Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-64/2/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 64 2 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Matter corotating with the footpoint has fixed angular velocity . Its effective potential in that rotating frame is the sum of Newtonian gravitational potential and centrifugal potential,Along an outward-inclined straight magnetic field line, write and , where is distance from the footpoint. The exact potential along it isIts first derivative at is zero by the Keplerian rotation balance. At the footpoint the meridional Hessian is with zero mixed derivative. HenceWhen , the potential initially rises and a cold parcel must overcome a barrier. When , its quadratic curvature is negative, so the footpoint is a local maximum along the field and a small outward displacement is accelerated further outward:This is the thirty-degree magnetocentrifugal launching criterion. It describes the lack of a local cold-launch barrier, not a nonzero force on a parcel exactly at rest at . At exactly the quadratic term vanishes; for the specified straight line the next term is , as in marginal straight-line launch at thirty degrees. Global wind escape additionally depends on conditions farther along the line.
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