[Math] How to find a vector potential (inverse curl)

multivariable-calculus

If you are given a vector field, how do you find a vector potential for it?

In my particular case, I need to find a vector field $\vec{A}$ such that

$$
\vec{\nabla} \times \vec{A}(\,\vec{r}) = \begin{cases} B_0\hat{z} && \text{if $\vec{r} \in$ some cylinder along } \hat{z} \newline \vec{0} && \text{ otherwise} \end{cases}
$$

but I'm hoping for a better answer than "guess-and-check" (or at least, a more generic way of guess-and-checking) that would help me in other cases as well.

Note:

The vector field (and hence, the potential) does not necessarily go to zero as we approach infinity.

Best Answer

As already noted in an old answer, the inverse of the curl operator (up to possible problems with the domain not having a star shape) can be written as $$\vec A(\vec r)= \int_0^1 [\vec B(t \vec r) \times (t\vec r) ]\, dt.$$

For concreteness, let us assume that the cylinder has radius $R$ and we use cylindrical coordinates $\vec r=(\rho \cos\theta,\rho \sin \theta, z)$. Then we have $$A_x(\vec r)= -y B_0 \int_0^1 t \mathop H(R-t\rho)\,dt$$ with $H$ the Heaviside-step function. Similarly, $$A_y(\vec r)= x B_0 \int_0^1 t \mathop H(R-t\rho)\,dt$$ and $$A_z(\vec r)=0.$$

To find an explicit form of $\vec A(\vec r)$, we need to perform the integral ($\rho= \sqrt{x^2 + y^2}$) $$\int_0^1 t \mathop H(R-t\rho)\,dt = \int_0^{\mathop{\rm min}(R/\rho,1)}\!\!\!t\,dt = \tfrac12\mathop{\rm min}(R/\rho,1)^2 .$$

Edit: Putting everything together, we have $$\vec{A}(\vec r) = \tfrac12 B_0\mathop{\rm min}(R/\rho,1)^2 \begin{pmatrix}-y\\x\\0\end{pmatrix} =\tfrac12 B_0\mathop{\rm min}\left[\frac{R^2}{x^2+y^2},1\right] \begin{pmatrix}-y\\x\\0\end{pmatrix}. $$

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