Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Paper 1 / 1

In Cartesian coordinates, write ${\partial }_i=\partial /\partial x_i$ and use the Levi-Civita symbol. The contraction of two Levi-Civita symbols givesHere the Kronecker delta selects the indicated indices, and continuous second partial derivatives allow their order to be interchanged. Identifying the gradient, divergence and componentwise Laplacian proves the curl of the curl identity:

Let $V\subset {\mathbb{R}}^3$ be a bounded region with piecewise smooth closed boundary $\partial V$, let $\mathbf{n}$ be its outward unit normal vector, and let $\mathbf{A}$ be a continuously differentiable vector field on a neighbourhood of its closure. The divergence theorem statesHere $dV$ is the positive volume measure, $dS$ is the surface area measure, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{A}={\partial }_x{A}_x+{\partial }_y{A}_y+{\partial }_z{A}_z$, and the right side is the total outward flux. All boundary components must be included, with their normals pointing away from $V$.

Differentiate the position vector with respect to the three coordinates:Their pairwise dot products vanish. For example, ${\mathbf{r}}_{\rho }\cdot {\mathbf{r}}_u=-\sinh \rho \cosh \rho \sin u\cos u+\sinh \rho \cosh \rho \sin u\cos u=0$. Thus these are orthogonal coordinates wherever the coordinate tangents are nonzero. Their scale factors of orthogonal coordinates areThe absolute Jacobian determinant is their product, givingThe ordered coordinate system is left handed: ${\mathbf{r}}_{\rho }\cdot ({\mathbf{r}}_u\times {\mathbf{r}}_v)=-h_{\rho }{h}_u{h}_v$. The volume measure uses the absolute value. The axis and the focal circle contain coordinate degeneracies, as expected for oblate spheroidal coordinates. This is the hyperbolic parametrization of oblate spheroidal coordinates. The local TeX has an OCR substitution ${\sinh }^{2}u$ in the volume formula; the original PDF correctly prints ${\sin }^{2}u$.

Put $s^2=x^2+y^2$. For $\rho >0$, elimination of $u$ givesThese are oblate spheroids with equatorial radius $\cosh \rho$ and polar radius $\sinh \rho$, flattened along the $z$ axis. At $\rho =0$ the limiting surface is the disk $z=0$, $s\le 1$.

For $0<|u|<\pi /2$, elimination of $\rho$ instead givesThese are one-sheet hyperboloids of revolution, restricted to their upper half for $u>0$ and lower half for $u<0$. The restriction matters because $\rho \ge 0$. At $u=0$, the surface degenerates to the exterior equatorial plane $z=0$, $s\ge 1$; at $u=\pm \pi /2$ it degenerates to the corresponding half of the $z$ axis.

Finally, fixed $v$ specifies a vertical half-plane through the $z$ axis, with horizontal direction $(\cos v,\sin v)$. The two values $v$ and $v+\pi$ together give a full plane. These surfaces form the mutually orthogonal families of the hyperbolic parametrization of oblate spheroidal coordinates.

For a nondegenerate surface take $R>0$, and abbreviate $C=\cosh R$, $H=\sinh R$. Close the upper oblate spheroid by its equatorial disk $D$, obtaining a half-ellipsoid $V$. The divergence isThe integral of $2y$ vanishes by reflection symmetry. At height $z$, the cross-section is a disk of radius $q=C\sqrt{1-z^2/H^2}$. Using planar polar coordinates,ConsequentlyThe outward unit normal vector on $D$ is $-{\mathbf{e}}_z$, so its flux is $-2\pi C^2$. Applying the divergence theorem to the closed surface and subtracting this disk contribution givesThis is a special case of polynomial flux through a half-ellipsoid. Including the closing disk is essential: the constant vertical component has zero divergence but nonzero flux through the open curved surface.