Part II, 2020
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Paper 1, Section II, F
commentLet be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Prove that an affine variety is irreducible if and only if the associated ideal of polynomials that vanish on is prime.
Prove that the variety is irreducible.
State what it means for an affine variety over to be smooth and determine whether or not is smooth.
Paper 2, Section II, F
commentLet be an algebraically closed field of characteristic not equal to 2 and let be a nonsingular quadric surface.
(a) Prove that is birational to .
(b) Prove that there exists a pair of disjoint lines on .
(c) Prove that the affine variety does not contain any lines.
Paper 3, Section II, F
comment(i) Suppose is an affine equation whose projective completion is a smooth projective curve. Give a basis for the vector space of holomorphic differential forms on this curve. [You are not required to prove your assertion.]
Let be the plane curve given by the vanishing of the polynomial
over the complex numbers.
(ii) Prove that is nonsingular.
(iii) Let be a line in and define to be the divisor . Prove that is a canonical divisor on .
(iv) Calculate the minimum degree such that there exists a non-constant map
of degree .
[You may use any results from the lectures provided that they are stated clearly.]
Paper 4, Section II, F
commentLet be a basis for the homogeneous polynomials of degree in variables and . Then the image of the given by
is called a rational normal curve.
Let be a collection of points in general linear position in . Prove that there exists a unique rational normal curve in passing through these points.
Choose a basis of homogeneous polynomials of degree 3 as above, and give generators for the homogeneous ideal of the corresponding rational normal curve.
Paper 1, Section II,
commentLet be the map given by
where is identified with the unit circle in . [You may take as given that is a covering map.]
(a) Using the covering map , show that is isomorphic to as a group, where .
(b) Let denote the group of matrices with integer entries such that . If , we obtain a linear transformation . Show that this linear transformation induces a homeomorphism with and such that agrees with as a map .
(c) Let for be connected covering maps of degree 2 . Show that there exist homeomorphisms and so that the diagram
is commutative.
Paper 2, Section II, F
comment(a) Let be a map of spaces. We define the mapping cylinder of to be the space
with . Show carefully that the canonical inclusion is a homotopy equivalence.
(b) Using the Seifert-van Kampen theorem, show that if is path-connected and is a map, and for some point , then
Use this fact to construct a connected space with
(c) Using a covering space of , give explicit generators of a subgroup of isomorphic to . Here denotes the free group on generators.
Paper 3, Section II, 20F
commentLet be a simplicial complex with four vertices with simplices , and and their faces.
(a) Draw a picture of , labelling the vertices.
(b) Using the definition of homology, calculate for all .
(c) Let be the subcomplex of consisting of the vertices and the 1 simplices . Let be the inclusion. Construct a simplicial such that the topological realisation of is a homotopy inverse to . Construct an explicit chain homotopy between and , and verify that is a chain homotopy.
Paper 4 , Section II, 21F
commentIn this question, you may assume all spaces involved are triangulable.
(a) (i) State and prove the Mayer-Vietoris theorem. [You may assume the theorem that states that a short exact sequence of chain complexes gives rise to a long exact sequence of homology groups.]
(ii) Use Mayer-Vietoris to calculate the homology groups of an oriented surface of genus .
(b) Let be an oriented surface of genus , and let be a collection of mutually disjoint closed subsets of with each homeomorphic to a two-dimensional disk. Let denote the interior of , homeomorphic to an open two-dimensional disk, and let
Show that
(c) Let be the surface given in (b) when and . Let be a map. Does there exist a map such that is homotopic to the identity map? Justify your answer.
Paper 1, Section II, I
commentLet be equipped with the -algebra of Lebesgue measurable sets, and Lebesgue measure.
(a) Given , define the convolution , and show that it is a bounded, continuous function. [You may use without proof continuity of translation on for
Suppose is a measurable set with where denotes the Lebesgue measure of . By considering the convolution of and , or otherwise, show that the set contains an open neighbourhood of 0 . Does this still hold if ?
(b) Suppose that is a measurable function satisfying
Let . Show that for any :
(i) ,
(ii) for all , where for and denotes the set .
Show that is continuous at 0 and hence deduce that is continuous everywhere.
Paper 3, Section II, 22I
commentLet be a Banach space.
(a) Define the dual space , giving an expression for for . If for some , identify giving an expression for a general element of . [You need not prove your assertion.]
(b) For a sequence with , what is meant by: (i) , (ii) (iii) ? Show that (i) (ii) (iii). Find a sequence with such that, for some :
(c) For , let be the map . Show that may be extended to a continuous linear map , and deduce that . For which is reflexive? [You may use without proof the Hahn-Banach theorem].
