Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-57/3/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 57 3 b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Set , so and . The vertical equation becomesFor , division by the common factor gives the Legendre differential equation with eigenvalue . Requiring boundedness at both surfaces selectsThe second independent solution is unbounded at an endpoint. These are the bounded vertical modes of a sech-squared magnetized disk. The division by is outside the square root, as in the original PDF; the converted TeX places it incorrectly. The magnetic perturbation involves , which tends to zero at either surface.
The constant function has . The specified magnetic ansatz contains and must not be applied to it. A uniform horizontal velocity with no magnetic perturbation is an epicyclic motion, not a growing magnetic mode; the zero-wavenumber formal degeneracy does not provide growing MRI at arbitrary field strength. Nontrivial magnetically coupled vertical modes have .
For , the magnetorotational instability grows when . Indeed, the quadratic in then has a negative constant term, and one positive root. For , the two roots are nonpositive, since their sum is negative, their product nonnegative, and their discriminant is . The smallest nonzero vertical eigenvalue is , so all vertical modes are stable ifThe strict inequality requested gives stability, and equality is marginal for . A sufficiently strong field increases magnetic tension. The unstable MRI needs a sufficiently long vertical wavelength to exchange angular momentum without excessive restoring tension; bounded vertical structure imposes a smallest nonzero effective wavenumber. Beyond the finite-thickness magnetorotational instability criterion, no allowed magnetic mode is long enough to remain unstable.
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