Curl of a vector field and orthogonality

curlVector Fields

Let $\mathbf{A}(x)$ be a scalar field defined in the 3D euclidean affine space, $\Sigma$ a plane and $\mathbf{n}$ a unit normal vector perpendicular to $\Sigma$

if:
$$
\mathbf{A}(x) \times \mathbf{n}=\mathbf{0} \quad \forall x \in \Sigma
$$

then:
$$
(\nabla \times \mathbf{A})(x) \cdot \mathbf{n}=\underline{0} \quad \forall x \in \Sigma
$$

I tried proving it using coordinates but developing the curl i get nowhere as the derivatives show

Any hint?

EDIT:

$$ div(\mathbf{u} \times \mathbf{v})=\mathbf{v} \cdot curl\mathbf{u}-\mathbf{u}\cdot curl\mathbf{v}$$

with this i guess i can do it,being $\mathbf{v}=\mathbf{A}$, $\mathbf{u}=\mathbf{n}$

$$ div(\mathbf{n} \times \mathbf{A})=\mathbf{A} \cdot curl\mathbf{n}-\mathbf{n}\cdot curl\mathbf{A}$$

$$ \mathbf{n}\cdot curl\mathbf{A}=\mathbf{A} \cdot curl\mathbf{n}-div(\mathbf{n} \times \mathbf{A})$$

then $-div(\mathbf{n} \times \mathbf{A})=0$ (assumption we had)

And $\mathbf{A} \cdot curl\mathbf{n}=0$ as $\mathbf{n}$ is constant.

Is that right?

Best Answer

This is in fact a long comment, as will become obvious...

One has that $|u\times v| = \sin \theta\, |u|\, |v|$, for vectors $u$ and $v$, and $\theta$ the angle between $u$ and $v$ (ignoring quibbles if $u$ or $v$ is zero). So if $u \times v = 0$, the vectors are parallel.

Therefore, geometrically, one can rephrase your problem to say that if ${\bf A} $ is parallel to $\bf n$, then one is to show that its curl is perpendicular to $\bf n$.

So, a way of doing it might be to use that ${\bf A} = a{\bf n}$, for some function scalar valued $a$, as implied by the hypothesis ${\bf A} \times {\bf n} =0$. Then, the direct coordinate calculation $$\mathop{\rm curl} {\bf A} \cdot {\bf n} = 0$$ is totally straight-forward. I actually made this suggestion a few minutes after you posted your question. However...

I got nervous and almost immediately deleted the comment because your hypothesis only says ${\bf A} \times {\bf n} =0$ on $\Sigma$, and not identically on Euclidean space. We are, after all, talking about taking derivatives when taking the curl - morally, we need something like an 'open interval' to take limits.

I was therefore equally unhappy with your approach, as it seems to me you are again using ${\bf A} \times {\bf n}= 0$ in some neighborhood of $\Sigma$ (and not just on $\Sigma$), to conclude that its divergence is zero. We are, after all, again talking about taking derivatives when taking the divergence - again, we need something like an 'open interval' to take limits.

So I had my doubts.

However! - thinking about it -

By Green/Stokes/whatever, the result must hold true:

One has $$ \int \int_R \mathop{\rm curl} {\bf A} \cdot {\bf n} \, d\sigma = \int_{\partial R} {\bf A}\cdot d{\bf s}, $$

where $R$ is an arbitrary (nice) region in $\Sigma$, $d\sigma$ the area element, ${\partial R}$ the boundary of $R$, etc...

Now, under the hypothesis of the question, the $RHS =0$ identically, since ${\bf A}$ is perpendicular to $\Sigma$. Hence, since $R$ is arbitrary, we must have that the integrand on the LHS is also identically zero (as desired). [Namely, suppose the $ \mathop{\rm curl} {\bf A} \cdot {\bf n}$ were not zero a some point - say positive. Then, in some neighborhood of that point it would remain positive. Take $R$ to be a small disk in that neighborhood; the LHS would then be positive, forcing the RHS to positive - contradiction.]

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