial condition
In use the ansatz and determine .
(c) Using the method of characteristics show that the initial value problem for the Burgers equation has a classical solution defined for all if is continuously differentiable and
for all .
Paper 3, Section II, B
comment(a) Consider the nonlinear elliptic problem
Let for all . Prove that there exists at most one classical solution.
[Hint: Use the weak maximum principle.]
(b) Let be a radial function. Prove that the Fourier transform of is radial too.
(c) Let be a radial function. Solve
by Fourier transformation and prove that is a radial function.
(d) State the Lax-Milgram lemma and explain its use in proving the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution of
where bounded, for all and .
Paper 4, Section II, B
commentConsider the two-dimensional domain
where . Solve the Dirichlet boundary value problem for the Laplace equation
where are polar coordinates. Assume that are -periodic functions on the real line and .
[Hint: Use separation of variables in polar coordinates, , with periodic boundary conditions for the function of the angle variable. Use an ansatz of the form for the radial function.]
Paper 1, Section II, C
commentThe position and momentum for a harmonic oscillator can be written
where is the mass, is the frequency, and the Hamiltonian is
Starting from the commutation relations for and , determine the energy levels of the oscillator. Assuming a unique ground state, explain how all other energy eigenstates can be constructed from it.
Consider a modified Hamiltonian
where is a dimensionless parameter. Calculate the modified energy levels to second order in , quoting any standard formulas which you require. Show that the modified Hamiltonian can be written as
where and depend on . Hence find the modified energies exactly, assuming , and show that the results are compatible with those obtained from perturbation theory.
Paper 2, Section II, C
commentLet be a set of Hermitian operators obeying
where is any unit vector. Show that implies
for any vectors a and b. Explain, with reference to the properties , how can be related to the intrinsic angular momentum for a particle of spin .
Show that the operators are Hermitian and obey
Show also how can be used to write any state as a linear combination of eigenstates of . Use this to deduce that if the system is in a normalised state when is measured, then the results will be obtained with probabilities
If is a state corresponding to the system having spin up along a direction defined by a unit vector , show that a measurement will find the system to have spin up along with probability .
Paper 3, Section II, C
comment(i) Consider two quantum systems with angular momentum states and . The eigenstates corresponding to their combined angular momentum can be written as
where are Clebsch-Gordan coefficients for addition of angular momenta one and . What are the possible values of and how must and be related for ?
Construct all states in terms of product states in the case .
(ii) A general stationary state for an electron in a hydrogen atom is specified by the principal quantum number in addition to the labels and corresponding to the total orbital angular momentum and its component in the 3-direction (electron spin is ignored). An oscillating electromagnetic field can induce a transition to a new state and, in a suitable approximation, the amplitude for this to occur is proportional to
where are components of the electron's position. Give clear but concise arguments based on angular momentum which lead to conditions on and for the amplitude to be non-zero.
Explain briefly how parity can be used to obtain an additional selection rule.
[Standard angular momentum states are joint eigenstates of and , obeying
You may also assume that and have commutation relations with orbital angular momentum given by
Units in which are to be used throughout. ]
Paper 4, Section II, C
commentFor any given operators and , show that has derivative and deduce an analogous formula for the th derivative. Hence, by considering as a power series in , show that
A particle of unit mass in one dimension has position and momentum in the Schrödinger picture, and Hamiltonian
where is a constant. Apply to find the Heisenberg picture operators and in terms of and , and check explicitly that .
A particle of unit mass in two dimensions has position and momentum in the Schrödinger picture, and Hamiltonian
where is a constant. Calculate the Heisenberg picture momentum components in terms of and verify that is independent of time. Now consider the interaction picture corresponding to : show that if then the interaction picture position operators are , and use this to find the Heisenberg picture position operators in terms of and .
[Hint: If and is an operator in the interaction picture, then the corresponding operator in the Heisenberg picture is
Paper 1, Section II, I
comment(i) Let be independent and identically distributed random variables, having the exponential distribution with density for . Show that is minimal sufficient and complete for .
[You may assume uniqueness of Laplace transforms.]
(ii) For given , it is desired to estimate the quantity . Compute the Fisher information for .
(iii) State the Lehmann-Scheffé theorem. Show that the estimator of defined by
is the minimum variance unbiased estimator of based on . Without doing any computations, state whether or not the variance of achieves the Cramér-Rao lower bound, justifying your answer briefly.
