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The function $U(x)=1/|x|$ is locally integrable in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$, so it defines a distribution. The claimed distributional identity means that for every $\phi \in C_c^{\infty }({\mathbb{R}}^3)$,Choose a ball containing the support and remove $B_{\epsilon }(0)$. On the punctured region $\Delta U=0$. Green's second identity givesThe outer boundary contributes zero. On the inner boundary, the outward normal for the punctured region is $-\hat{r}$, so ${\partial }_{n}U=+1/{\epsilon }^2$, fixing the sign.

The first term is $O(\epsilon )$; the second equals $-{\int }_{S^2}\phi (\epsilon \omega )d\omega \to -4\pi \phi (0)$. Local integrability allows the left side to converge to its full-space integral. Therefore $\boxed{-\Delta (1/|x|)=4\pi {\delta }_0}$. In this sign convention, $1/(4\pi |x|)$ is the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation for the operator $-\Delta$.

Use the conventional Laplace operator $\Delta ={\partial }_{x_1}^2+{\partial }_{x_2}^2$. The fundamental solution of the Laplace equation in two dimensions is $G(x)=(2\pi {)}^{-1}\log |x|$, with $\Delta G={\delta }_0$. To check its sign, integrate the outward normal derivative around a circle: ${\int }_{\partial B_{\epsilon }}{\partial }_n\log |x|ds=2\pi$. Applying integration by parts against a smooth compactly supported test function and shrinking the circle gives the distributional identity.

The printed stream function has $\varphi =-G\ast \omega$. For each multi-index $\beta$ with $|\beta |\le 2$, transfer derivatives to the compactly supported $C^2$ function:The logarithmic singularity is locally integrable. On a bounded region in $x$, the convolution uses one fixed bounded region in the integration variable; splitting off a small disk around the singularity proves continuity of these derivatives. Thus $\varphi \in C^2$, and convolution of the distributional identity givesThe asserted plus sign is false for the printed kernel and the conventional Laplacian. Any nonzero smooth compactly supported $\omega$ is a counterexample. To obtain $\Delta \varphi =\omega$, replace the kernel's minus sign by a plus sign, or explicitly adopt the negative Laplace operator. Below, retain the printed kernel and velocity convention. With that convention, $\mathrm{curl}u=\Delta \varphi =-\omega$, so $\omega$ is the negative of conventional scalar vorticity. This sign does not change the transport or flow arguments.

The interior elliptic regularity assertion for the Laplace equation is that a harmonic function is smooth, in fact real analytic, throughout $U$. No boundary regularity of its unspecified boundary values is implied.

First let $u\in C^2(U)$ and $\Delta u=0$. On a ball compactly contained in $U$, differentiating its spherical average and applying the divergence theorem expresses that derivative as a constant factor times ${\int }_{B_r}\Delta u$, which is zero. The spherical average tends to $u$ at the center as $r\to 0$. This proves the mean value property for harmonic functions.

Choose a radially symmetric smooth mollifier ${\eta }_r$, supported in $B_r$, with integral one. By integrating the spherical mean value property,whenever $B_r(x)⋐U$. For fixed $r$ the right side is a smooth convolution, since all derivatives can be placed on ${\eta }_r$. Thus $u$ is smooth. The same argument proves the Weyl lemma for a distributionally harmonic $u\in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1$: first mollify $u$, apply the fixed-radius identity, and let the mollification radius tend to zero in distributions to obtain the same smooth representative.

To prove real analytic regularity, differentiating the fixed-radius convolution gives the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic functionfor any harmonic $v$. All derivatives of $u$ are harmonic. On nested balls between $B_R(a)$ and $B_{R/2}(a)$, apply this estimate $k$ times, decreasing the radius by $R/(2k)$ each time. For $|\alpha |=k$,The inequality $k^k\le e^{k}k!$ follows by integrating $\log s$ below the sum defining $\log (k!)$. Apply the one-dimensional Taylor theorem along each segment, expanding directional derivatives by the multinomial formula. The remainder is bounded by $M(A{\sum }_j|h_j|{)}^k$, so it tends to zero for sufficiently small $h$. This gives a locally convergent multivariate Taylor series. A harmonic function is real analytic in the interior.

