Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ia/paper-3/9b/b/solution

For a twice continuously differentiable vector potential , write the curl with the Levi-Civita symbol:
The second derivatives are symmetric in , whereas is antisymmetric, so the contraction is zero. Equivalently, writing out the three components shows that each mixed derivative cancels its reversed-order partner. Thus
This is divergence of a curl is zero. The regularity hypothesis is what licenses commutation of the mixed partial derivatives; it must not be omitted for a singular potential without specifying a weaker derivative interpretation.

New to topics? Read the docs here!