Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/iii/paper-314/4/e/solution

The dipole magnetic-field line geometry gives the angular radius at the sonic point as . The sonic region must remain a narrow flux tube for the one-dimensional transonic branch equations to apply. Thus a necessary small-angle constraint is
This also makes the transverse sound-crossing time small compared with the radial flow time . The restriction must hold at any larger matching radius as well. To match to a reservoir with negligible gravitational potential within the same narrow dipolar approximation, one needs an overlap region
Hence the stronger useful sufficient scaling is . The small-angle dipolar model should not be extrapolated to literal infinity, where its boundary magnetic field line turns toward the equatorial plane.

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