Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / ia / Paper 3 / 4C / Solution

For a scalar $\varphi$, the displayed basis identities giveTaking the divergence and differentiating the basis vectors yields the Laplacian in polar coordinatesConsequently,

The regular harmonic mode with angular dependence $\cos 2\theta$ is $C{r}^2\cos 2\theta$. Its radial derivative at $r=a$ is $2Ca\cos 2\theta$, so $C=1/(2a)$. A constant is invisible to the Neumann boundary condition, givingIf two solutions existed, their difference $u$ would satisfy ${\nabla }^{2}u=0$ and ${\partial }_{n}u=0$. Green's first identity gives ${\int }_D|\nabla u{|}^2={\int }_{\partial D}u{\partial }_{n}u-{\int }_{D}u{\nabla }^{2}u=0$, so $\nabla u=0$ and $u$ is constant. Thus these are all the solutions.