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- Incompressible, irrotational flow
so that
- Electrostatics when
and
is constant
so that
and again
- Magnetohydrostatics when
and
is constant.
Again we have
Thus, the magnetic field may be expressed in terms of a scalar
potential as
These examples illustrate the importance of Laplace's equation.
Solutions to potential problems will be discussed in the next
section. However, before studying these problems, we consider the
situation where a non-zero current flows along a plasma cylinder.
Prof. Alan Hood
2000-11-06