Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 11C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The identity divergence of a curl is zero follows by the symmetry of second partial derivatives and antisymmetry of the Levi-Civita symbol. ThereforeIf and is in Coulomb gauge, the curl of the curl identity gives . Apply the supplied scalar Poisson equation representation to each component of the decaying vector potential. In the units of this problem the Coulomb-gauge vector potential of a localized steady current isHere one needs , and enough localization of for the stated representation and differentiations. A smooth compactly supported current density is a sufficient convenient case. The local differential equations and gauge alone do not impose these conditions: , , satisfy them but do not satisfy the displayed integral formula. The formula selects the decaying solution, excluding nondecaying homogeneous harmonic functions.
With , the gradient of the kernel is . Since is independent of ,Thus taking the curl gives the Biot-Savart law in the problem's normalization:Finally, change variables in the integral for . This keeps the singular kernel independent of the differentiation variable:For smooth localized , differentiation under the integral sign is legitimate: is locally integrable in three dimensions, and on a bounded neighbourhood of the translated sources and their derivatives have common compact support. The integral indeed satisfies Coulomb gauge.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ib Paper 1 15C Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Differentiate under the integral and use :The omitted boundary term vanishes if the current is localized sufficiently rapidly. A steady current obeys charge conservation , hence
For much larger than the source size,Localization and imply . They also implyby integrating . Thus the first nonzero moment is antisymmetric and can be written using the magnetic dipole momentConsequently the Coulomb-gauge vector potential of a localized steady current has far fieldThe dimensions are