PHY 202 Final Examination

Mathematical methods II and Numerical Techniques

Attempt any four questions
Full marks = 4

10 + 10 (from pre-assigned project)

Question 1 a) Find the Fourier integral representation of the function

f x 

Hence show that

 x 
 x 

1 when
0 when

sin
d

1
1

b) Solve the initial value problem

m

d 2y
dt 2

ky  F0 sin pt 

y 0   0; y  0  0

for the condition k  mp 2 , m  k  p and F0 being constants.

(5+5)

Question 2 a) Calculate the Laplace transform of any one of the following functions
(i) sin2 t

(ii) f t 

t
0

for
for

0 t
t c

, and c being constants.

b) Calculate the inverse Laplace transfgorm of any one of the following functions
(i)
(ii)

e 3s
s3



1
s2 s2 2

, being a constant.

c) The Laguerre polynomial of order n is defined by

et d n n
t e
n! dt n 

Ln t 

Starting from 

t n  

1
sn 1

and using the properties of the Laplace transform, show that

Ln t  

s  1

sn 1

(3+3+4)
Question 3 a) Show that if the product of two left cosets of a subgroup of G is again a left coset, then the
subgroup must be a normal subgroup of G.
b) Let H and K be subgroups of a group G of orders 3, 5 respectively. Show that H  K

c) Identify the center of the group SU 2 , i.e. the group of unitary 2

d) The set SO 3  1  consists of those 4

where is the 4

 e 

2 matrices with determinant 1.

4 matrices L which obey

4 diagonal matrix diag 1  1  1 

LT L 

 1 . Show that SO 3  1
1

is a subgroup of GL 4  R  .(3+2+2+3)

Question 4 a) Construct the multiplication table of the symmetry group of an equilateral triangle, D 3 which
consists of the identity e, reflections a  b  c about the three medians and 23 and 43 clockwise rotations d and f .
Identify the conjugacy classes of this group. Construct the character table for irreducible representations of this
group.
A seven dimensional matrix representation of D 3 has the characters

a   1  and d   4
Write this representation as a direct sum of the irreducible representations.
b) Show that if the order of a group is 9, then any three dimensional matrix representation has to be reducible.
c) State and prove the criterion for reducibility of a matrix representation in terms of the characters.

(5+2+3)

Question 5 a) The area of the surface of revolution obtained by rotating a curve passing through the points


 x1  y1 and  x2  y2 about the x axis is

A  2

x2

y ! 1  y2 dx

x1

Show that the curve y x  that minimizes the surface area has to be of the form
y  c1 cosh

x
c1

"

c2 #

where c1 and c2 are two constants.

b) Show that the integral equation

y x 

has nontrivial solutions y x % $ 0 only if

'&

1
.

sin x   y  d

What are these nontrivial solutions?

(5+5)

Question 6 a) State and prove Schurs lemmas for a set of irreducible operators on a vector space. Show how
this leads to the great orthogonality theorem.
b) A group has a n 1  n2 dimensional matrix representation in which each of the matrices are of the form

D g )(

Dn* 1 +
1

0n

n1
2

g

n1

Cn

* +
1

n2

Dn2 n
2
2

g

g .-

where 0n n is the n2 n1 null matrix. Show that the two square matrices D * 1+ g  and D * 2+ g  are both
2, 1
representations of the group.
(7+3)
Question 7 a) Solve the equation

xex

 5
ex  1
to three decimal places, by any numerical method of your choice.

b) Calculate the integral / 0 0 2 sin2 xdx numerically by using Simpsons one-third rule, taking 6 intervals. Compare with the exact value of the integral.
c) What does the following program do?

F@D

132543687:9;<9>=@?
ACB3D
6EDGF@DIHJB>KL;M?ONEF
H@PL737?RQRH5=59>HST2EU8ST?O=VACBEAXWYF
ZE[?3\OH@?C]>2
^>1_H@\3287:9;`9>=XA
a \E[Xb
23?56
2

(4+4+2)