18. Div grad curl and all that Theorem 18.1. Let A Rn be open and let f : A R be a dierentiable function.

n. If r : I A is a ow line for f : A Rn , then the function f r : I R is increasing. Proof. By the chain rule, d(f r) (t) = f (r(t)) r (t) dt = r (t) r (t) 0. Corollary 18.2. A closed parametrised curve is never the ow line of a conservative vector eld. Once again, note that (18.2) is mainly a negative result: Example 18.3. F : R2 {(0, 0)} R2 given by F (x, y ) = ( x2 y x , 2 ), 2 + y x + y2

is not a conservative vector eld as it has ow lines which are circles. Denition 18.4. The del operator is the formal symbol = + + k. x y z

Note that one can formally dene the gradient of a function grad f : R3 R3 , by the formal rule grad f = f = f f f + + k. x y z

Using the operator del we can dene two other operations, this time on vector elds: Denition 18.5. Let A R3 be an open subset and let F : A R3 be a vector eld. The divergence of F is the scalar function, div F : A R, which is dened by the rule div F (x, y, z ) = F (x, y, z ) =
1

f f f + + . x y z

The curl of F is the vector eld curl F : A R3 , which is dened by the rule curl F (x, x, z ) = F (x, y, z ) k = x y z F1 F2 F3 F3 F2 = y z

F3 F1 x z

F2 F1 x y

k.

Note that the del operator makes sense for any n, not just n = 3. So we can dene the gradient and the divergence in all dimensions. However curl only makes sense when n = 3. Denition 18.6. The vector eld F : A R3 is called rotation free if the curl is zero, curl F = 0, and it is called incompressible if the divergence is zero, div F = 0. Proposition 18.7. Let f be a scalar eld and F a vector eld. (1) If f is C 2 , then curl(grad f ) = 0. Every conservative vector eld is rotation free. (2) If F is C 2 , then div(curl F ) = 0. The curl of a vector eld is incompressible. Proof. We compute; curl(grad f ) = (f ) =
x f x

y f y

k
z f z

= = 0.

2f 2f yz zy
2

2f 2f xz zx

2f 2f xy yx

This gives (1). div(curl F ) = ( f ) =

x x x y y

y z z

k
z

F1 F2 F3 =

F1 F2 F3 = 2 F3 2 F2 2 F3 2 F1 2 F2 2 F1 + + xy xz yx yz zx zy = 0.

This is (2). Example 18.8. The gravitational eld cy cz cx + 2 + 2 k, F (x, y, z ) = 2 2 2 3 / 2 2 2 3 / 2 2 (x + y + z ) (x + y + z ) (x + y + z 2 )3/2 is a gradient vector eld, so that the gravitational eld is rotation free. In fact if c f (x, y, z ) = 2 , 2 (x + y + z 2 )1/2 then F = grad f , so that curl F = curl(grad f ) = 0. Example 18.9. A magnetic eld B is always the curl of something, B = curl A, where A is a vector eld. So div(B ) = div(curl A) = 0. Therefore a magnetic eld is always incompressible. There is one other way to combine two del operators: Denition 18.10. The Laplace operator take a scalar eld f : A R and outputs another scalar eld 2 f : A R. It is dened by the rule 2 f = div(grad f ) =
3

2f 2f 2f + + . x y z

A solution of the dierential equation 2 f = 0, is called a harmonic function. Example 18.11. The function f (x, y, z ) = is harmonic. (x2 c , + + z 2 )1/2 y2