Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 62 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the poloidal magnetic flux function and toroidal amplitude explicitly in spherical components:Dotting the magnetostatic equilibrium equation with gives . Since all fields are axisymmetric, the poloidal magnetic field is tangent to the contours of in a meridional section. Thus, locally on regular connected flux surfaces, . This is a local flux-surface statement; disconnected surfaces with the same numerical value of need not have the same pressure without further global assumptions.
Taking the azimuthal component of the Lorentz force givesIts numerator is the meridional Jacobian determinant of and . Vanishing therefore implies locally on the same regular surfaces. DefineA direct curl calculation now givesSince , the remaining force isConsequently the spherical magnetostatic pressure balance equation following from the stated physical force balance isThe PDF's displayed scalar equation has the wrong sign and omits for its stated pressure p. This is not corrected by setting , which leaves the sign discrepancy. For example, , , satisfies the stated vector force balance and the corrected scalar equation, because ; it fails the printed scalar equation. One could obtain the printed form by replacing its pressure variable by , but that is not the variable in the given force balance.
Now set , , and . The angular operator gives , soFor the trigonometric form in the question, direct substitution yieldsFor , this is a solution providedThe same coefficient relation makes the trigonometric pair regular at the origin: . Thus all components of the magnetic field are finite there. With , this explicitly constructs the requested proportional-pressure family; adding does not change force balance. The coefficient c is the one called C in the final sentence of the PDF.
For a confined linear-pressure spherical magnetic equilibrium, the condition that the entire magnetic field vanish on is precisely . In components these conditions readThey eliminate both the radial and meridional components; the toroidal component vanishes too because . For a nontrivial solution with , substituting givesThe last equation selects the allowed nonzero values of . Equivalently, when division is legitimate, ; the undivided equation also handles vanishing denominators correctly. Since , is independent of latitude. In the strictly proportional convention , this is zero. The zero-field solution is a trivial possibility; the displayed conditions describe the nontrivial confined family.