Paper 4, Section II, 23I
comment(a) Define the Sobolev space for .
(b) Let be a non-negative integer and let . Show that if then there exists with almost everywhere.
(c) Show that if for some , there exists a unique which solves:
in a distributional sense. Prove that there exists a constant , independent of , such that:
For which will be a classical solution?
Paper 1, Section II, C
commentConsider the quantum mechanical scattering of a particle of mass in one dimension off a parity-symmetric potential, . State the constraints imposed by parity, unitarity and their combination on the components of the -matrix in the parity basis,
For the specific potential
show that
For , derive the condition for the existence of an odd-parity bound state. For and to leading order in , show that an odd-parity resonance exists and discuss how it evolves in time.
Paper 2, Section II,
commenta) Consider a particle moving in one dimension subject to a periodic potential, . Define the Brillouin zone. State and prove Bloch's theorem.
b) Consider now the following periodic potential
with positive constant .
i) For very small , use the nearly-free electron model to compute explicitly the lowest-energy band gap to leading order in degenerate perturbation theory.
ii) For very large , the electron is localised very close to a minimum of the potential. Estimate the two lowest energies for such localised eigenstates and use the tight-binding model to estimate the lowest-energy band gap.
Paper 3, Section II, C
comment(a) For the quantum scattering of a beam of particles in three dimensions off a spherically symmetric potential that vanishes at large , discuss the boundary conditions satisfied by the wavefunction and define the scattering amplitude . Assuming the asymptotic form
state the constraints on imposed by the unitarity of the -matrix and define the phase shifts .
(b) For , consider the specific potential
(i) Show that the s-wave phase shift obeys
where .
(ii) Compute the scattering length and find for which values of it diverges. Discuss briefly the physical interpretation of the divergences. [Hint: you may find this trigonometric identity useful
Paper 4, Section II,
comment(a) For a particle of charge moving in an electromagnetic field with vector potential and scalar potential , write down the classical Hamiltonian and the equations of motion.
(b) Consider the vector and scalar potentials
(i) Solve the equations of motion. Define and compute the cyclotron frequency .
(ii) Write down the quantum Hamiltonian of the system in terms of the angular momentum operator
Show that the states
for any function , are energy eigenstates and compute their energy. Define Landau levels and discuss this result in relation to them.
(iii) Show that for , the wavefunctions in ( ) are eigenstates of angular momentum and compute the corresponding eigenvalue. These wavefunctions peak in a ring around the origin. Estimate its radius. Using these two facts or otherwise, estimate the degeneracy of Landau levels.
Paper 1, Section II, 28K
comment(a) What is meant by a birth process with strictly positive rates Explain what is meant by saying that is non-explosive.
(b) Show that is non-explosive if and only if
(c) Suppose , and where . Show that
Paper 2, Section II, 27K
comment(i) Let be a Markov chain in continuous time on the integers with generator . Define the corresponding jump chain .
Define the terms irreducibility and recurrence for . If is irreducible, show that is recurrent if and only if is recurrent.
(ii) Suppose
Show that is transient, find an invariant distribution, and show that is explosive. [Any general results may be used without proof but should be stated clearly.]
Paper 3, Section II, 27K
commentDefine a renewal-reward process, and state the renewal-reward theorem.
A machine is repaired at time . After any repair, it functions without intervention for a time that is exponentially distributed with parameter , at which point it breaks down (assume the usual independence). Following any repair at time , say, it is inspected at times , and instantly repaired if found to be broken (the inspection schedule is then restarted). Find the long run proportion of time that is working. [You may express your answer in terms of an integral.]
Paper 4, Section II, K
comment(i) Explain the notation in the context of queueing theory. [In the following, you may use without proof the fact that is the invariant distribution of such a queue when .
(ii) In a shop queue, some customers rejoin the queue after having been served. Let and . Consider a queue subject to the modification that, on completion of service, each customer leaves the shop with probability , or rejoins the shop queue with probability . Different customers behave independently of one another, and all service times are independent random variables.
Find the distribution of the total time a given customer spends being served by the server. Hence show that equilibrium is possible if , and find the invariant distribution of the queue-length in this case.
(iii) Show that, in equilibrium, the departure process is Poissonian, whereas, assuming the rejoining customers go to the end of the queue, the process of customers arriving at the queue (including the rejoining ones) is not Poissonian.
