Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2017 / 9 / b

Each long wire lies in the other's magnetic field, $B={\mu }_{0}I/(2\pi d)$. The magnetic Lorentz force per unit length has magnitudeFor the two-wire circuit's self-inductance, a nonzero wire radius is essential. Introduce a radius $a_w\ll d$. Between the wires their magnetic fields add. The external magnetic flux linkage per unit length through the connecting ribbon is, to leading order in $a_w/d$,It follows that the leading thin-wire loop self-inductance per unit length isIt is the loop value for the pair, not the contribution of just one conductor. Corrections from the wire interior depend on the current distribution: for nonmagnetic round wires with uniform direct electric current, the pair contributes another ${\mu }_0/(4\pi )$; for a surface current the internal contribution is zero. The leading logarithm is common to both models.

TODO (source data): the source gives no wire radius or current-distribution convention. There is no finite radius-independent value of the requested self-inductance: taking ideal zero-width wires sends $L_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\prime }$ to infinity. The force and the parameterized leading self-inductance above are determined, but a unique finite answer requires that additional specification. For example, changing $a_w$ to $a_w/2$ changes the leading result by ${\mu }_0\ln 2/\pi$ even at fixed separation.