For the charge-generated electric field, use the electric potential
The vector potential is time independent, so its usual additional contribution is zero. The continuity equation now gives
Thus the second term in part (iii) is exactly the displacement current contribution , and
This is the Ampère-Maxwell equation. The constructed field also has zero curl, consistent with the time-independent magnetic field and Faraday's law. A static addition to the electric field does not change this conclusion; the integral construction selects the fields sourced by the given densities rather than an independently added radiation field.
Write , , and , so the physical magnetic field is . Use finite-energy Abelian Higgs vortex boundary data: the field tends to unit magnitude at the ideal boundary, its phase winds times, and the boundary limits in the decomposition exist. This vacuum asymptotic behavior is the setting in which the stated degree gives an energy bound. We retain the current boundary term; degree alone must not be silently equated with magnetic flux on an open disk.
Define . The gauge-covariant derivative of a charged scalar field satisfies . Differentiating the current gives
On the other hand,
Combining the two identities and completing the square in the magnetic and potential terms yields the conformal-surface vortex square completion
All integrations on the noncompact metric disk can first be made over and then passed to the limit. By the Stokes theorem, the two boundary contributions combine to . At the vacuum boundary write . Then , so this combined integral is , even if the current term does not vanish separately. The usual additional condition of tangential covariant decay makes that current term vanish and yields magnetic flux quantization of an Abelian Higgs vortex, but is not needed if the combined boundary term has this phase limit. Thus for , . Reversing both signs in the square completion gives for , hence
For positive degree, equality is attained precisely when the Bogomolny vortex equations are
Distinguishing the physical field from the coordinate curvature coefficient prevents an erroneous conformal factor.
For the proposed field, set and choose the smooth connection one-form
Indeed, with and ,
The second Bogomolny vortex equation follows from
Thus both squares vanish, including at the simple zero by smoothness. At , and , proving degree one. Moreover, , so the current boundary term really vanishes for this solution. The magnetic flux is explicitly
Consequently
This is the hyperbolic one-vortex at curvature minus one half; its finite energy follows directly from the vanishing squares and the finite flux.
A Poisson manifold is a smooth manifold with a smooth antisymmetric bivector whose function bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity. The bracket is automatically a derivation in each argument. A symplectic manifold has a nondegenerate differential two-form satisfying , that is, a closed differential form; nondegeneracy forces its dimension to be even. It determines a nondegenerate Poisson structure. We use matrix convention , so that corresponds to .
Examples of genuinely nonsymplectic Poisson geometries include the zero bracket on and the Lie-Poisson bracket on . Their three-dimensional underlying manifold cannot carry a nondegenerate two-form. In the latter case the Poisson rank is two away from the origin and zero at the origin, with spheres and the origin as symplectic leaves. Even in even dimension a given Poisson structure need not come from a symplectic form: on satisfies Jacobi but vanishes along . The statement concerns this degenerate structure, not a claim that admits no other symplectic structure.
For any candidate bivector, applying the Jacobi identity to coordinate functions gives the necessary condition
It is sufficient as well: expanding and its cyclic companions cancels all terms with second derivatives by antisymmetry of . What remains is . This is the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector.
For a symplectic form, differentiate to obtain . Substituting this into the cyclic expression gives
because . Thus the inverse symplectic structure always satisfies the Jacobi identity. Conversely, for a nondegenerate Poisson structure, multiplying by three inverse matrices proves closure of its associated two-form.
In momentum space, choose Hamiltonian and the constant Poisson bivector
Its Poisson bracket is . The Hamiltonian vector field therefore gives
exactly the prescribed motion. The sign here uses the signed charge as printed; an electron's physical charge may be negative. Since the magnetic field is uniform, every derivative of vanishes, so every term in is zero. Jacobi holds independently of the dispersion function . This is the momentum-space Poisson structure for a uniform magnetic field.
For this bivector has rank two and is a Casimir function of a Poisson manifold: for every . Its symplectic leaves are the planes . For axes with , the leaf form is in our inverse-sign convention. Also , so trajectories on a Fermi surface lie on its intersections with these planes, typically curves. The energy surface is invariant for this Hamiltonian, but need not be a Poisson submanifold; the bracket has been defined on the whole momentum space. If , the Poisson structure and motion vanish.
