Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ib Paper 4 7A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the ideal long-solenoid approximation: negligible pitch and end effects, vacuum permeability , and negligible displacement current. By cylindrical symmetry the magnetic field is axial. An Ampère's law rectangular loop with one axial side inside and the other outside gives . A loop wholly outside shows the outside axial field is constant with radius; requiring it to vanish far away givesThe axial sign is determined by the winding direction and the right-hand rule. The small axial component of current from the spiral pitch is neglected in this idealization.
There are turns, and the magnetic flux through each is . The flux linkage is , so the self-inductance isThe induced electromotive force opposes increasing current by Faraday's law. Together with Ohm's law, the circuit equation is . Solving this first-order ordinary differential equation with givesThe time constant is , and the limiting current is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 3 17D b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Take positive current around , so it runs upward through the bar. With , the oriented magnetic flux is and the motional electromotive force is . Ohm's law therefore givesIf , the bar current is ; if , it is . The induced part opposes the battery for a bar moving to the right when .
Sliding-bar circuit with positive current upward and magnetic field out of the page
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 314 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use Faraday's law and the solenoidal magnetic-field constraint . In the nonrelativistic, single-fluid approximation, neglect Hall and other nonideal electromotive terms and use the moving-conductor moving-conductor Ohm law, . Infinite electrical conductivity with finite current gives , henceThis is the ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation. For comparison, neglecting displacement current in Ampère-Maxwell equation gives ; with uniform finite electrical conductivity it produces magnetic diffusion , where the magnetic diffusivity is . The ideal approximation requires a large magnetic Reynolds number . Dropping displacement current is useful for this finite-conductivity comparison, but Faraday's law and the ideal Ohm relation already suffice for the ideal induction equation.
Expanding the curl and using the solenoidal magnetic-field constraint gives the material derivative formCombine this with mass conservation, , to obtainNow parametrize a material curve by a fixed label : obeys . Differentiating with respect to shows that its tangent evolves by . This is exactly the same linear ordinary differential equation as for . Initially parallel tangents remain parallel by uniqueness, with a label-dependent proportionality factor constant along each particle trajectory. Thus magnetic field lines are transported as material curves, wherever the field and fluid flow are smooth and the field is nonzero. This is the field-line form of magnetic flux freezing.
For the flux statement, take a material surface and let , . Both tangents obey . Its oriented material surface element is . Differentiating the cross product, rather than assuming its transport rule, givesEquivalently, , with . Contracting this derived rule with the induction equation gives a pointwise cancellation:Integrating over the fixed material labels therefore proves conservation of flux through an open material surface:The surface need not be closed; its boundary is carried with the fluid. The result follows from material transport, rather than from the zero flux through a closed surface.
For a homologously shrinking cloud, write and keep its shape factors fixed. Conserved mass gives ; conserved magnetic flux gives . Thus the gravitational and magnetic energies scale aswhere are dimensionless geometry factors. Both grow in magnitude as , so collapse cannot reduce magnetic support relative to gravity while the mass-to-flux ratio is frozen. With negligible gas pressure, contraction lowers the combined potential energy only when its coefficient of is negative. Consequently a necessary critical mass-to-flux ratio condition isHere denotes the magnitude of the conserved threading flux. The numerical coefficient depends on geometry and boundary conditions; the scaling argument does not determine it or make the condition sufficient in the presence of other support.
For adiabatic pressure support during gravitational collapse, . The pressure-support scale is , so relative to either gravity or magnetic energy,Pressure becomes more important as decreases if , equally important in scaling if , and less important if . In particular, a monatomic perfect gas with becomes increasingly pressure supported. For isothermal pressure support during gravitational collapse, the isothermal equation of state gives , so is constant and : isothermal pressure becomes less important during collapse. The same comparisons hold against magnetic support because its energy has the same scaling as gravity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 308 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use metric and the paper's normalization. A static multi-vortex solution is a smooth finite-energy field configuration of Abelian Higgs vortices whose complex Higgs field has winding at spatial infinity and zeros in the plane. In a positive -vortex sector, the zeros have total multiplicity and the magnetic flux is ; they may be separated or coincident. Finite energy requires , and at infinity. Then asymptotically compensates the phase gradient, so Stokes' theorem relates flux to the phase winding. The positive Bogomolny vortex equations describe this same-sign sector; negative flux uses the opposite signs and is not covered by simply mixing positive and negative zero multiplicities.
For the critically coupled Abelian Higgs field equations, vary and independently. After covariant integration by parts,Thus the scalar equation and its complex conjugate areVarying the gauge field gives from the Maxwell term. The matter variation isConsequentlyThese factors use the scalar kinetic coefficient ; importing the current from a convention with coefficient one would give an incorrect factor two. The current is invariant under gauge transformations, and its conservation follows from the field equations and antisymmetry of .
For the static purely magnetic solutions take temporal gauge . The scalar equation reduces toSince , applying to the first Bogomolny vortex equation givesThe second equation sets , proving the scalar equation, including at smooth vortex cores without dividing by .
For the spatial gauge equations, put . The first equation implies , and . ThereforeWith the stated metric, and the two static Maxwell equations are and . Both follow by differentiating . The time component is the Gauss law constraint in gauge theory; it is identically satisfied because both the electric field and vanish in this static temporal gauge. HenceAs an energy check, the Bogomolny square completion for an Abelian Higgs vortex gives in this normalization, saturated by these equations. On the plane, the Abelian Higgs vortex moduli space admits arbitrary vortex positions, including coincidence; its static energy is , so there is no position-dependent static potential. Their slow dynamical interactions are a different question.