Let . Show that .
Paper 2, Section II, I
commentSuppose that the random vector has a distribution over depending on a real parameter , with everywhere positive density function . Define the maximum likelihood estimator , the score variable , the observed information and the expected (Fisher) information for the problem of estimating from .
For the case where the are independent and identically distributed, show that, as . [You may assume sufficient conditions to allow interchange of integration over the sample space and differentiation with respect to the parameter.] State the asymptotic distribution of .
The random vector is generated according to the rule
where and the are independent and identically distributed from the standard normal distribution . Write down the likelihood function for based on data , find and and show that the pair forms a minimal sufficient statistic.
A Bayesian uses the improper prior density . Show that, in the posterior, (where is a statistic that you should identify) has the same distribution as .
Paper 3, Section II, I
commentWhat is meant by an equaliser decision rule? What is meant by an extended Bayes rule? Show that a decision rule that is both an equaliser rule and extended Bayes is minimax.
Let be independent and identically distributed random variables with the normal distribution , and let . It is desired to estimate with loss function .
Suppose the prior distribution is . Find the Bayes act and the Bayes loss posterior to observing . What is the Bayes risk of the Bayes rule with respect to this prior distribution?
Show that the rule that estimates by is minimax.
Paper 4, Section II, I
commentConsider the double dichotomy, where the loss is 0 for a correct decision and 1 for an incorrect decision. Describe the form of a Bayes decision rule. Assuming the equivalence of normal and extensive form analyses, deduce the Neyman-Pearson lemma.
For a problem with random variable and real parameter , define monotone likelihood ratio (MLR) and monotone test.
Suppose the problem has MLR in a real statistic . Let be a monotone test, with power function , and let be any other test, with power function . Show that if and , then . Deduce that there exists such that for , and for .
For an arbitrary prior distribution with density , and an arbitrary value , show that the posterior odds
is a non-decreasing function of .
Paper 1, Section II, J
commentLet be a measure space. Explain what is meant by a simple function on and state the definition of the integral of a simple function with respect to .
Explain what is meant by an integrable function on and explain how the integral of such a function is defined.
State the monotone convergence theorem.
Show that the following map is linear
where denotes the integral of with respect to .
[You may assume without proof any fact concerning simple functions and their integrals. You are not expected to prove the monotone convergence theorem.]
Paper 2, Section II, J
commentState Kolmogorov's zero-one law.
State Birkhoff's almost everywhere ergodic theorem and von Neumann's -ergodic theorem.
State the strong law of large numbers for independent and identically distributed integrable random variables, and use the results above to prove it.
Paper 3, Section II, J
commentState and prove the first and second Borel-Cantelli lemmas.
Let be a sequence of independent Cauchy random variables. Thus, each is real-valued, with density function
Show that
for some constant , to be determined.
Paper 4, Section II, J
commentLet be a probability space and let be a sub- -algebra of . Show that, for any random variable , there exists a -measurable random variable such that for all -measurable random variables .
[You may assume without proof the completeness of ]
Let be a Gaussian random variable in , with mean and covariance . Assume that and . Find the random variable explicitly in this case.
Paper 1, Section II, F
commentLet be a finite group, and suppose acts on the finite sets . Define the permutation representation corresponding to the action of on , and compute its character . State and prove "Burnside's Lemma".
Let act on via the usual diagonal action. Prove that the character inner product is equal to the number of -orbits on .
Hence, or otherwise, show that the general linear group of invertible matrices over the finite field of elements has an irreducible complex representation of dimension equal to .
Let be the symmetric group acting on the set . Denote by the set of all 2-element subsets of elements of , with the natural action of . If , decompose into irreducible complex representations, and determine the dimension of each irreducible constituent. What can you say when ?
Paper 2, Section II, 19F
comment(i) Let be a finite group. Show that
(1) If is an irreducible character of then so is its conjugate .
(2) The product of any two characters of is again a character of .
(3) If and are irreducible characters of then
(ii) If is a character of the finite group , define and . For prove that
(iii) A certain group of order 24 has precisely seven conjugacy classes with representatives ; further, has a character with values as follows:
where .
It is given that are conjugate to respectively.
Determine and , and show that both are irreducible.
Paper 3, Section II, F
commentLet . Let be the complex vector space of homogeneous polynomials of degree in two variables . Define the usual left action of on and denote by the representation induced by this action. Describe the character afforded by .