For an axisymmetric magnetic field, the solenoidal condition becomes . Locally introduce a poloidal magnetic flux function by
The divergence condition is exactly the integrability condition for these two derivatives. The additive constant in fixes the reference flux. For a field regular on the axis choose . Then the magnetic flux through a horizontal disk of radius is , and the flux between two such surfaces is .
Since and , the level surfaces of contain the complete magnetic field, including its toroidal magnetic field component. Thus regular levels are poloidal flux surfaces. Their meridional contours trace the projected field lines. The representation is local on regular regions; disconnected flux surfaces with the same label need not share additional physical data.
The azimuthal component of is . The ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation, equivalently Faraday's law with , gives up to a time-dependent reference constant. Fixing that reference gives the material advection of an axisymmetric magnetic flux function:
Axisymmetry removes the azimuthal contribution to the material derivative. This is magnetic flux freezing expressed using one scalar flux label.
The azimuthal component itself is generally not an advected scalar. Including the cylindrical basis-vector derivatives in the induction equation gives
Using mass conservation, , and , this becomes the toroidal magnetic-field winding equation:
Thus is conserved following the flow if the angular velocity is constant along the poloidal magnetic field, including the case of no rotation. Otherwise differential rotation winds poloidal field into toroidal field.
There is also an explicit flux-conservation form,
Integrating this over a meridional region converts its change of toroidal flux to boundary terms. Hence such a flux is conserved when the indicated boundary transport vanishes. More generally magnetic flux freezing conserves flux through every material surface, but a meridional coordinate surface need not remain material when the fluid rotates. Toroidal flux conservation therefore does not imply that itself is materially constant.
Write the total velocity as and the magnetic field as . For solenoidal fields the resistive induction equation is . The first-order smoothing approximation drops the fluctuating terms , retaining shear exactly. The uniform field is not stretched by the background shear because . The other retained stretching terms are and . Hence
The same phase cancellation as in part (i), together with , proves that a response can be taken as , where
If initially, its derivative is , so magnetic solenoidality is preserved.
For the response equation is . Its integrating-factor solution is
The velocity amplitudes and wavevector vary on the shear timescale. In the fast-diffusion limit , and after the free transient, the integral is concentrated within time of . Replacing the slowly varying factors there by their current values gives the quasistatic magnetic response of a helical shearing wave:
Complex conjugation introduces a minus sign in . With precisely the EMF normalization specified in the question,
A literal spatial average of the product of the two real Fourier waves would be half this quantity; no extra factor of belongs in the question's defined .
Use and part (i) to obtain . For the time integral, take the driven response without a free magnetic transient and suppose the fast-diffusion approximation holds through the contributing interval, in particular at ; is a sufficient uniform condition. For , substitute . Since , this gives
The integral identity follows immediately from , reducing it to . If , the forcing and vanish and the driven EMF is zero. If but , the leading EMF is constant rather than time-integrable; the finite integral relies on nonzero shear.
For this question use the normalized magnetic scalar potential defined by . The previous question instead includes in its scalar potential; its equals . This normalization change in the paper must be kept separate from the kernel calculation.
Take the radial component of the Geselowitz formula. On the spherical boundary, is parallel to , and
Thus the surface-current term contributes no radial magnetic field. The primary Biot-Savart law term gives, along a fixed direction ,
Choose at infinity. Integrating this equation fixes the full potential along every ray, giving
To express it as a source-position derivative, define
With , differentiating the integrand gives
so as required.
Let and . An elementary antiderivative gives the spherical current-dipole logarithmic kernel
For , both logarithm arguments are positive. Its radial derivative is and its limit at infinity is zero, which verifies the preceding integral. At use the continuous limit .
For a direct check, differentiating along leaves unchanged and gives . Since
one obtains
Its gradient is the Sarvas formula. The sphere radius and electrical conductivity disappear from this exterior magnetic result because spherical symmetry removed the radial contribution of the return currents. The original derivation and spherical-conductor assumptions are discussed in Sarvas's paper.
The vacuum Maxwell equations are , and . Taking the curl of Faraday's equation and using gives . The same calculation for Ampère's equation gives . Hence each Cartesian component satisfies the electromagnetic wave equation.
