Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / Paper 2 / 13 / b / Solution

For $\mathbf{F}$, all three curl components vanish for every $a$. More constructively,Hence $\mathbf{F}$ is conservative for every real $a$. Its endpoint vector-field potential difference is $a$, checking both line integrals.

For the other vector field, direct partial differentiation givesIt therefore has a vector-field potential exactly when $b=0$, with no restriction on $c$:The value of $a$ is irrelevant to $\mathbf{G}$. Its rotational part for general $b$ is $b(1,1,1{)}^T\times \mathbf{r}$. Both selected paths lie in $x=y$, and this rotational part has zero dot product with every tangent vector to that plane. That explains why these paths cannot detect its nonzero curl when $b\ne 0$.