Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 62 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The flux representation gives and . Therefore and . With magnetohydrodynamic mass loading ,Thus the steady continuity equation is satisfied.
The cross product in the ideal magnetohydrodynamic induction equation simplifies toHence steady induction requires . On a regular connected poloidal flux surface, this integrates locally toThis is the field-line angular velocity of an axisymmetric wind. It need not equal the gas angular velocity when , because . The regular-surface qualification matters: if is constant and the field is purely toroidal, induction alone cannot turn an arbitrary into a function of .
Put and . Dot the pressure-free momentum equation with . Since , axisymmetry givesThe azimuthal momentum equation in cylindrical coordinates similarly givesSubtracting times the second relation from the first, and using , proves that is constant along a flowing regular poloidal flux surface. For nonzero mass loading its corotating energy invariant of an axisymmetric magnetic wind isThis is the invariant labeled in the question. It is a corotating mechanical energy, distinct from the total magnetohydrodynamic Bernoulli invariant, which includes electromagnetic energy flux. In standard notation it equals total specific energy minus times the total specific angular-momentum invariant.
Near the footpoint, negligible gives , while the poloidal velocity is parallel to the poloidal magnetic field. The gas approximately corotates and slides along a rotating field line as a bead on a wire, with effective potentialA decreasing effective potential converts corotating potential energy into poloidal kinetic energy. This is the mechanism of magnetocentrifugal acceleration; local launching does not alone guarantee global escape.
For an attractive point mass, take and . Parameterize the outward straight line by , . The first derivative of vanishes at because the footpoint is in circular radial balance. The meridional Hessian there is , soThus the thirty-degree magnetocentrifugal launching criterion in its strict negative-curvature form isAbove this angle the equilibrium is unstable to an outward displacement; below it the near-footpoint potential initially rises. The source's proportionality constant must be negative to describe attraction.
The marginal straight-line launch at thirty degrees has zero quadratic curvature. For precisely the straight line and point-mass potential here, let and . Direct expansion givesAt , this is , so the outward direction is downhill at cubic order. Consequently the strict inequality is the nondegenerate quadratic criterion; it should not be interpreted as excluding every one-sided nonlinear marginal launch at equality. An exactly resting bead remains an equilibrium until displaced.
Effective potential along straight magnetic field lines below, at and above the thirty-degree launching threshold
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