Quoting carefully any results you need, show that
(i) The representation has dimension and is irreducible for ;
(ii) Every finite-dimensional continuous irreducible representation of is one of the ;
(iii) is isomorphic to its dual .
Paper 4, Section II, F
commentLet be finite groups.
(a) Let be a representation of affording the character . Define the restriction, of to .
Suppose is irreducible and suppose affords the character . Let be the irreducible characters of . Prove that , where the nonnegative integers satisfy the inequality
Prove that there is equality in (1) if and only if for all elements of which lie outside .
(b) Let be a class function of . Define the induced class function, .
State the Frobenius reciprocity theorem for class functions and deduce that if is a character of then is a character of .
Assuming is a character, identify a -space affording the character . Briefly justify your answer.
(c) Let be the irreducible characters of and let be an irreducible character of . Show that the integers , which are given by , satisfy
Paper 1, Section II, G
comment(a) Let be the Riemann sphere. Define the notion of a rational function and describe the function determined by . Assuming that is holomorphic and non-constant, define the degree of as a rational function and the degree of as a holomorphic map, and prove that the two degrees coincide. [You are not required to prove that the degree of is well-defined.]
Let and be two subsets of each containing three distinct elements. Prove that is biholomorphic to .
(b) Let be the algebraic curve defined by the vanishing of the polynomial . Prove that is smooth at every point. State the implicit function theorem and define a complex structure on , so that the maps given by are holomorphic.
Define what is meant by a ramification point of a holomorphic map between Riemann surfaces. Give an example of a ramification point of and calculate the branching order of at that point.
Paper 2, Section II, G
comment(a) Let be a lattice in , where the imaginary part of is positive. Define the terms elliptic function with respect to and order of an elliptic function.
Suppose that is an elliptic function with respect to of order . Show that the derivative is also an elliptic function with respect to and that its order satisfies . Give an example of an elliptic function with and , and an example of an elliptic function with and .
[Basic results about holomorphic maps may be used without proof, provided these are accurately stated.]
(b) State the monodromy theorem. Using the monodromy theorem, or otherwise, prove that if two tori and are conformally equivalent then the lattices satisfy , for some .
[You may assume that is simply connected and every biholomorphic map of onto itself is of the form , for some .]
Paper 3, Section II, G
comment(i) Let . Show that the unit circle is the natural boundary of the function element , where .
(ii) Let be a connected Riemann surface and a function element on into . Define a germ of at a point . Let be the set of all the germs of function elements on into . Describe the topology and the complex structure on , and show that is a covering of (in the sense of complex analysis). Show that there is a oneto-one correspondence between complete holomorphic functions on into and the connected components of . [You are not required to prove that the topology on is secondcountable.]
Paper 1, Section I, I
commentConsider a binomial generalised linear model for data , modelled as realisations of independent and , i.e. , for some known constants , and an unknown parameter . Find the log-likelihood for , and the likelihood equations that must be solved to find the maximum likelihood estimator of .
Compute the first and second derivatives of the log-likelihood for , and explain the algorithm you would use to find .
Paper 1, Section II, I
commentA three-year study was conducted on the survival status of patients suffering from cancer. The age of the patients at the start of the study was recorded, as well as whether or not the initial tumour was malignant. The data are tabulated in as follows:
Describe the model that is being fitted by the following commands:
Explain the (slightly abbreviated) output from the code below, describing how the hypothesis tests are performed and your conclusions based on their results.
Based on the summary above, motivate and describe the following alternative model:
Based on the output of the code that follows, which of the two models do you prefer? Why?
What is the final value obtained by the following commands?
Paper 2, Section I, I
commentWhat is meant by an exponential dispersion family? Show that the family of Poisson distributions with parameter is an exponential dispersion family by explicitly identifying the terms in the definition.
Find the corresponding variance function and deduce directly from your calculations expressions for and when .
What is the canonical link function in this case?
Paper 3, Section , I
commentConsider the linear model , where and is an matrix of full rank . Suppose that the parameter is partitioned into sets as follows: . What does it mean for a pair of sets , to be orthogonal? What does it mean for all sets to be mutually orthogonal?
In the model
where are independent and identically distributed, find necessary and sufficient conditions on for and to be mutually orthogonal.
If and are mutually orthogonal, what consequence does this have for the joint distribution of the corresponding maximum likelihood estimators and ?