Model the walls as a perfect conductor, with no oscillating fields in its interior. The tangential electric field is zero at the surface, otherwise it would drive unbounded conductor currents. The normal magnetic field is zero, since the divergence-free field has a continuous normal component and the interior oscillating field is zero. Thus and . Normal and tangential may be nonzero because surface charge and surface current support their jumps.
The PDF writes the full magnetic field as . Taken literally, this cannot be a nonzero travelling wave: , so for it forces . The subsequent requests require transverse components. The consistent intended reading is , with transverse fields determined by the Maxwell equations. Use that reading below.
All fields have the same factor. Put . The harmonic Maxwell equations are and . Their and components give
together with and . Substitution and solving, for , gives
The corresponding electric components are
For a transverse electric mode of a rectangular waveguide, . The electromagnetic wave equation becomes
At , the tangential component vanishes, so ; at , the corresponding condition gives . These are Neumann boundary conditions, and the normal- conditions give the same conclusions through the displayed transverse magnetic components. Separation gives
where are integers and . The constant candidate is not a physical oscillating mode: its transverse derivatives vanish, so it has and Faraday's equation forces for . More generally a hollow single-conductor guide has no transverse-electromagnetic zero-cutoff mode: its transverse electrostatic potential is harmonic with the same constant boundary value, hence constant, leaving zero transverse field.
The dispersion relation is . The waveguide cutoff frequency for this mode is ; below it is imaginary and the field is evanescent. Since , the lowest cutoff occurs at :
For a mode propagating in the positive direction (), above its own cutoff , the phase velocity and group velocity are
These waveguide phase and group velocities have product . The superluminal phase speed describes motion of a constant phase, while a narrow wave packet travels at the subluminal group velocity; it does not transmit information faster than light. At cutoff there is no travelling mode with nonzero longitudinal flux.
For , a magnetic field line stays at fixed and satisfies . It is therefore a helix with axial pitch ; the sign of fixes its handedness. The axial magnetic flux is , and the toroidal magnetic field supplies the twist. If the field is untwisted; if it consists of azimuthal circles rather than helical lines carrying axial flux.
A convenient globally regular magnetic vector potential has and
Indeed, the cylindrical curl gives and , with . The tangential potential components are continuous at , so their derivatives introduce no unwanted delta-function magnetic field at the tube boundary. The term is a constant axial potential.
The most general regular potential is this one plus for an arbitrary single-valued gauge function. A putative extra term in the inner is excluded by regularity at the axis; the exterior circulation is already fixed by the enclosed magnetic flux. Since the potential is globally defined across the axis and exterior, any remaining difference is a curl-free vector field, hence a gradient. The constant can itself be absorbed into a gauge function proportional to .
For the displayed gauge family, inside the tube
and hence
For example, requiring outside sets and gives . The equally regular choice gives zero. More generally, for a length- segment the gauge transformation contributes
In particular, shifts by . This gauge dependence of helicity in an open magnetic flux tube is possible because field lines penetrate the end caps when . There is no contradiction with part (b), whose no-penetration condition fails at those caps. A gauge or end-cap convention is needed to give a unique value per unit length. For the ordinary helicity is zero and this end-cap ambiguity disappears.
Write and treat the imposed mean magnetic field as uniform on the forcing scale. In first-order smoothing, retain terms linear in the fluctuating fields in their equations, while keeping their quadratic correlation when calculating the mean-field electromotive force. The inertial fluctuation, nonlinear induction term and quadratic fluctuating Lorentz force density are neglected in the steady response. The linear magnetic force is
Absorb the gradient into the total pressure. The resulting equations are
with . Taking the divergence of the first equation gives for solenoidal forcing. In a periodic or homogeneous Fourier calculation its nonconstant part therefore vanishes.
For each Fourier mode with wavevector , , define and
Solving the two coupled linear equations gives the monochromatic coupled magnetic and velocity response
The magnetic coupling suppresses modes with large projection of their wavevector along the imposed field.
To calculate the mean-field electromotive force, group each pair of opposite wavevectors into a real mode and average its spatial phase. Put , and define its forcing correlations
For any solenoidal real mode , its two amplitude vectors are perpendicular to . Direct multiplication gives
Also, integration by parts gives , where . Expanding the response products therefore yields
Summing over independent real modes, or integrating over their angular spectrum, is the required general answer for .