Paper 2, Section II, D
comment(a) Let and . Let be a sequence of (real) functions that are nonzero for all with , and let be a sequence of nonzero real numbers. For every , the function satisfies
(i) Show that , for all ; i.e., is an asymptotic sequence.
(ii) Show that for any , the functions are linearly independent on their domain of definition.
(b) Let
(i) Find an asymptotic expansion (not necessarily a power series) of , as .
(ii) Find the first four terms of the expansion of into an asymptotic power series of , that is, with error as .
Paper 3, Section II, D
comment(a) Find the leading order term of the asymptotic expansion, as , of the integral
(b) Find the first two leading nonzero terms of the asymptotic expansion, as , of the integral
Paper 4, Section II, A
commentConsider the differential equation
(i) Classify what type of regularity/singularity equation has at .
(ii) Find a transformation that maps equation () to an equation of the form
(iii) Find the leading-order term of the asymptotic expansions of the solutions of equation , as , using the Liouville-Green method.
(iv) Derive the leading-order term of the asymptotic expansion of the solutions of (). Check that one of them is an exact solution for .
Paper 1, Section I,
commentDefine an alphabet , a word over and a language over .
What is a regular expression and how does this give rise to a language
Given any alphabet , show that there exist languages over which are not equal to for any regular expression . [You are not required to exhibit a specific .]
Paper 1, Section II, F
comment(a) Define a register machine, a sequence of instructions for a register machine and a partial computable function. How do we encode a register machine?
(b) What is a partial recursive function? Show that a partial computable function is partial recursive. [You may assume that for a given machine with a given number of inputs, the function outputting its state in terms of the inputs and the time is recursive.]
(c) (i) Let be the partial function defined as follows: if codes a register machine and the ensuing partial function is defined at , set . Otherwise set . Is a partial computable function?
(ii) Let be the partial function defined as follows: if codes a register machine and the ensuing partial function is defined at , set . Otherwise, set if is odd and let be undefined if is even. Is a partial computable function?
Paper 2, Section I, F
commentAssuming the definition of a partial recursive function from to , what is a recursive subset of ? What is a recursively enumerable subset of ?
Show that a subset is recursive if and only if and are recursively enumerable.
Are the following subsets of recursive?
(i) codes a program and halts at some stage .
(ii) codes a program and halts within 100 steps .
Paper 3, Section I, F
commentDefine a context-free grammar , a sentence of and the language generated by .
For the alphabet , which of the following languages over are contextfree? (i) ,
(ii) .
[You may assume standard results without proof if clearly stated.]
Paper 3, Section II, F
commentGive the definition of a deterministic finite state automaton and of a regular language.
State and prove the pumping lemma for regular languages.
Let be the subset of consisting of the powers of 2 .
If we write the elements of in base 2 (with no preceding zeros), is a regular language over ?
Now suppose we write the elements of in base 10 (again with no preceding zeros). Show that is not a regular language over . [Hint: Give a proof by contradiction; use the above lemma to obtain a sequence of powers of 2, then consider for and a suitable fixed d.]
Paper 4, Section I,
commentDefine what it means for a context-free grammar (CFG) to be in Chomsky normal form .
Describe without proof each stage in the process of converting a CFG into an equivalent CFG which is in CNF. For each of these stages, when are the nonterminals left unchanged? What about the terminals and the generated language ?
Give an example of a CFG whose generated language is infinite and equal to .
Paper 1, Section I, B
commentA linear molecule is modelled as four equal masses connected by three equal springs. Using the Cartesian coordinates of the centres of the four masses, and neglecting any forces other than those due to the springs, write down the Lagrangian of the system describing longitudinal motions of the molecule.
Rewrite and simplify the Lagrangian in terms of the generalized coordinates
Deduce Lagrange's equations for . Hence find the normal modes of the system and their angular frequencies, treating separately the symmetric and antisymmetric modes of oscillation.
Paper 2, Section I, B
commentA particle of mass has position vector in a frame of reference that rotates with angular velocity . The particle moves under the gravitational influence of masses that are fixed in the rotating frame. Explain why the Lagrangian of the particle is of the form
Show that Lagrange's equations of motion are equivalent to
Identify the canonical momentum conjugate to . Obtain the Hamiltonian and Hamilton's equations for this system.
Paper 2, Section II, B
commentA symmetric top of mass rotates about a fixed point that is a distance from the centre of mass along the axis of symmetry; its principal moments of inertia about the fixed point are and . The Lagrangian of the top is
(i) Draw a diagram explaining the meaning of the Euler angles and .
