Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / ib / Paper 2 / 18D (Electromagnetism)

For a thin wire carrying current $I$, the given magnetic vector potential reduces to $\mathbf{A}=({\mu }_{0}I/4\pi ){\oint }_{C}d{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }/|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|$. Taking its curl and using ${\nabla }_{\mathbf{r}}(1/|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }|)=-(\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })/|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }{|}^3$ gives the Biot-Savart lawThis is exactly the sign convention in the printed form using ${\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }-\mathbf{r}$.

Let $\mathbf{v}=(\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime })/|\mathbf{r}-{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }{|}^3$. Away from the wire, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{v}=0$. The supplied divergence and curl of a cross product therefore gives $\nabla \times (d{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }\times \mathbf{v})=-(d{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }\cdot {\nabla }_{\mathbf{r}})\mathbf{v}$. But ${\nabla }_{\mathbf{r}}\mathbf{v}=-{\nabla }_{{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }}\mathbf{v}$, so the integrand is the total differential of $\mathbf{v}$ along the source loop. Its closed-loop integral is zero. Thus $\nabla \times \mathbf{B}=0$ at every point outside $C$, as demanded by the current-free magnetostatic Ampère's law.

For $r^{\prime }=f(\theta )>0$, $z^{\prime }=0$, and counterclockwise current, $d{\mathbf{r}}^{\prime }=(f^{\prime }{\mathbf{e}}_r+f{\mathbf{e}}_{\theta })d\theta$. At the origin, $\mathbf{v}=-{\mathbf{e}}_r/f^2$, soFor the ellipse expressed relative to a focus, $1/f=(1-e\cos \theta )/\ell$. The cosine integrates to zero, givingHere $\ell$ is the semilatus rectum. Reversing the current reverses the field direction.