At zero field, . Thus the stated zero-field condition removes the unweighted sum of the cross correlations. For anisotropic correlated forcing it does not necessarily remove their differently weighted sum at nonzero field. The displayed general formula retains that allowed contribution. It disappears if cross forcing is absent mode by mode, or under the jointly isotropic statistics assumed for the final part.
The helicity content can also be expressed directly using the actual fluctuating fields. Define their kinetic helicity and current helicity . Substitute and into their cross correlation. This gives the exact identity
It shows the competing kinetic and magnetic contributions without introducing a spurious singularity when the factor on the left vanishes. For a monochromatic field, is a magnetic vector potential, so : current helicity is times magnetic helicity. In the isotropic weak-field limit, with zero-field fluctuations , the scalar alpha effect is
This identifies both signs and their different viscous and magnetic relaxation times.
For jointly isotropic forcing let now denote the total forcing helicities, and set . The cross-forcing contribution is even in , whereas isotropy requires any vector depending only on to be parallel to it and odd under reversal. Hence that contribution vanishes. A natural symmetric alpha tensor is
Only its longitudinal coefficient contributes to . Introduce and . Angular integration gives
Therefore the strong-field quenching of an isotropic electromotive force is
provided . If the two helicity contributions cancel exactly, this electromotive force vanishes.
There is a tensor qualification to the printed scaling claim. The natural transverse coefficient instead contains and scales as . The relation by itself leaves transverse components undetermined. One may choose the effective representative , for which the requested scaling holds. It is the observable longitudinal response that is fixed, rather than every component of a unique field-dependent tensor.
A planetary magnetic field is evidence about electrical conductivity, fluid motion and thermal evolution, but its presence alone does not identify a present planetary dynamo. One must separate internal global fields, crustal remanent magnetization and currents driven by the solar wind. The following discussion uses the observational picture available by 2009, including the early MESSENGER flybys and the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini results.
Outside a planet's internal electric currents, the internal component is approximately a potential magnetic field. Its spherical harmonic of degree decreases as . Measurements at different positions and altitudes can therefore distinguish a deep, low-degree source from localized crustal anomalies and external magnetospheric currents. Repeated observations, radio emissions, aurorae and particle measurements supply complementary evidence for a magnetosphere, while slow secular variation and records of past reversals test the internal field's evolution.
For Earth, ground observatories and satellite measurements reveal a predominantly dipolar field of several tens of microtesla at the surface, tilted relative to the rotation axis and changing with time. Magnetic minerals in rocks record a much older field and repeated geomagnetic reversals. These observations, together with seismic evidence for a liquid outer core, support an operating planetary dynamo in conducting iron alloy. Core temperatures exceed the relevant Curie temperatures, so ordinary permanent remanent magnetization cannot explain the main field. Thermal convection, cooling and compositional convection associated with inner-core growth supply buoyancy; the Coriolis force organizes the motion. The observed nonaxisymmetric components and time dependence are consistent with a dynamic source, rather than a fixed bar magnet.
Mariner 10 and the first two MESSENGER flybys established a weak but coherent intrinsic field at Mercury, with roughly dipolar structure closely aligned with its rotation axis. It is much weaker than Earth's surface field, but its global character favors a deep source over an explanation solely by localized crustal patches. A planetary dynamo in a fluid part of Mercury's large iron-rich core is the natural interpretation, supported by evidence for a molten core component. Light elements can depress the alloy's freezing temperature, and thermal or compositional buoyancy can maintain motion. Slow rotation is not enough to rule out dynamo action. The limited pre-orbital measurements do not uniquely determine the detailed core structure or the mechanism responsible for the field's weakness.
For Venus, spacecraft including Pioneer Venus found no appreciable internally generated global field. Nevertheless its ionosphere interacts with the solar wind, producing magnetic draping, a bow shock and an induced magnetosphere. Those external signatures are not evidence for an internal planetary dynamo. Venus is comparable to Earth in size and may possess a substantial conducting core; the absence of a detectable dynamo therefore need not mean that all of its core is solid. Insufficient core heat loss or stable stratification can prevent the required convection. Its slow rotation can affect flow organization, but rotation rate by itself is not a sufficient explanation of the contrast with Earth or Mercury.
