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The 2009 part ib paper 4 for the mathematical tripos, a rigorous mathematics course at the university of cambridge. The paper covers various topics, including analysis, algebra, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, numerical analysis, markov chains, geometry, metric and topological spaces, complex methods, methods, special relativity, fluid dynamics, statistics, and optimization. It includes problems ranging from finding the green's function for a specific interval to proving the convergence of a sequence of functions and deriving the frequencies of small amplitude free oscillations of a fluid.
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Friday, 5 June, 2009 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Each question in Section II carries twice the number of marks of each question in Section I. Candidates may attempt at most four questions from Section I and at most six questions from Section II.
Complete answers are preferred to fragments.
Write on one side of the paper only and begin each answer on a separate sheet.
Write legibly; otherwise, you place yourself at a grave disadvantage.
At the end of the examination:
Tie up your answers in separate bundles labelled A, B,... , H according to the examiner letter affixed to each question, including in the same bundle questions from Sections I and II with the same examiner letter.
Attach a completed gold cover sheet to each bundle.
You must also complete a green master cover sheet listing all the questions you have attempted.
Every cover sheet must bear your examination number and desk number.
Gold cover sheet None Green master cover sheet
You may not start to read the questions printed on the subsequent pages until instructed to do so by the Invigilator.
1G Linear Algebra Show that every endomorphism of a finite-dimensional vector space satisfies some polynomial, and define the minimal polynomial of such an endomorphism.
Give a linear transformation of an eight-dimensional complex vector space which has minimal polynomial x^2 (x−1)^3.
2F Groups, Rings and Modules Let M be a module over an integral domain R. An element m ∈ M is said to be torsion if there exists a nonzero r ∈ R with rm = 0; M is said to be torsion-free if its only torsion element is 0. Show that there exists a unique submodule N of M such that (a) all elements of N are torsion and (b) the quotient module M/N is torsion-free.
3E Analysis II Let (sn)∞ n=1 be a sequence of continuous functions from R to R and let s : R → R be another continuous function. What does it mean to say that sn → s uniformly? Give examples (without proof) of a sequence (sn) of nonzero functions which converges to 0 uniformly, and of a sequence which converges to 0 pointwise but not uniformly. Show that if sn → s uniformly then (^) ∫ 1
− 1
sn(x) dx →
− 1
s(x) dx.
Give an example of a continuous function s : R → R with s(x) > 0 for all x, s(x) → 0 as |x| → ∞ but for which
−∞ s(x)^ dx^ does not converge. For each positive integer^ n^ define sn(x) to be equal to s(x) if |x| 6 n, and to be s(n) min(1, ||x|−n|−^2 ) for |x| > n. Show that the functions sn are continuous, tend uniformly to s, and furthermore that
−∞ sn(x)^ dx exists and is finite for all n.
4E Complex Analysis State Rouch´e’s Theorem. How many complex numbers z are there with |z| 6 1 and 2 z = sin z?
Part IB, Paper 4
8C Numerical Analysis Suppose that w(x) > 0 for all x ∈ (a, b). The weights b 1 , ..., bn and nodes x 1 , ..., xn are chosen so that the Gaussian quadrature formula
∫ (^) b
a
w(x)f (x)dx ∼
∑^ n
k=
bkf (xk)
is exact for every polynomial of degree 2n − 1. Show that the bi, i = 1, ..., n are all positive.
When w(x) = 1 + x^2 , a = −1 and b = 1, the first three underlying orthogonal polynomials are p 0 (x) = 1, p 1 (x) = x, and p 2 (x) = x^2 − 2 / 5. Find x 1 , x 2 and b 1 , b 2 when n = 2.
Part IB, Paper 4
9H Markov Chains In chess, a bishop is allowed to move only in straight diagonal lines. Thus if the bishop stands on the square marked A in the diagram, it is able in one move to reach any of the squares marked with an asterisk. Suppose that the bishop moves at random around the chess board, choosing at each move with equal probability from the squares it can reach, the square chosen being independent of all previous choices. The bishop starts at the bottom left-hand corner of the board. If Xn is the position of the bishop at time n, show that (Xn)n> 0 is a reversible Markov chain, whose statespace you should specify. Find the invariant distribution of this Markov chain. What is the expected number of moves the bishop will make before first returning to its starting square?
Part IB, Paper 4 [TURN OVER
13E Analysis II Let (X, d) be a metric space with at least two points. If f : X → R is a function, write Lip(f ) = sup x 6 =y
|f (x) − f (y)| d(x, y)
|f (z)|,
provided that this supremum is finite. Let Lip(X) = {f : Lip(f ) is defined}. Show that Lip(X) is a vector space over R, and that Lip is a norm on it. Now let X = R. Suppose that (fi)∞ i=1 is a sequence of functions with Lip(fi) 6 1 and with the property that the sequence fi(q) converges as i → ∞ for every rational number q. Show that the fi converge pointwise to a function f satisfying Lip(f ) 6 1. Suppose now that (fi)∞ i=1 are any functions with Lip(fi) 6 1. Show that there is a subsequence fi 1 , fi 2 ,... which converges pointwise to a function f with Lip(f ) 6 1.
