Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / ia / Paper 3 / 9A / Solution

In cylindrical coordinates, $\rho =(x^2+y^2{)}^{1/2}$ and $\mathbf{F}=(f(\rho )x/\rho ,f(\rho )y/\rho ,0)$. The chain rule gives ${\partial }_x\rho =x/\rho$ and ${\partial }_y\rho =y/\rho$. ThereforeThis is cylindrically radial divergence, valid for $\rho >0$.

The bounded domain is outside the unit cylinder, below the inverse-square surface and above the lower plane:The upper plane touches only the rim $\rho =1,z=1$; it is not an extra positive-area top face. Revolving the shaded meridional region below around the $z$ axis gives the three-dimensional domain.

With the Jacobian determinant $dV=\rho d\rho d\varphi dz$ of cylindrical coordinates,Zero divergence gives $(\rho f{)}^{\prime }=0$, hence the most general solution on the positive radial interval isAlthough this vector field is singular on the axis if $A\ne 0$, the entire closure of $V$ lies at $\rho \ge 1$, so it is smooth on a neighbourhood of $V$ and the divergence theorem applies.

Its volume integral of divergence is zero. Compute the outward surface integral directly. On the inner cylinder, $\mathbf{n}=-{\mathbf{e}}_{\rho }$, $dS=d\varphi dz$, and the flux is $-2\pi A(1-1/4)=-3\pi A/2$. On the curved roof $z=g(\rho )={\rho }^{-2}$, the outward vector surface element of a graph isTherefore its flux isThe horizontal bottom has zero flux and the top rim has zero surface area. Summing giveswhich verifies the divergence theorem with every boundary contribution accounted for.