For Mars, Mars Global Surveyor found strong, spatially localized crustal anomalies, especially in ancient southern terrain, rather than an appreciable present global dipole. This is remanent magnetization, indicating that an ancient field magnetized the crust while it formed and cooled. The distribution of anomalies and weakly magnetized major impact basins constrain when that ancient planetary dynamo operated; crustal magnetization is a record of past activity, not a present global dynamo. Modern interaction with the solar wind also produces an induced magnetosphere. Cooling and changes in core heat extraction can explain the cessation of dynamo-driving convection; the observations alone do not prove complete solidification of the core.
For Jupiter, radio emissions, its intense radiation belts and measurements by Pioneer, Voyager and Galileo demonstrate a strong global intrinsic field and an enormous magnetosphere. The field is broadly dipolar but tilted and contains higher multipoles. It is generated in a deep conducting fluid rather than by a permanent solid magnet: the principal conducting region is metallic hydrogen in the high-pressure interior. Cooling and gravitational energy release maintain convection, while rapid rotation organizes the flow. Plasma supplied by Io and currents in the magnetosphere strongly modify the observed external field, but cannot account for the internally sourced planetary component. Jupiter's large magnetic moment also reflects its large size; a moment ratio should not be confused with the ratio of local surface field strengths.
For Saturn, Pioneer, Voyager and Cassini measurements likewise show an intrinsic field and a magnetosphere, with a dipole strikingly close to the rotation axis. A planetary dynamo in conducting metallic hydrogen is supported by the same broad interior argument as for Jupiter. Interior cooling and differentiation can provide power, including energy associated with helium separation. The near alignment does not invalidate the Cowling anti-dynamo theorem: that theorem excludes an exactly axisymmetric isolated dynamo field, not a predominantly axisymmetric exterior with undetected nonaxisymmetric structure in its source region. A stably stratified conducting layer above the active region is one possible way to attenuate the observable nonaxisymmetric components; it is a model, not a uniquely established consequence of the observations.
For Uranus, Voyager 2 in 1986 observed an intrinsic field with a dipole tilted by about to the rotation axis and significantly displaced from the centre. Higher multipoles are substantial, so a centred dipole is an inadequate description. The field and associated magnetosphere indicate an active planetary dynamo, despite the planet's small intrinsic heat flux. That low luminosity constrains its thermal evolution and may indicate inhibited deep mixing; it does not demonstrate an absence of all conducting-fluid motion. A conducting, volatile-rich fluid shell is a plausible source region. The term ice giant describes bulk composition, not a claim that the dynamo region is ordinary frozen ice.
For Neptune, Voyager 2 in 1989 also found a highly non-dipolar, displaced intrinsic field, with a dipole tilt near . Its field, radio emissions and magnetosphere imply another active planetary dynamo. Its larger intrinsic heat flux than Uranus supplies evidence for substantial continuing interior energy transport. Electrically conducting water-ammonia-rich mixtures at high pressure, with ionic or otherwise mobile charges, can supply the conducting region without requiring the metallic hydrogen layer characteristic of gas giants. Numerical dynamos in convecting shells surrounding more stably stratified interiors can produce strongly nonaxisymmetric, multipolar fields resembling those of the two ice giants. Such models show that their unusual field geometry is compatible with dynamo action, but field measurements do not uniquely identify the shell's composition or thickness.
The maintenance mechanism is governed by the resistive induction equation,
A conducting fluid needs a sufficiently large magnetic Reynolds number and a flow geometry that regenerates magnetic flux rather than merely amplifying one component temporarily. Three-dimensional stretching and twisting can couple poloidal and toroidal fields; strictly planar regeneration and a strictly axisymmetric magnetic field are restricted by the relevant anti-dynamo theorems. Rotation influences this regeneration through the Coriolis force, but does not provide an inexhaustible power source merely by being present.
Without regeneration, the characteristic magnetic diffusion time is . For a terrestrial core scale of order metres and diffusivity of order one square metre per second, this is of order – years, far shorter than geological ages. Long-lived global fields therefore require continual energy input. A schematic magnetic energy balance is
when boundary energy fluxes vanish. Mechanical work against the Lorentz force density supplies the energy lost as Ohmic heating. Thermal cooling, latent heat release, compositional convection and differentiation supply that mechanical power. Magnetic feedback eventually changes the flow and saturates the field. Strong conductivity without an adequate energy source is not sufficient for a dynamo.