Paper 4, Section I,
commentSulphur dioxide is one of the major air pollutants. A dataset by Sokal and Rohlf (1981) was collected on 41 US cities/regions in 1969-1971. The annual measurements obtained for each region include (average) sulphur dioxide content, temperature, number of manufacturing enterprises employing more than 20 workers, population size in thousands, wind speed, precipitation, and the number of days with precipitation. The data are displayed in as follows (abbreviated):
Describe the model being fitted by the following commands.
fit temp manuf pop wind precip days
Explain the (slightly abbreviated) output below, describing in particular how the hypothesis tests are performed and your conclusions based on their results:
Based on the summary above, suggest an alternative model.
Finally, what is the value obtained by the following command?
Paper 4, Section II, I
commentConsider the linear model , where and is an matrix of full rank . Find the form of the maximum likelihood estimator of , and derive its distribution assuming that is known.
Assuming the prior find the joint posterior of up to a normalising constant. Derive the posterior conditional distribution .
Comment on the distribution of found above and the posterior conditional . Comment further on the predictive distribution of at input under both the maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches.
Paper 2, Section II, D
commentThe Van der Waals equation of state for a non-ideal gas is
where and are constants.
(i) Briefly explain the physical motivation for differences between the Van der Waals and ideal gas equations of state.
(ii) Find the volume dependence (at constant temperature) of the internal energy and the heat capacity of a Van der Waals gas.
(iii) A Van der Waals gas is initially at temperature in an insulated container with volume . A small opening is then made so that the gas can expand freely into an empty container, occupying both the old and new containers. The final result is that the gas now occupies a volume . Calculate the final temperature assuming is temperature independent. You may assume the process happens quasistatically.
Paper 3, Section II, D
commentConsider an ideal Bose gas in an external potential such that the resulting density of single particle states is given by
where is a positive constant.
(i) Derive an expression for the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation of a gas of of these atoms.
[Recall
(ii) What is the internal energy of the gas in the condensed state as a function of and ?
(iii) Now consider the high temperature, classical limit instead. How does the internal energy depend on and ?
Paper 4, Section II, D
commentBriefly state the ergodic hypothesis and explain its importance.
Consider an ideal, classical, monatomic gas in the presence of a uniform gravitational field in the negative -direction. For convenience, assume the gas is in an arbitrarily large cubic box.
(i) Compute the internal energy of the gas.
(ii) Explain your result for in relation to the equipartition theorem.
(iii) What is the probability that an atom is located at a height between and
(iv) What is the most probable speed of an atom of this gas?
Paper 1, Section II, J
commentAn investor must decide how to invest his initial wealth in assets for the coming year. At the end of the year, one unit of asset will be worth , where has a multivariate normal distribution with mean and non-singular covariance matrix . At the beginning of the year, one unit of asset costs . In addition, he may invest in a riskless bank account; an initial investment of 1 in the bank account will have grown to at the end of the year.
(a) The investor chooses to hold units of asset , with the remaining in the bank account. His objective is to minimise the variance of his wealth at the end of the year, subject to a required mean value for . Derive the optimal portfolio , and the minimised variance.
(b) Describe the set of achievable pairs of mean and variance of the terminal wealth. Explain what is meant by the mean-variance efficient frontier as you do so.
(c) Suppose that the investor requires expected mean wealth at time 1 to be . He wishes to minimise the expected shortfall subject to this requirement. Show that he will choose a portfolio corresponding to a point on the mean-variance efficient frontier.
Paper 2, Section II, J
commentWhat is a martingale? What is a stopping time? State and prove the optional sampling theorem.
Suppose that are independent random variables with values in and common distribution . Assume that . Let be the random walk such that for . For , determine the set of values of for which the process is a martingale. Hence derive the probability generating function of the random time
where is a positive integer. Hence find the mean of .
Let . Clearly the mean of is greater than the mean of ; identify the point in your derivation of the mean of where the argument fails if is replaced by .
Paper 3, Section II, J
commentWhat is a Brownian motion? State the assumptions of the Black-Scholes model of an asset price, and derive the time- 0 price of a European call option struck at , and expiring at .
Find the time- 0 price of a European call option expiring at , but struck at , where , and is the price of the underlying asset at time .
Paper 4, Section II, J
commentAn agent with utility , where is a constant, may select at time 0 a portfolio of assets, which he then holds to time 1 . The values of the assets at time 1 have a multivariate normal distribution with mean and nonsingular covariance matrix . Prove that the agent will prefer portfolio to portfolio if and only if , where
Determine his optimal portfolio.