The logarithmic form of a Bogomolny vortex is only local away from zeros. Write there, with . ThenSeparating the real and imaginary parts of yields and . Hencewhere is the positive quarter-turn. Under a gauge transformation, and , as this relation requires.
At regular contour points, the stipulated orthogonality means . Since is also perpendicular to ,Thus, in that gauge, the gauge potential is tangent to contours of , equivalently contours of , and is parallel to the phase gradient wherever that gradient is nonzero. This is a gauge-dependent statement about the vector potential, not an assertion that the magnetic field is tangent to these curves, nor that the potential is a pure gradient or divergence-free. The two gradient magnitudes are not fixed by contour orthogonality.
On a phase patch . Combining with the second equation gives away from the cores. At a zero of multiplicity , , and the phase has winding ; is not a finite real smooth field there. Distributionally, the full equality isThis is the Taubes equation in the paper's amplitude logarithm, rather than the often-used convention. No single smooth globally defined phase or regular contour description at every zero has been assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 308 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A Bogomolny bound expresses a static field energy as nonnegative squares plus a term fixed by the topological charge or boundary data. Setting the squares to zero gives the first-order Bogomolny equations. Their solutions minimize the energy in that sector and satisfy the second-order Euler-Lagrange field equations, although a general stationary solution need not attain the bound.
For one real scalar in one spatial dimension, take the Lagrangian densityA finite-energy field configuration in this static sector must approach scalar-field vacua with at the two ends. Completing the square gives the square completion for a one-dimensional kink:Choose the sign for which the boundary term is nonnegative. ThusTaking the derivative of the equality equation gives , the static Euler-Lagrange field equation. The boundary term is invariant under deformations keeping the asymptotic scalar-field vacua fixed; it is not a contribution from the local shape of the kink.
For a phi-four kink, let , , and select the sector , . Then , and the increasing Bogomolny equation is . Separating variables yieldsThe integration constant is the translational collective coordinate. Directly, and its energy density is , whose integral is . The decreasing antikink has the reversed boundary values, profile , and the same energy. A Lorentz boost produces the exact uniformly moving kink , with Lorentz factor and energy .
In two spatial dimensions, choose the Abelian Higgs model at critical coupling, with , , and energyThe gauge covariant derivative is used throughout this normalization. Integration by parts, using , gives , with a vanishing boundary divergence for the decaying vortex fields. Combining this identity with the magnetic and potential terms gives the Bogomolny square completion for an Abelian Higgs vortex:Finite-energy field configurations have at infinity, and makes the magnetic flux equal to the phase winding . For ,These are the Bogomolny vortex equations for an Abelian Higgs vortex. Opposite signs give antivortices and the bound . The coefficient follows from the explicit energy normalization above; other conventions can give . Static solutions of fixed positive vortex number have equal energy independent of their positions, giving the Abelian Higgs vortex moduli space used for slow dynamics.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 2 18A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For a moving circuit, Faraday's law states that the electromotive forceequals , where is the magnetic flux through any spanning surface. Choose the upward normal. The horizontal square hasso Ohm's law gives the induced currentwith positive current taken counterclockwise from above.
On the edge , . The magnetic force on a current-carrying wire is , henceThe ratio of the horizontal to vertical magnitudes is , so the directed force makes angle with the vertical, with the sign fixing the horizontal side.
The horizontal forces on opposite edges cancel, while all four vertical contributions add:This is an electromagnetic drag force opposing the motion, as required by Lenz's law. Including gravity givesAt the terminal velocity, , and the constant downward speed has magnitude
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 314 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Align the polar axis with the magnetic dipole moment. The magnetic dipole field hasThe magnetic-field-line equation gives , hence the dipole magnetic-field line is . Normalize the loaded bundle by its small surface angular radius at . Its boundary obeysThe dipolar flux-tube area for one polar cap is consequentlyEquivalently, is constant by conservation of magnetic flux and near the axis. Two equal loaded caps double the total area. The scaling is independent of the normalization; if the loading angle is specified at another radius , use instead.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 34C b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For , the angular momentum operator givesThe probability density is proportional towhose maximum occurs atIn a large disk of area , the states that fit inside satisfy . Thus the degeneracy of each Landau level is asymptoticallywhere is the magnetic flux. There is one state per magnetic flux quantum , up to boundary corrections.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 16D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Maxwell equation , integrated over a fixed spanning surface , gives by Stokes theoremThus the electromotive force and magnetic flux obey Faraday's law
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 16D b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Translation parallel to the wire leaves every point of the loop at the same distance from the wire, so its magnetic flux is constant. Equivalently, the line integrals of the motional field cancel on opposite sides. Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 16D b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
At time , let the centre of the loop have coordinate . With normal , the magnetic flux isFaraday's law and Ohm's law therefore give a current of magnitudeThe original flux points into the plane and decreases in magnitude as the loop recedes. By Lenz's law, the induced current reinforces the into-plane field: it is clockwise when viewed from the side.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 313 2 Solution 2026-09-28
Finite energy requires and on the circle at spatial infinity. Writing there gives . The vortex number is the winding numberBy Stokes theorem, the magnetic flux is quantized:
For the rotationally symmetric Abelian Higgs vortex ansatz, and giveAfter the angular integration, the Abelian Higgs model energy becomesCompleting the square in the two pairs of terms givesRegularity at the origin and approach to the vacuum at infinity requireMore precisely, and near the origin. The boundary term is , soThe bound is saturated exactly when both squares vanish, giving the radial Bogomolny vortex equationsThe asymptotic value also makes the flux , so the ansatz has vortex number .
