Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / iii / Paper 69 / 1

Statistical homogeneity makes the two-point correlation depend on the displacement $\mathbf{u}=\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }$. Substituting the Fourier transforms and changing variables from $(\mathbf{r},{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })$ to $(\mathbf{u},{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })$ givesThe last integral is a Dirac delta function, soThe plus sign occurs because neither Fourier transform has undergone complex conjugation. For a real magnetic field, the version with ${\hat{B}}_j({\mathbf{k}}^{\prime }{)}^{\ast }$ instead has $\delta (\mathbf{k}-{\mathbf{k}}^{\prime })$. Homogeneity determines dependence on the displacement vector; dependence only on its norm needs statistical isotropy as well.

Statistical isotropy and statistical reflection symmetry allow the spectral tensor to contain only ${\delta }_{ij}$ and $k_i{k}_j$:The solenoidal magnetic-field constraint is essential here. Taking its Fourier transform gives $k_i{\hat{B}}_i=0$, hence $k_i{\hat{C}}_{ij}=0$ and $A+D{k}^2=0$. Thus the spectral tensor is a scalar multiple of the transverse projector of a vector field. Its trace is $2A$, so the prescribed normalization givesThis is the solenoidal isotropic spectral tensor. Without the solenoidal condition, isotropy and reflection symmetry would leave two scalar functions. Without reflection symmetry, an antisymmetric term proportional to $i{ϵ}_{ijm}{k}_m$ could additionally encode magnetic helicity.

Write the transverse displacement as $\mathbf{s}$ and take the common line-of-sight interval to be $[0,L]$. The rotation measure is a line integral of the magnetic field, so its correlation isSubstitute the Fourier inversion of the solenoidal isotropic spectral tensor. Keeping the finite observation length gives the exact windowed expressionThe allowed extension of the longitudinal displacement integral to the whole real line is the long-path projection of a magnetic correlation. It applies when $L$ is much larger than the correlation length: equivalently, the squared window becomes $2\pi L\delta (k_z)$ inside the integral. The Dirac delta function sets $k_z=0$, leavingStatistical isotropy makes this a function of $s=|\mathbf{s}|$. The displayed two-dimensional relation is the intended long-path approximation; the preceding windowed formula accounts for finite-length edge effects.

Invert the two-dimensional Fourier transform from part (c):In polar coordinates, the angular integral is $2\pi J_0(ks)$, where $J_0$ is a Bessel function of the first kind. The Fourier-Hankel normalization for an isotropic spectrum therefore yieldsThis Hankel inversion of a rotation-measure correlation recovers the scalar spectral tensor coefficient. To obtain the shell-integrated magnetic energy spectrum, take the trace of the three-dimensional tensor:With magnetic energy density $B^2/(8\pi )$ in Gaussian units, the one-dimensional convention ${\int }_0^{\infty }{E}_B(k)dk=\mathbb{E}|\mathbf{B}{|}^2/(8\pi )$ gives $\boxed{E_B(k)=k^{2}H(k)/(8{\pi }^3)}$. A spectrum normalized instead to $\mathbb{E}|\mathbf{B}{|}^2/2$ has coefficient $k^{2}H(k)/(2{\pi }^2)$; the physical normalization must be stated.