Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 2 / 3 / b

For the rotationally invariant free-space fundamental solution of the Laplace equation, put $s=\sqrt{(x-x^{\prime }{)}^2+(y-y^{\prime }{)}^2}$. Away from the source, the radial Laplacian gives $(s{G}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=0$, hence $G=A\log s^2+C$. Integrate its Poisson equation over a disk of radius $r$ about the source. The divergence theorem gives $2\pi r(2A/r)=-1/{ϵ}_0$, soA fixed reference length can be inserted inside the logarithm and absorbed into $C$. The resulting electric field decays like $1/s$.

Strictly, the stated pointwise decay as $y\to \pm \infty$ alone does not justify “most general”: one can also add the harmonic function $\mathrm{Re}{e}^{(x+iy{)}^2}$, whose gradient has that decay for every fixed $x$. This is the same growth issue as a zero-boundary harmonic function with pointwise vertical decay. The displayed answer is the usual isotropic free-space choice; requiring the field to vanish uniformly in every direction at spatial infinity removes these extra harmonic additions. An additive constant remains undetermined.