Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 59 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let denote geodesic distance from the charge; is the fixed curvature radius, not the radial variable. In round three-dimensional hyperbolic space, a sphere has areaUsing the convention that electric flux is , Gauss's law gives the radial orthonormal electric fieldIts magnitude is , and a negative charge reverses the direction. In rationalized natural units set ; Gaussian conventions instead use flux .
For this approaches . For , . This hyperbolic-space Coulomb field falls rapidly because the sphere area grows exponentially; conserved electric flux is unchanged. A potential vanishing at infinity is .
The original PDF actually prints rather than in the angular metric tensor. The round angular factor used above is required by its description as hyperbolic space. If the printed angular metric tensor is taken literally, the sphere-area coefficient is insteadand a radial Gauss-law solution has . That angular geometry is not a smooth round sphere, so the literal metric tensor does not describe the asserted homogeneous hyperbolic space. Both readings retain the same radial area-growth factor; the geometric repair is explicit.