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Take the divergence of the Ampere-Maxwell law and use Gauss's law $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}=\rho /{ϵ}_0$. Since the divergence of a curl is zero, this gives the charge continuity equation ${\partial }_t\rho +\nabla \cdot \mathbf{j}=0$. Uniform conductivity and Ohm's law imply $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{j}=\sigma \nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}=\sigma \rho /{ϵ}_0$. ThereforeThe spatially uniform initial density stays uniform in the interior; $\tau$ is the charge relaxation time.

Denote the cylinder radius by $R$. Cylindrical symmetry makes the interior electric field radial. Gauss's law on a coaxial cylinder of radius $r<R$ and length $\ell$ gives $2\pi r\ell E_r=\rho (t)\pi r^2\ell /{ϵ}_0$. ThusThe current does not disappear at the interface: the vacuum conducts no current, so charge accumulates on the cylindrical surface. Initially taking the charge to be the stated volume charge alone, its surface charge density satisfies ${\dot{\rho }}_s=j_r(R^{-},t)$, giving the charge relaxation in an isolated conducting cylinder lawThe total enclosed charge per unit length is $\pi R^2\rho (t)+2\pi R{\rho }_s(t)=\pi R^2{\rho }_0$. Consequently the exterior electric field isindependent of time. The boundary jump obeys $E_r(R^{+})-E_r(R^{-})={\rho }_s/{ϵ}_0$, as it must. Applying Gauss's law to the decaying volume charge alone would incorrectly predict a decaying exterior electric field and violate electric charge conservation. The vector formulas also specify the inward direction if ${\rho }_0<0$.