Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-60/2/solution

The azimuthal derivative of a cylindrical vector Fourier mode must include basis rotation: the azimuthal dependence refers to the components in the rotating cylindrical basis. Since and , a vector amplitude obeys
Also in Cartesian coordinates, so . Consequently
and the basis-rotation terms cancel in the ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation:
Here the printed is the coefficient in the specified magnetic field: . If denotes SI electric current density, then . The field and all subsequent printed coefficients are mutually consistent with this normalization.
For a normal mode with , induction gives . Substitution into the momentum equation, including the Coriolis force, gives the reduced velocity equation
Thus the coefficients are the printed and . Let . Inserting the allowed relation and multiplying by yields
Hence the uniform-current rotating magnetohydrodynamic wave dispersion is
The radicand is real. For , because , so both roots are purely imaginary. For the roots of the quadratic are also imaginary; any zero-frequency case must be checked in the original equations, since the elimination divided by . A positive real part requires
For integer this is possible only when and . Taking the conventional representative gives the printed exception , with and sufficiently large . Literally allowing negative integers also gives , ; complex conjugation maps to , so these describe the conjugate real disturbance. Purely imaginary roots describe neutral oscillatory modes; a repeated root at threshold does not itself prove boundedness of arbitrary initial perturbations.

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