The 2009 observations support active global dynamos in Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; Venus has no detected appreciable intrinsic dynamo field, and Mars preserves evidence of an extinct earlier dynamo in its crust. Induced fields and surviving remanence explain why planets without a current global dynamo can still display magnetic phenomena. The diversity of field geometries and strengths constrains, rather than uniquely solves, the diversity of planetary conducting regions and their convective histories.
Put . The Hamilton equations are
Differentiate the mechanical momentum and substitute:
With and in this zero-scalar-potential gauge, this is , the Lorentz force in the units of the Hamiltonian.
For , is cyclic, so is conserved. Choose , giving , where . Since , its Hamilton equation gives , hence
For nonzero constant , the orbit is an ellipse of semiaxes and . Its enclosed phase-space area is , so the action variable is
The absolute value keeps the action positive if the signed charge or magnetic field is negative.
When the field varies slowly along the trajectory, with and no zero-frequency crossing, adiabatic invariance of the action makes approximately constant. Thus and the slow motion has effective Hamiltonian
The effective potential is the second term. Direct averaging checks its force: the exact equation is , while the oscillator has . Hence . Spatial field variation along the slow motion must satisfy the same adiabatic condition; slow explicit time variation alone does not control passage through a sharp spatial gradient. A time-dependent effective potential need not conserve total energy.
With no electric field, the Lorentz force is . The equation from Newton's second law and its first integral are
The cyclotron frequency is ; the sign of specifies the sense of rotation. Since , the initial data give
The component equations are , and . For , differentiating the first gives
Solving this linear differential equation and then using gives
The perpendicular projection is a circle of radius centred at , the guiding centre. The velocity parallel to the magnetic field stays constant, producing helical motion in a uniform magnetic field.
When , this simplifies to
Thus the trajectory is a helix about the axis, with radius and axial advance per complete revolution in increasing time. Its projection moves clockwise when viewed from positive for . If it is a circle; if it is a straight line along the axis.
Figure 1.
Helical trajectory about the magnetic-field axis when a omega plus u is zero
. Details.
For , the Lorentz force vanishes and the solution is instead , also the limit of the general formula. The special condition then forces .
In Cartesian coordinates , , , the rotational Killing vector field and its dual differential one-form are
Therefore the Papapetrou electromagnetic field is
Choose the electromagnetic field convention and . There are no time components, and , so this is a uniform magnetic field along the rotation axis, with no electric field:
Multiplying the Killing vector field by produces any desired uniform magnetic field strength .
Write in the Schwarzschild metric. For the stationary Killing vector field , its dual is and the Papapetrou electromagnetic field is
Outside the Schwarzschild event horizon, use the static orthonormal coframe , , , . Then . With the electric field convention from the preceding part,
Thus the stationary Killing vector field gives a Coulomb electric field, directed inward in this convention. If the charge is normalized by , its charge is . A convention with reverses that charge; the invariant content is a radial monopole electric field of magnitude .
For the axial Killing vector field , , giving
In the same static orthonormal coframe, this is a purely magnetic field with
At large these are the spherical components of . This is therefore the regular magnetic test field asymptotic to a uniform axial field, distorted by the Schwarzschild black hole. Its net magnetic monopole flux is zero because the integral of over a sphere vanishes. Both electromagnetic fields are regular at the future event horizon: in ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, the electric field is , and the magnetic two-form already contains only regular spatial coordinates. Static observers themselves cease to exist on the event horizon.
An anti-dynamo theorem identifies a restriction that prevents a conducting fluid from regenerating its magnetic field against resistive losses. The hypotheses matter: throughout the following arguments take positive uniform magnetic diffusivity, smooth fields, no imposed magnetic source, and the stated isolated or energy-closed boundary conditions. An anti-dynamo theorem does not rule out transient magnetic amplification, winding of an imposed field, or an externally supplied magnetic flux. The resistive induction equation is the common starting point:
First consider Backus' necessary condition for dynamo action. For a conductor contained in a sphere of radius , include the potential field in the insulating exterior when defining the total magnetic energy:
For an incompressible flow, with boundary conditions eliminating the mechanical surface term, such as a no-slip boundary condition for the fluid, integration by parts gives
where is the rate-of-strain tensor. Its antisymmetric part does no stretching, since is symmetric. If bounds the largest eigenvalue of throughout the flow, the first term is at most .