14F Metric and Topological Spaces A nonempty subset A of a topological space X is called irreducible if, whenever we have open sets U and V such that U ∩ A and V ∩ A are nonempty, then we also have U ∩ V ∩ A 6 = ∅. Show that the closure of an irreducible set is irreducible, and deduce that the closure of any singleton set {x} is irreducible. X is said to be a sober topological space if, for any irreducible closed A ⊆ X, there is a unique x ∈ X such that A = {x}. Show that any Hausdorff space is sober, but that an infinite set with the cofinite topology is not sober. Given an arbitrary topological space (X, T ), let X̂ denote the set of all irreducible closed subsets of X, and for each U ∈ T let
Û = {A ∈ X̂ | U ∩ A 6 = ∅}.
Show that the sets {Û | U ∈ T } form a topology T̂ on X̂ , and that the mapping U 7 → Û is a bijection from T to T̂. Deduce that (X,̂ T̂ ) is sober. [Hint: consider the complement of an irreducible closed subset of X̂ .]
Part IB, Paper 4 [TURN OVER
15D Complex Methods
The function u(x, y) satisfies Laplace’s equation in the half-space y > 0, together with boundary conditions
u(x, y) → 0 as y → ∞ for all x , u(x, 0) = u 0 (x), where x u 0 (x) → 0 as |x| → ∞.
Using Fourier transforms, show that
u(x, y) =
−∞
u 0 (t)v(x − t, y)dt ,
where v(x, y) = y π(x^2 + y^2 )
Suppose that u 0 (x) = (x^2 + a^2 )−^1. Using contour integration and the convolution theorem, or otherwise, show that
u(x, y) =
y + a a [x^2 + (y + a)^2 ]
[You may assume the convolution theorem of Fourier transforms, i.e. that if f˜ (k), ˜g(k)are the Fourier transforms of two functions f (x), g(x), then f˜ (k)˜g(k) is the Fourier transform of
−∞ f^ (t)g(x−t)dt.]
Part IB, Paper 4
17C Special Relativity A star moves with speed v in the x-direction in a reference frame S. When viewed in its rest frame S′^ it emits a photon of frequency ν′^ which propagates along a line making an angle θ′^ with the x′-axis. Write down the components of the four-momentum of the photon in S′. As seen in S, the photon moves along a line that makes an angle θ with the x-axis and has frequency ν. Using a Lorentz transformation, write down the relationship between the components of the four-momentum of the photon in S′^ to those in S and show that
cos θ =
cos θ′^ + v/c 1 + v cos θ′/c
As viewed in S′, the star emits two photons with frequency ν′^ in opposite directions with θ′^ = π/2 and θ′^ = −π/ 2 , respectively. Show that an observer in S records them as having a combined momentum p directed along the x-axis, where
p =
Ev c^2
1 − v^2 /c^2
and where E is the combined energy of the photons as seen in S′. How is this momentum loss from the star consistent with its maintaining a constant speed as viewed in S?
18D Fluid Dynamics An inviscid incompressible fluid occupies a rectangular tank with vertical sides at x = 0, a and y = 0, b and a horizontal bottom at z = −h. The undisturbed free surface is at z = 0.
(i) Write down the equations and boundary conditions governing small amplitude free oscillations of the fluid, neglecting surface tension, and show that the frequencies ω of such oscillations are given by
ω^2 g
= k tanh kh, where k^2 = π^2
m^2 a^2
n^2 b^2
for non-negative integers m, n, which cannot both be zero.
(ii) The free surface is now acted on by a small external pressure
p = ǫρgh sin Ωt cos mπx a
cos nπy b
where ǫ ≪ 1. Calculate the corresponding oscillation of the free surface when Ω is not equal to the quantity ω given by (1).
Why does your solution break down as Ω → ω?
Part IB, Paper 4
19H Statistics What is a sufficient statistic? State the factorization criterion for a statistic to be sufficient. Suppose that X 1 ,... , Xn are independent random variables uniformly distributed over [a, b], where the parameters a < b are not known, and n > 2. Find a sufficient statistic for the parameter θ ≡ (a, b) based on the sample X 1 ,... , Xn. Based on your sufficient statistic, derive an unbiased estimator of θ.
20H Optimization In a pure exchange economy, there are J agents, and d goods. Agent j initially holds an endowment xj ∈ Rd^ of the d different goods, j = 1,... , J. Agent j has preferences given by a concave utility function Uj : Rd^ → R which is strictly increasing in each of its arguments, and is twice continuously differentiable. Thus agent j prefers y ∈ Rd^ to x ∈ Rd if and only if Uj (y) > Uj (x). The agents meet and engage in mutually beneficial trades. Thus if agent i holding zi meets agent j holding zj , then the amounts z′ i held by agent i and z′ j held by agent j after trading must satisfy Ui(z i′) > Ui(zi), Uj (z j′ ) > Uj (zj ), and z i′ + z′ j = zi + zj. Meeting and trading continues until, finally, agent j holds yj ∈ Rd, where ∑
j
xj =
j
yj ,
and there are no further mutually beneficial trades available to any pair of agents. Prove that there must exist a vector v ∈ Rd^ and positive scalars λ 1 ,... , λJ such that
∇Uj (yj ) = λj v
for all j. Show that for some positive a 1 ,... , aJ the final allocations yj are what would be achieved by a social planner, whose objective is to obtain
max
j
aj Uj (yj ) subject to
j
yj =
j
xj.
Part IB, Paper 4