Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 2 3 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Away from its source, a radial two-dimensional Green's function satisfies , so . The divergence theorem on a disk of radius around the source requires , hence and . Choosing the additive constant givesThe equality with the Dirac delta is distributional; away from the source the Laplacian vanishes.
For the wedge, use the finite image construction for a planar wedge. In complex coordinates , place three positive sources at and three negative sources at , . The positive source at is the actual charge. The five images are thereforeOn either grounded ray, reflection pairs each positive source with an equally distant negative source, so their logarithmic potentials cancel. All images lie outside the open physical wedge. Summing their contributions with coefficient gives the required potential. The figure shows the bisecting-source configuration.
