Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2011 / ia / Paper 3 / 4C / Solution

In Cartesian coordinates, independent coordinate variables satisfywhere ${\delta }_{ij}$ is the Kronecker delta. Applying the product rule and chain rule to $u_i=r^{\alpha }{x}_i$ gives the Jacobian matrixThis tensor is symmetric in $i,j$. Hence its contraction with the antisymmetric Levi-Civita symbol vanishes:Similarly, $v_i={ϵ}_{ijk}{k}_j{u}_k$ and the constancy of $\mathbf{k}$ giveThe trace of the Jacobian matrix iswhich vanishes for $\alpha =-3$. The curl of a cross product identity, with $\mathbf{k}$ constant, now givesFor $\alpha =-3$,soAll identities for this singular case hold on $r>0$. In particular, zero divergence here is a pointwise assertion away from the origin, not an assertion that the flux through a sphere enclosing the singularity is zero.