What is a conservative vector field on Rn ?
State Green's theorem in the plane R2.
(a) Consider a smooth vector field V=(P(x,y),Q(x,y)) defined on all of R2 which satisfies
∂x∂Q−∂y∂P=0
By considering
F(x,y)=∫0xP(x′,0)dx′+∫0yQ(x,y′)dy′
or otherwise, show that V is conservative.
(b) Now let V=(1+cos(2πx+2πy),2+cos(2πx+2πy)). Show that there exists a smooth function F(x,y) such that V=∇F.
Calculate ∫CV⋅dx, where C is a smooth curve running from (0,0) to (m,n)∈Z2. Deduce that there does not exist a smooth function F(x,y) which satisfies V=∇F and which is, in addition, periodic with period 1 in each coordinate direction, i.e. F(x,y)=F(x+1,y)=F(x,y+1).