Jim Lambers

MAT 280
Spring Semester 2009-10
Lecture 20 Notes

These notes correspond to Section 13.5 in Stewart and Sections 4.4 and 8.3 in Marsden and Tromba.

Curl and Divergence

We have seen two theorems in vector calculus, the Fundamental Theorem of Line Integrals and
Green’s Theorem, that relate the integral of a set to an integral over its boundary. Before estab-
lishing similar results that apply to surfaces and solids, it is helpful to introduce new operations on
vector fields that will simplify exposition.
We have previously learned that a vector field F = ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅⟩ defined on ℝ3 is conservative if

𝑅𝑦 − 𝑄𝑧 = 0, 𝑃𝑧 − 𝑅𝑥 = 0, 𝑄𝑥 − 𝑃𝑦 = 0.

These equations are equivalent to the statement

〈 〉
∂ ∂ ∂
, , × ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅⟩ = ⟨0, 0, 0⟩.
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧

Therefore, we define the curl of a vector field F = ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅⟩ by

curl F = ∇ × F,

where 〈 〉
∂ ∂ ∂
∇= , , .
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧
From the definition of a conservative vector field, it follows that curl F = 0 if F = ∇𝑓 where 𝑓 has
continuous second partial derivatives, due to Clairaut’s Theorem. That is, the curl of a gradient is
zero.
This is equivalent to the statement that the curl of a conservative vector field is zero. The
converse, that a vector field F for which curl F = 0 is conservative, is also true if F has continuous
first partial derivatives and curl F = 0 within a simply connected domain. That is, the domain
must not have “holes”.
When F represents the velocity field of a fluid, the fluid tends to rotate around the axis that is
aligned with curl F, and the magnitude of curl F indicates the speed of rotation. Therefore, when
curl F = 0, we say that F is irrotational, which is a term that has previously been associated with
the equivalent condition of F being conservative.

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 Another operation that is useful for discussing properties of vector fields is the divergence of a
vector field F, denoted by div F. It is defined by

div F = ∇ ⋅ F.

For example, if F = ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅⟩, then

〈 〉
∂ ∂ ∂
div F = , , ⋅ ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅⟩ = 𝑃𝑥 + 𝑄𝑦 + 𝑅𝑧 .
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧
Unlike the curl, the divergence is defined for vector fields with any number of variables, as long as
the number of independent and the number of dependent variables are the same.
It can be verified directly that if F is the curl of a vector field G, then div F = 0. That is, the
divergence of any curl is zero, as long as G has continuous second partial derivatives. This is useful
for determining whether a given vector field F is the curl of any other vector field G, for if it is, its
divergence must be zero.
Example (Stewart, Section 13.5, Exercise 18) The vector field F(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = ⟨𝑦𝑧, 𝑥𝑦𝑧, 𝑥𝑦⟩ is not the
curl of any vector field G, because

div F = (𝑦𝑧)𝑥 + (𝑥𝑦𝑧)𝑦 + (𝑥𝑦)𝑧 = 0 + 𝑥𝑧 + 0 = 𝑥𝑧,

whereas if F = curl G, then

div F = div curl G = 0.
□
If F represents the velocity field of a fluid, then, at each point within the fluid, div F measures
the tendency of the fluid to diverge away from that point. Specifically, the divergence is the rate of
change, with respect to time, of the density of the fluid. Therefore, if div F = 0, then we say that
F, and therefore the fluid as well, is incompressible.
The divergence of a gradient is
∂2𝑓 ∂2𝑓 ∂2𝑓
〈 〉 〈 〉
∂ ∂ ∂ ∂𝑓 ∂𝑓 ∂𝑓
div(∇𝑓 ) = ∇ ⋅ ∇𝑓 = , , ⋅ , , = + + .
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧 ∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧 ∂𝑥2 ∂𝑦 2 ∂𝑧 2
We denote this expression ∇ ⋅ ∇𝑓 by ∇2 𝑓 , or Δ𝑓 , which is called the Laplacian of 𝑓 . The operator
∇2 is called the Laplace operator. Its name comes from Laplace’s equation

Δ𝑓 = 0.

The curl and divergence can be used to restate Green’s Theorem in forms that are more directly
generalizable to surfaces and solids in ℝ3 . Let F = ⟨𝑃, 𝑄, 0⟩, the embedding of a two-dimensional
vector field in ℝ3 . Then ( )
∂𝑄 ∂𝑃
curl F = − k,
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦

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where, as before, k = ⟨0, 0, 1⟩. It follows that
( ) ( )
∂𝑄 ∂𝑃 ∂𝑄 ∂𝑃
curl F ⋅ k = − k⋅k= − .
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑥 ∂𝑦

This expression is called the scalar curl of the two-dimensional vector field ⟨𝑃, 𝑄⟩. We conclude
that Green’s Theorem can be rewritten as
∫ ∫ ∫
F 𝑑r = (curl F) ⋅ k 𝑑𝐴.
𝐶 𝐷

Another useful form of Green’s Theorem involves the divergence. Let F = ⟨𝑃, 𝑄⟩ have contin-
uous first partial derivatives in a domain 𝐷 with a positively oriented, piecewise smooth boundary
𝐶 that has parametrization r(𝑡) = ⟨𝑥(𝑡), 𝑦(𝑡)⟩, for 𝑎 ≤ 𝑡 ≤ 𝑏. Using the original form of Green’s
Theorem, we have
∫ ∫ ∫ ∫ ( )
∂𝑃 ∂𝑄
div F 𝑑𝐴 = + 𝑑𝐴
𝐷 𝐷 ∂𝑥 ∂𝑦
∫
= 𝑃 𝑑𝑦 − 𝑄 𝑑𝑥
𝐶
∫ 𝑏
= 𝑃 (𝑥(𝑡), 𝑦(𝑡))𝑦 ′ (𝑡) 𝑑𝑡 − 𝑄(𝑥(𝑡), 𝑦(𝑡))𝑥′ (𝑡) 𝑑𝑡
𝑎
𝑦 ′ (𝑡) −𝑥′ (𝑡)
∫ 𝑏[ ]
= 𝑃 (𝑥(𝑡), 𝑦(𝑡)) ′ + 𝑄(𝑥(𝑡), 𝑦(𝑡)) ′ ∥r′ (𝑡)∥ 𝑑𝑡
𝑎 ∥r (𝑡)∥ ∥r (𝑡)∥
∫ 𝑏
= (F ⋅ n)(𝑡)∥r′ (𝑡)∥ 𝑑𝑡
∫ 𝑎

= F ⋅ n 𝑑𝑠
𝐶

where
1
n(𝑡) = ⟨𝑦 ′ (𝑡), −𝑥′ (𝑡)⟩
∥r′ (𝑡)∥
is the outward unit normal vector to the curve 𝐶. Note that n ⋅ T = 0, where T is the unit tangent
vector
1
T(𝑡) = ′ ⟨𝑥′ (𝑡), 𝑦 ′ (𝑡)⟩.
∥r (𝑡)∥
We have established a third form of Green’s Theorem,
∫ ∫ ∫
F ⋅ n 𝑑𝑠 = div F 𝑑𝐴.
𝐶 𝐷

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Practice Problems
Practice problems from the recommended textbooks are:

∙ Stewart: Section 13.5, Exercises 1-7 odd, 11-17 odd

∙ Marsden/Tromba: Section 4.4, Exercises 1, 3, 9-19 odd, 25; Section 8.3, Exercises 3, 5, 7, 13,
17, 21