Paper 4, Section II, C

Asymptotic Methods
Part II, 2016

Consider the equation

ϵ2d2ydx2=Q(x)y\epsilon^{2} \frac{d^{2} y}{d x^{2}}=Q(x) y

where ϵ>0\epsilon>0 is a small parameter and Q(x)Q(x) is smooth. Search for solutions of the form

y(x)=exp[1ϵ(S0(x)+ϵS1(x)+ϵ2S2(x)+)],y(x)=\exp \left[\frac{1}{\epsilon}\left(S_{0}(x)+\epsilon S_{1}(x)+\epsilon^{2} S_{2}(x)+\cdots\right)\right],

and, by equating powers of ϵ\epsilon, obtain a collection of equations for the {Sj(x)}j=0\left\{S_{j}(x)\right\}_{j=0}^{\infty} which is formally equivalent to (1). By solving explicitly for S0S_{0} and S1S_{1} derive the Liouville- Green approximate solutions yLG(x)y^{L G}(x) to (1).

For the case Q(x)=V(x)Q(x)=-V(x), where V(x)V0V(x) \geqslant V_{0} and V0V_{0} is a positive constant, consider the eigenvalue problem

d2ydx2+EV(x)y=0,y(0)=y(π)=0\frac{d^{2} y}{d x^{2}}+E V(x) y=0, \quad y(0)=y(\pi)=0

Show that any eigenvalue EE is necessarily positive. Solve the eigenvalue problem exactly when V(x)=V0V(x)=V_{0}.

Obtain Liouville-Green approximate eigenfunctions ynLG(x)y_{n}^{L G}(x) for (2) with E1E \gg 1, and give the corresponding Liouville Green approximation to the eigenvalues EnLGE_{n}^{L G}. Compare your results to the exact eigenvalues and eigenfunctions in the case V(x)=V0V(x)=V_{0}, and comment on this.