The usual inhomogeneous elliptic regularity statement also follows: if $\Delta u=f$ and $f$ is smooth, take a cutoff $\chi$ equal to one near a given point and set $w=\Phi \ast (\chi f)$, where $\Phi$ is a fundamental solution of the Laplace equation with $\Delta \Phi =\delta$. Moving every derivative to the compactly supported smooth function $\chi f$ shows $w$ is smooth. Locally $u-w$ is harmonic, so $u$ is smooth there too.

Write $({\varphi }_{\epsilon }\ast f)(x)=\int \varphi (y)f(x-\epsilon y)dy$. Since $\int \varphi =1$,A Schwartz function is bounded and uniformly continuous. Given a tolerance, first choose $R$ so the tail integral of $|\varphi |$ is small. On $|y|\le R$, uniform continuity makes the difference uniformly small for every $x$ when $\epsilon R$ is small. On the tail it is bounded by $2\Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }$. This proves uniform convergence, without assuming $\varphi \ge 0$, and is the approximate identity argument.

For the radial regularization of the three-dimensional fundamental solution of the Laplace equation, direct differentiation givesThe radial integral is $\int \varphi =3{\int }_0^{\infty }{r}^2(1+r^2{)}^{-5/2}dr=1$. This even approximate identity therefore gives $\int (-\Delta N_{\epsilon })f\to f(0)$ for $f\in \mathcal{S}({\mathbb{R}}^3)$.

The function $N=1/(4\pi |x|)$ is locally integrable and determines a tempered distribution. We have $0<N_{\epsilon }\le N$, and $N|\Delta f|$ is integrable near zero and infinity for a Schwartz test function. Integration by parts and the dominated convergence theorem giveThus $-\Delta N={\delta }_0$, proving that $N$ is a fundamental solution of a linear differential operator. In this last part the test-function space is $\mathcal{S}({\mathbb{R}}^3)$; the printed ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ in the three-dimensional integral is understood with $n=3$.

For $n\ge 3$, the radial functionis harmonic on ${\mathbb{R}}^n\setminus \overline{B_1(0)}$, vanishes on the unit sphere, and is positive in the domain. It therefore violates the weak maximum principle for elliptic operators. In two dimensions the corresponding counterexample is $u(x)=\log |x|$, since the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation changes from a power to a logarithm.

Write $\rho =|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}|$. A rotationally symmetric fundamental solution of the Laplace equation is harmonic for $\rho >0$. The Laplace equation in polar coordinates reduces to $(\rho G^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=0$, so $G=A\log \rho +B$. Integrate $-\Delta G={\delta }^{(2)}(\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y})$ over a disk of radius $ϵ$ around the source. The divergence theorem givesTaking $B=0$ therefore givesChanging the reference length inside the logarithm merely adds a constant. Notice the sign convention: the potential equation in this question is $\Delta V=q{\delta }^{(2)}$, whereas this Green function satisfies $-\Delta G={\delta }^{(2)}$. Thus the point-source potential used below is $-qG=+(q/2\pi )\log \rho$.

For the two insulating walls, successive Euclidean reflections in $x=b$ and $x=-b$ generate sources of strength $q$ at $(2nb,0)$ for every integer $n$. Only $n=0$ lies inside the physical strip. This is the Neumann image lattice for a point source in a strip. SetThe raw sum of logarithmic potentials diverges by additive constants. A well-defined potential is obtained by pairing opposite images and subtracting their constant reference terms:Each paired summand is $O(n^{-2})$ on compact subsets away from the source. The series therefore has local uniform convergence, as do the required derivative series. It givesIn the corresponding $x$-derivative, the images pair as $n$ and $1-n$ at $x=b$, and as $n$ and $-1-n$ at $x=-b$. Their opposite horizontal separations make the derivatives cancel. Thus both homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions hold. The constructed solution is even in $y$; without a condition at infinity the side conditions alone would allow further homogeneous harmonic functions.