The magnetic free-decay spectral bound for the enclosing insulating sphere is
The exterior energy is essential to this variational estimate. Its constant comes from the slowest freely decaying dipolar poloidal mode: the spherical radial matching condition reduces to , whose first positive root is . Expanding an admissible field in the orthogonal free-decay modes, or using their variational characterization, gives the bound. A smaller conductor can only increase the minimum dissipation quotient for the enclosing-sphere comparison. Combining the two estimates yields
Thus
Below this threshold the Gronwall inequality gives exponential energy decay. Above it the estimate merely permits growth; it does not prove that the geometry regenerates the field. A time-dependent version bounds the field-amplitude exponent by the time average of the maximum strain minus the diffusive rate.
The geometric obstruction in Cowling anti-dynamo theorem is different: an isolated exactly axisymmetric magnetic field cannot be self-maintained. To see the missing regeneration mechanism, write its poloidal magnetic field in terms of the poloidal magnetic flux function :
The poloidal part of the resistive induction equation becomes
There is no term containing that creates new poloidal flux. Fix the gauge by setting on the regular symmetry axis, and match to a decaying exterior field with no imposed flux. At a positive interior maximum away from the axis, the advective term vanishes and the diffusive term is nonpositive. The parabolic comparison principle therefore prevents increase of the maximum; it likewise prevents decrease of a negative minimum. In the steady problem the strong maximum principle, regularity at the axis and decay outside exclude a nonzero maximum altogether. Matching to the insulating exterior does not create a maximum at the interface: the exterior flux is harmonic in the corresponding axisymmetric operator, and the two normal-derivative conditions exclude such an interface extremum. The same homogeneous scalar diffusion problem gives decay in time on a bounded conductor with no replenishing boundary data.
Once the poloidal field has decayed, let and let denote the fluid's angular velocity. Its equation is
Differential rotation can make toroidal field from poloidal field, but it cannot close the reverse loop. When , this too is a homogeneous advection-diffusion equation, with a regular axis and zero toroidal field at an insulating exterior. Hence it cannot sustain the remaining field. The exactly axisymmetric field, rather than merely an axisymmetric velocity, is excluded. If an exactly axisymmetric field were maintained by a nonaxisymmetric velocity, averaging the linear induction equation in azimuth would replace that velocity by its azimuthal mean and give the same contradiction. An axisymmetric flow can, however, excite a nonaxisymmetric field. Also an axisymmetric averaged field in mean-field dynamo theory has an additional fluctuating electromotive force, so this unmodified scalar proof does not apply to it.
The toroidal-velocity anti-dynamo theorem restricts the flow instead. In a conducting sphere, suppose , so the incompressible flow is tangent to every concentric sphere. No assumption of axisymmetry is made. Define . A direct Cartesian calculation is particularly useful:
The last equality uses , so . Thus the radial magnetic scalar is a passive diffusing scalar, not a regenerated field. Multiplying by , integrating over the sphere and using tangential incompressible advection gives
In an insulating exterior, a spherical harmonic component of degree has , so its boundary contribution is negative: . The monopole component is absent because the magnetic field is solenoidal and regular. The resulting dissipative scalar problem makes , and hence the poloidal field, decay.
When that radial field is absent, the remaining tangential solenoidal field can be written . Its induction equation reduces to a second passive scalar equation. Indeed
and the curl of the last gradient term is zero. Therefore , up to an irrelevant radial gauge function, which can be removed by taking the angular mean of to be zero. Its angular variations vanish at the insulating spherical boundary, so this scalar also decays by its quadratic energy identity. Equivalently, a putative growing magnetic normal mode must first have , after which the scalar equation rules it out. Purely toroidal spherical flow cannot close a dynamo regeneration loop, even if it is nonaxisymmetric. This does not assert that purely poloidal flow is always incapable of a dynamo, or that any azimuthally directed cylindrical flow is governed by the same spherical theorem.