(ii) Derive expressions for the three integrals of motion and .
(iii) Show that the nutational motion is governed by the equation
and derive expressions for the effective potential and the modified energy in terms of and .
(iv) Suppose that
where is a small positive number. By expanding to second order in and , show that there is a stable equilibrium solution with , provided that . Determine the equilibrium value of and the precession rate , to the same level of approximation.
Paper 3, Section I, B
commentA particle of mass experiences a repulsive central force of magnitude , where is its distance from the origin. Write down the Hamiltonian of the system.
The Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector for this system is defined by
where is the angular momentum and is the radial unit vector. Show that
where is the Poisson bracket. What are the integrals of motion of the system? Show that the polar equation of the orbit can be written as
where and are non-negative constants.
Paper 4, Section I, B
commentDerive expressions for the angular momentum and kinetic energy of a rigid body in terms of its mass , the position of its centre of mass, its inertia tensor (which should be defined) about its centre of mass, and its angular velocity .
A spherical planet of mass and radius has density proportional to . Given that and , evaluate the inertia tensor of the planet in terms of and .
Paper 4, Section II, B
comment(a) Explain how the Hamiltonian of a system can be obtained from its Lagrangian . Deduce that the action can be written as
Show that Hamilton's equations are obtained if the action, computed between fixed initial and final configurations and , is minimized with respect to independent variations of and .
(b) Let be a new set of coordinates on the same phase space. If the old and new coordinates are related by a type-2 generating function such that
deduce that the canonical form of Hamilton's equations applies in the new coordinates, but with a new Hamiltonian given by
(c) For each of the Hamiltonians (i) , (ii) ,
express the general solution at time in terms of the initial values given by at time . In each case, show that the transformation from to is canonical for all values of , and find the corresponding generating function explicitly.
Paper 1, Section I, I
comment(a) Briefly describe the methods of Shannon-Fano and of Huffman for the construction of prefix-free binary codes.
(b) In this part you are given that , and .
Let . For , suppose that the probability of choosing is .
(i) Find a Shannon-Fano code for this system and the expected word length.
(ii) Find a Huffman code for this system and the expected word length.
(iii) Verify that Shannon's noiseless coding theorem is satisfied in each case.
Paper 1, Section II, I
comment(a) What does it mean to say that a binary code has length , size and minimum distance d?
Let be the largest value of for which there exists a binary -code.
(i) Show that .
(ii) Suppose that . Show that if a binary -code exists, then a binary -code exists. Deduce that .
(iii) Suppose that . Show that .
(b) (i) For integers and with , show that
For the remainder of this question, suppose that is a binary -code. For codewords of length , we define to be the word with addition modulo
(ii) Explain why the Hamming distance is the number of 1 s in .
(iii) Now we construct an array whose rows are all the words for pairs of distinct codewords . Show that the number of in is at most
Show also that the number of in is at least .
(iv) Using the inequalities derived in part(b) (iii), deduce that if is even and then
Paper 2, Section I, I
comment(a) Define the information capacity of a discrete memoryless channel (DMC).
(b) Consider a DMC where there are two input symbols, and , and three output symbols, and . Suppose each input symbol is left intact with probability , and transformed into a with probability .
(i) Write down the channel matrix, and calculate the information capacity.
(ii) Now suppose the output is further processed by someone who cannot distinguish between and , so that the channel matrix becomes
Calculate the new information capacity.
Paper 2, Section II, I
commentLet be the Hamming code of weight 3 , where . Let be the parity-check matrix of . Let be the number of codewords of weight in .
(i) Show that for any two columns and of there exists a unique third column such that . Deduce that .
(ii) Show that contains a codeword of weight .
(iii) Find formulae for and . Justify your answer in each case.
Paper 3, Section I, I
commentLet and be very large positive integers with a prime and . The Chair of the Committee is able to inscribe pairs of very large integers on discs. The Chair wishes to inscribe a collection of discs in such a way that any Committee member who acquires of the discs and knows the prime can deduce the integer , but owning discs will give no information whatsoever. What strategy should the Chair follow?
[You may use without proof standard properties of the determinant of the Vandermonde matrix.]
Paper 4, Section I, I
comment(a) What does it mean to say that a cipher has perfect secrecy? Show that if a cipher has perfect secrecy then there must be at least as many possible keys as there are possible plaintext messages. What is a one-time pad? Show that a one-time pad has perfect secrecy.
