Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 74 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the total velocity as and the magnetic field as . For solenoidal fields the resistive induction equation is . The first-order smoothing approximation drops the fluctuating terms , retaining shear exactly. The uniform field is not stretched by the background shear because . The other retained stretching terms are and . HenceThe same phase cancellation as in part (i), together with , proves that a response can be taken as , whereIf initially, its derivative is , so magnetic solenoidality is preserved.
For the response equation is . Its integrating-factor solution isThe velocity amplitudes and wavevector vary on the shear timescale. In the fast-diffusion limit , and after the free transient, the integral is concentrated within time of . Replacing the slowly varying factors there by their current values gives the quasistatic magnetic response of a helical shearing wave:Complex conjugation introduces a minus sign in . With precisely the EMF normalization specified in the question,A literal spatial average of the product of the two real Fourier waves would be half this quantity; no extra factor of belongs in the question's defined .
Use and part (i) to obtain . For the time integral, take the driven response without a free magnetic transient and suppose the fast-diffusion approximation holds through the contributing interval, in particular at ; is a sufficient uniform condition. For , substitute . Since , this givesThe integral identity follows immediately from , reducing it to . If , the forcing and vanish and the driven EMF is zero. If but , the leading EMF is constant rather than time-integrable; the finite integral relies on nonzero shear.