Other restrictions illuminate the same distinction between stretching and regeneration. The planar anti-dynamo theorem has a similar scalar proof in the usual two-dimensional geometry. For planar velocity and magnetic field independent of the third coordinate, write the in-plane field as . Its vector potential obeys after fixing the gauge, so under periodic or homogeneous energy-closed boundary conditions. A third field component independent of that coordinate is also a passive scalar. A spatially uniform imposed field may survive in a periodic box but is not regenerated dynamo field. Three-component motions depending on only two coordinates are not covered by this strictly planar formulation.
There are also necessary bounds in terms of velocity amplitude rather than strain. The magnetic work term is bounded by ; combining this with the same free-decay inequality gives a velocity-based lower threshold on the magnetic Reynolds number. These bounds, like Backus' necessary condition for dynamo action, are necessary rather than sufficient. Pure motion that only rearranges a scalar magnetic potential cannot evade diffusion merely by becoming faster. Conversely the stagnation-flow energy amplification in Question 2 does not contradict the bounded-body theorems: it uses an unbounded three-dimensional strain field and, for its growing finite-energy modes, a slowly decaying field at infinity. Similarly, the torsional Alfvén waves in Question 3 transfer energy between velocity and a toroidal perturbation about a prescribed background; they are not a construction of that background by dynamo action. The anti-dynamo results identify failed regeneration mechanisms and the assumptions under which those failures are rigorous.
Write the superconducting order parameter as , with carrier mass . Minimal electromagnetic coupling gives mechanical momentum , so the current density is
It also follows by substituting into . In a gauge where the phase is constant, this reduces to the London equation .
Under , the phase changes by . The two gradient changes cancel, proving gauge invariance of the actual current. A formula omitting the phase term is valid only in its chosen gauge.
For a uniform superconductor without vortices, taking a curl gives . Combine this with the stationary Ampère's law and to obtain
For a magnetic field parallel to the planar interface, translation symmetry reduces the equation to . Boundedness and decay as , together with the tangential boundary value, give the Meissner effect
Here is the London penetration depth.
The parallel-field assumption is necessary for this one-dimensional Meissner solution. If the printed arbitrary constant has a nonzero normal component, forces that component to be constant across a translation-invariant half-space, whereas the London equation forces it to vanish. Thus no decaying planar Meissner state with that boundary value exists; one must change the geometry or allow a different magnetic state.
The specified vector potential gives . Put , retaining its sign. The Lorentz force law yields , and . For initial velocities and , integration gives
The transverse motion is a circle centred at with radius . Thus the full orbit is a helix around a line parallel to the magnetic field, with period and signed axial advance per turn. The charge sign determines the sense of rotation. If it is a circle, if it is a straight line parallel to the field, and if all motion is uniform rectilinear motion.
The canonical momentum is . Its time derivative contains the total derivative along the trajectory: . The Euler-Lagrange equation therefore gives
The magnetic field is , so the last term is . With the electric field , this is precisely the Lorentz force law:
Use the same length, thermal-time, velocity and temperature scales as in thermal convection. Write the imposed magnetic field as and measure its perturbation in units of . The physical linear magnetohydrodynamic momentum equation contains magnetic tension ; the gradient part of the Lorentz force density is absorbed into magnetohydrodynamic total pressure.
Divide the momentum equation by the viscous force scale . Its acceleration coefficient is and its magnetic coefficient is
Here is the Chandrasekhar number, comparing magnetic and viscous-diffusive effects, and is the ratio of magnetic diffusivity to thermal diffusivity. The induction scale is , so linearization gives
Complete the linear system with , and the solenoidal magnetic-field constraint . The omitted advective and perturbed-field tension terms are quadratic in the disturbances. Magnetic tension resists bending of the vertical field, while diffusion allows that bending to relax.
For a Cartesian change of basis represented by an orthogonal matrix , vectors transform as and . Their squared norms are invariant and . Substitution into the given expression therefore gives
the transformation law of a Cartesian second-rank tensor. The magnetic field's extra axial sign under an improper physical reflection, if included, appears twice and cancels in its quadratic contribution.
Write the Maxwell stress tensor as . Its divergence is
The identity follows by contracting two Levi-Civita symbols, or directly by differentiating components. Using Maxwell's equations consequently yields
Hence the local conservation of electromagnetic momentum is
The two subtracted terms are the Lorentz force density, while is the electromagnetic momentum density in the units used here.