The agent initially holds portfolio , which he may change to portfolio at cost , where is some positive transaction cost. By considering the function for , or otherwise, prove that the agent will have no reason to change his initial portfolio if and only if, for every ,
Paper 1, Section I,
comment(i) Let and let be distinct points in . Show that there exist numbers such that
for every polynomial of degree .
(ii) Explain, without proof, how one can choose the points and the numbers such that holds for all polynomials of degree .
Paper 2, Section I,
comment(a) State Chebychev's Equal Ripple Criterion.
(b) Let be a positive integer, and
Use Chebychev's Equal Ripple Criterion to prove that
[You may use without proof that there is a polynomial in of degree , with the coefficient of equal to , such that for all .]
Paper 2, Section II, F
comment(a) State Brouwer's fixed point theorem in the plane.
(b) Let be unit vectors in making angles with one another. Let be the triangle with vertices given by the points and and let be the three sides of . Prove that the following two statements are equivalent:
(1) There exists no continuous function with and .
(2) If are closed subsets of such that and , then .
(c) Let be continuous positive functions. Show that the system of equations
has four distinct solutions on the unit circle .
Paper 3, Section I,
comment(a) If is continuous, prove that there exists a sequence of polynomials such that uniformly on compact subsets of .
(b) If is continuous and bounded, prove that there exists a sequence of polynomials such that are uniformly bounded on and uniformly on compact subsets of .
Paper 3, Section II, F
comment(a) State Runge's theorem on uniform approximation of analytic functions by polynomials.
(b) Let be an unbounded, connected, proper open subset of . For any given compact set and any , show that there exists a sequence of complex polynomials converging uniformly on to the function .
(c) Give an example, with justification, of a connected open subset of , a compact subset of and a point such that there is no sequence of complex polynomials converging uniformly on to the function .
Paper 4, Section I,
commentState Liouville's theorem on approximation of algebraic numbers by rationals, and use it to prove that the number
is transcendental.
Paper 1, Section II, 38A
commentThe wave equation with spherical symmetry may be written
Find the solution for the pressure disturbance in an outgoing wave, driven by a timevarying source with mass outflow rate at the origin, in an infinite fluid.
A semi-infinite fluid of density and sound speed occupies the half space . The plane is occupied by a rigid wall, apart from a small square element of side that is centred on the point and oscillates in and out with displacement . By modelling this element as a point source, show that the pressure field in is given by
where , on the assumption that . Explain the factor 2 in the above formula.
Now suppose that the plane is occupied by a loudspeaker whose displacement is given by
where for . Write down an integral expression for the pressure in . In the far field where , show that
where and
Evaluate this integral when is given by
and discuss the result in the case is small but is of order unity.
Paper 2, Section II, A
commentAn elastic solid of density has Lamé moduli and . From the dynamic equation for the displacement vector , derive equations satisfied by the dilatational and shear potentials and . Show that two types of plane harmonic wave can propagate in the solid, and explain the relationship between the displacement vector and the propagation direction in each case.
A semi-infinite solid occupies the half-space and is bounded by a traction-free surface at . A plane -wave is incident on the plane with angle of incidence . Describe the system of reflected waves, calculate the angles at which they propagate, and show that there is no reflected -wave if
where
Paper 3, Section II, A
commentStarting from the equations of motion for an inviscid, incompressible, stratified fluid of density , where is the vertical coordinate, derive the dispersion relation
for small amplitude internal waves of wavenumber , where is the constant Brunt-Väisälä frequency (which should be defined), explaining any approximations you make. Describe the wave pattern that would be generated by a small body oscillating about the origin with small amplitude and frequency , the fluid being otherwise at rest.
The body continues to oscillate when the fluid has a slowly-varying velocity , where . Show that a ray which has wavenumber with at will propagate upwards, but cannot go higher than , where
Explain what happens to the disturbance as approaches .
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentA perfect gas occupies a tube that lies parallel to the -axis. The gas is initially at rest, with density , pressure and specific heat ratio , and occupies the region . For times a piston, initially at , is pushed into the gas at a constant speed . A shock wave propagates at constant speed into the undisturbed gas ahead of the piston. Show that the pressure in the gas next to the piston, , is given by the expression
[You may assume that the internal energy per unit mass of perfect gas is given by