Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 314 2 a i Solution 2026-09-28
The collapse is perpendicular to the initial field, so magnetic flux freezing preserves the mass-to-flux ratio of each material flux tube:With no toroidal field, radial magnetostatic equilibrium isDefine the effective polytropic constantThen gas and magnetic pressure combine as . Dividing equilibrium by , differentiating, and using the cylindrical Poisson equationgivesPut . This is the order-zero Bessel differential equation, and regularity on the axis together with yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 314 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
Write , , and retain the frozen axial field . The radial magnetostatic equilibrium equation now includes both the gradient of the toroidal magnetic pressure and the inward magnetic tension:For , cylindrical gravity givesMultiplication by the integrating factor therefore producesThe integration constant must vanish for regularity on the axis. Direct integration givesIts Taylor expansion at the axis isso the regular field behaves as . At large radius,Nonnegativity at infinity requiresThis condition is also sufficient: at the limiting value, the braces divided by reduce to , and decreasing only increases them. Thus the toroidal magnetic field is real and regular at every radius exactly in the stated range.