For fixed $y>0$, uniform convergence on $[-b,b]$ permits integration term by term. The $n$th term has integralHere $\arctan$ is the ordinary real inverse trigonometric function, taking values in $(-\pi /2,\pi /2)$. Summing from $-N$ to $N$ makes a telescoping series:The source flux splits equally between the upper and lower parts of the strip. The next two parts give the single-wall constructions that underlie the image lattice.

For $\Delta G=+{\delta }^{(3)}$, the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation in three dimensions isIts sign follows from the flux: on a small sphere of radius $\epsilon$, its outward radial derivative is $1/(4\pi {\epsilon }^2)$, with total flux one.

Let $s=|{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|\in (0,1)$ and put the image point at ${\mathbf{r}}^{\prime \ast }={\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }/s^2$. The method of images gives the Dirichlet Green function inside a sphere:The image lies outside the ball, so its potential is harmonic inside. On $|\mathbf{r}|=1$, the identity $|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|=s|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime \ast }|$ makes the two terms cancel. The original source retains unit strength. For a source at the centre, take the limit:

Use the sign convention in which a fundamental solution of the Laplace equation satisfiesin the sense of distributions. It is a harmonic function away from the source. Writing $\rho =|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|$, the radial equation is $(\rho G^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=0$, so $G=A\log \rho +B$. The divergence theorem on a small circle about the source fixes its total flux:ConsequentlyThe arbitrary constant is a harmonic function. For the alternative convention $-\Delta G={\delta }^{(2)}$, the logarithm has the opposite sign; subsequent Green's function formulas must use that convention consistently.

The three-dimensional fundamental solution of the Laplace equation, with $\Delta F=+\delta$, isIt is harmonic away from the source, and its gradient has total outward flux one through a small source-centred sphere.

For $s=|{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|\in (0,1)$, place the image at ${\mathbf{r}}^{\ast }={\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }/s^2$, outside the unit ball. On $|\mathbf{r}|=1$, expansion of squared distances gives $|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\ast }|=|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|/s$. The method of images therefore gives the Dirichlet Green function inside a sphereThe boundary value is zero by the distance identity, and the image term is harmonic throughout the physical ball. Thus $\Delta G_0=\delta (\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })$ there. At the central source, take the finite limit of the weighted image term:

A fundamental solution of the Laplace equation satisfies ${\Delta }_{\mathbf{r}}{G}_0=\delta (\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })$ in the sense of distributions, without a boundary condition. Choose it rotationally symmetric about the source. Away from the source, with $s=|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|$, the radial Laplace equation is $(s{G}_0^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=0$, giving $G_0=A\log s+B$.

Integrating over a small disc around the source and using the divergence theorem fixes the normalization:ThereforeThe additive constant is arbitrary; adding other entire harmonic functions is also possible if rotational symmetry is not imposed. The positive sign here follows from the convention $\Delta G_0=+\delta$.

For the rotationally invariant free-space fundamental solution of the Laplace equation, put $s=\sqrt{(x-x^{\prime }{)}^2+(y-y^{\prime }{)}^2}$. Away from the source, the radial Laplacian gives $(s{G}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=0$, hence $G=A\log s^2+C$. Integrate its Poisson equation over a disk of radius $r$ about the source. The divergence theorem gives $2\pi r(2A/r)=-1/{ϵ}_0$, soA fixed reference length can be inserted inside the logarithm and absorbed into $C$. The resulting electric field decays like $1/s$.

Strictly, the stated pointwise decay as $y\to \pm \infty$ alone does not justify “most general”: one can also add the harmonic function $\mathrm{Re}{e}^{(x+iy{)}^2}$, whose gradient has that decay for every fixed $x$. This is the same growth issue as a zero-boundary harmonic function with pointwise vertical decay. The displayed answer is the usual isotropic free-space choice; requiring the field to vanish uniformly in every direction at spatial infinity removes these extra harmonic additions. An additive constant remains undetermined.