Multivariable Calculus – Non-Conservative Field with Zero Curl

multivariable-calculusVector Fields

I'm looking for examples of this, the only one I've found so far is:
$f(x,y) = \left( \frac{-y}{x^2+y^2}, \frac{x}{x^2+y^2} \right)$

Is there another example of this? Also, what should I follow if I wanted to "build" a field that is non-conservative and has zero curl. Is both partial derivatives being the same and the line integral of the force along some closed curve being different than zero enough?
Thank you.

Best Answer

The existence of non-conservative vector fields with zero curl is a topological matter, i.e. it only depends on the topology of the space on which the vector fields is defined. This is studied by de Rham cohomology using the language of differential forms.

In your case, the vector field is defined on $R^2$ but, because it is singular at the origin, the domain is actually $R^2$ with the origin removed. Such a space is topologically non-trivial. However, it can be shown that the vector space of non-conservative, irrotational vector fields on punctured $R^2$ is one dimensional. So the vector field you have written is in the appropriate sense unique, where in the appropriate sense means up to addition of any conservative vector field.

Note that the vector field you have written is basically $\mathrm{d}\theta$ expressed in Cartesian coordinates. If you denote by $\theta_i$ the angle $\arctan((y-y_i)/(x-x_i))$ you will see that $\sum_i \mathrm{d}\theta_i$, where the sum is over an arbitrary collection of points $p_i\in R^2$, has zero curl (think of $\mathrm{d}$ as the gradient operator) but is not exact.

In a more general language, irrotational vector field translates to closed differential form, and conservative vector field translates to exact differential form. Vector fields translates to differential 1-forms (to do this properly you need a metric to be defined on your space). Conservative => irrotational translates to exact=> closed. The space of closed 1-forms modulo the exact 1-form is the first de Rham cohomology group.

The first cohomology group is always trivial for a simply-connected space. In the case of $R^2$ with k holes it is $k$-dimensional.

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