(b) I encrypt a binary sequence using a one-time pad with key sequence I transmit to you. Then, by mistake, I also transmit to you. Assuming that you know I have made this error, and that my message makes sense, how would you go about finding my message? Can you now decipher other messages sent using the same part of the key sequence? Briefly justify your answer.
Paper 1, Section I, D
commentThe Friedmann equation is
Briefly explain the meaning of and .
Derive the Raychaudhuri equation,
where is the pressure, stating clearly any results that are required.
Assume that the strong energy condition holds. Show that there was necessarily a Big Bang singularity at time such that
where and is the time today.
Paper 1, Section II, D
commentA fluid with pressure sits in a volume . The change in energy due to a change in volume is given by . Use this in a cosmological context to derive the continuity equation,
with the energy density, the Hubble parameter, and the scale factor.
In a flat universe, the Friedmann equation is given by
Given a universe dominated by a fluid with equation of state , where is a constant, determine how the scale factor evolves.
Define conformal time . Assume that the early universe consists of two fluids: radiation with and a network of cosmic strings with . Show that the Friedmann equation can be written as
where is the energy density in radiation, and is the scale factor, both evaluated at radiation-string equality. Here, is a constant that you should determine. Find the solution .
Paper 2, Section I, D
commentDuring inflation, the expansion of the universe is governed by the Friedmann equation,
and the equation of motion for the inflaton field ,
The slow-roll conditions are and . Under these assumptions, solve for and for the potentials:
(i) and
(ii) .
Paper 3, Section I, D
commentAt temperature , with , the distribution of ultra-relativistic particles with momentum is given by
where the minus sign is for bosons and the plus for fermions, and with .
Show that the total number of fermions, , is related to the total number of bosons, , by .
Show that the total energy density of fermions, , is related to the total energy density of bosons, , by .
Paper 3, Section II, D
commentIn an expanding spacetime, the density contrast satisfies the linearised equation
where is the scale factor, is the Hubble parameter, is a constant, and is the Jeans wavenumber, defined by
with the background, homogeneous energy density.
(i) Solve for in a static universe, with and and constant. Identify two regimes: one in which sound waves propagate, and one in which there is an instability.
(ii) In a matter-dominated universe with , use the Friedmann equation to find the growing and decaying long-wavelength modes of as a function of .
(iii) Assuming in equation , find the growth of matter perturbations in a radiation-dominated universe and find the growth of matter perturbations in a curvature-dominated universe.
Paper 4 , Section I, D
commentAt temperature and chemical potential , the number density of a non-relativistic particle species with mass is given by
where is the number of degrees of freedom of this particle.
At recombination, electrons and protons combine to form hydrogen. Use the result above to derive the Saha equation
where is the number density of hydrogen atoms, the number density of electrons, the mass of the electron and the binding energy of hydrogen. State any assumptions that you use in this derivation.
Paper 1, Section II, I
comment(a) Let be a manifold. Give the definition of the tangent space of at a point .
(b) Show that defines a submanifold of and identify explicitly its tangent space for any .
(c) Consider the matrix group consisting of all matrices satisfying
where is the diagonal matrix .
(i) Show that forms a group under matrix multiplication, i.e. it is closed under multiplication and every element in has an inverse in .
(ii) Show that defines a 6-dimensional manifold. Identify the tangent space for any as a set where ranges over a linear subspace which you should identify explicitly.
(iii) Let be as defined in (b) above. Show that defined as the set of all such that for all is both a subgroup and a submanifold of full dimension.
[You may use without proof standard theorems from the course concerning regular values and transversality.]
Paper 2, Section II, I
comment(a) State the fundamental theorem for regular curves in .
(b) Let be a regular curve, parameterised by arc length, such that its image is a one-dimensional submanifold. Suppose that the set is preserved by a nontrivial proper Euclidean motion .
Show that there exists corresponding to such that for all , where the choice of is independent of . Show also that the curvature and torsion of satisfy
with equation (2) valid only for such that . In the case where the sign is and , show that is a straight line.
(c) Give an explicit example of a curve satisfying the requirements of (b) such that neither of and is a constant function, and such that the curve is closed, i.e. such that for some and all . [Here a drawing would suffice.]
(d) Suppose now that is an embedded regular curve parameterised by arc length . Suppose further that for all and that and satisfy (1) and (2) for some , where the choice is independent of , and where in the case of + sign. Show that there exists a nontrivial proper Euclidean motion such that the set is preserved by . [You may use the theorem of part (a) without proof.]
Paper 3, Section II, I
(a) Show that for a compact regular surface