Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/paper-2/3/a/solution

Apply the product rule to the vector field :
The gradient cross terms cancel. Integrating and applying the divergence theorem with outward unit normal proves Green's second identity:
Choose the Dirichlet Green function with and on . Taking and using the Dirac delta distribution, the left side becomes while the second boundary term vanishes. Hence
The plus sign is tied to the convention , whose free-space fundamental solution is negative in three dimensions. The singularity may equivalently be handled by excising a small sphere about before applying the smooth identity.

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