PDE Assignment
PDE Assignment
29)
1. [Poisson on R] Let f ∈ Cc∞ (R), and consider the “Poisson” ODE problem
d2
− u(x) = f (x), x ∈ R. (1)
dx2
2
(a) Prove that Φ(x) := − 21 |x| satisfies − dx
d
2 Φ = δ in the sense of distributions – that
∞
is, for any φ ∈ Cc (R), ˆ
1
|x| φ00 (x) dx = φ(0).
R 2
(b) Verify directly that Φ ∗ f solves (1).
(c) Under what condition on f does (1) admit a bounded solution? How many?
(d) Under what condition on f does (1) admit a solution with u(x) → 0 as |x| → ∞?
How many?
3. [Poisson on Rn≥3 ] Let n ≥ 3, f ∈ Cc∞ (Rn ), and consider the Poisson problem
5. [Averages over balls and spheres] Fix x ∈ Rn , and show that if u ∈ C 1 (B(x, R)),
and for each r ∈ (0, R),
u(x) = u(y) dy,
B(x,r)
1
6. [Reconstruction of data for wave equation on R] Consider the Cauchy problem
for the wave equation on R:
utt = uxx , x ∈ R, t > 0
u(x, 0) = 0, ut (x, 0) = v0 (x)
(a) Show that v0 is not uniquely determined by measuring the solution at a single
point in space, { u(0, t) | t ≥ 0 }. What part of v0 can be recovered from this?
(b) Show that v0 is uniquely determined by measuring the solution at two points in
space.
(Hint: for some constants (to be chosen) T1 , , µ, consider v(x, t) := u(x, t)−µ(T +−
|x|2
t)−n/2 e 4(T1 +−t) . Verify that this function also satisfies the heat equation, and apply
the maximum principle on a cylinder B(0, R) × [0, T1 ]. In the end you will take µ to
0.)
Remark: In fact, without a growth condition like this, both the maximum principle
and uniqueness fail in Rn . There are non-zero solutions of the heat equation on Rn
with zero initial data (but these grow very fast as |x| → ∞ – see the book of F. John,
Ch. 7.