Divergence and Curl of a Vector Field

Recall that a vector field F on R3 can be expressed as

F(x, y, z) =< F1 (x, y, z), F2 (x, y, z), F3 (x, y, z) >,

where the component functions are scalar functions from R3 to R. For the sake of brevity,
we will often use x to denote the vector < x, y, z > and write F(x) =< F1 (x), F2 (x), F3 (x) >
or even drop the variables altogether and write F =< F1 , F2 , F3 >.
Let F =< F1 , F2 , F3 > : R3 R3 be a differentiable vector field. The divergence of F
is the scalar function
F1 F2 F3
div F = + + .
x y z
and the curl of F is the vector field
     
F3 F2 F1 F3 F2 F1
curl F = i+ j+ k
y z z x x y

Note that the divergence can be defined for any vector field F : Rn Rn , while the curl
is only defined on vector fields in 3-space.
There is a nice second way to deal with these functions. Define the operator , called
the del operator, by
 

= i+ j+ k= , ,
x y z x y z

The action of the del operator on a scalar function f : R3 R is just the gradient:
 
f f f f f f
f = i+ j+ k= , , = grad(f )
x y z x y z

The divergence and the curl of a vector field are given by the two vector products that we
have: the curl is the dot product and the curl is the cross product.

div(F) = F curl(F ) = F.

Theorem 1 Let f be a differentiable scalar function and F be a differentiable vector field

on R3 .

1. curl(grad f ) = 0 or (f ) = 0.

2. div(curl F) = 0 or ( F) = 0.

The Laplacian operator on a scalar function is defined to be

4f = div(grad f ) = f = 2 f.

1
The Laplacian of a vector field F is

4F = h4F1 , 4F2 , 4F3 i .

Geometrically, the curl F is a measurment of the tendency of a fluid to swirl around an

axis. A field F with curl F = 0 at a point P is called irrotational at P . The divergence
of a vector field measures the incompressibility of a vector field and we can often interpret
the divergence of a vector field as the total outflow per unit area. The Laplacian operator
helps to describe the diffusion process that is going on in that particular vector field, such as
the concentration of a liquid changing as a chemical is dissolved in it or the heat of a solid
diffusing from warmer to cooler regions.

Theorem 2 The operators described above are linear operators:

grad(f + g) = grad f + grad g, grad(cf ) = c grad f

div(F + G) = div F + div G, div(cF0 = c div F
curl(F + G)( = curl F + curl G, curl(cF) = c curl F
4(f + g) = 4(f ) + 4(g), 4(cf ) = c 4(f )
4(F + G) = 4(F) + 4(G), 4(cF) = c 4(F)

There are some very intriquing properties of the operators. We see a few in the following
theorems. The first theorem we have already covered.

Theorem 3

grad(f g)(x) = g(x) grad(f )(x) + f (x) grad(g)(x) (1)

f g(x) grad(f )(x) g(x) grad(f )(x)
grad( )(x) = if g(x) 6= 0 (2)
g g(x)2

Given two vector fields F and G, we will let the expression (F )(G) denote the vecor
field whose components are

(F )(G) =< F grad G1 , F grad G2 , F grad G3 > .

Theorem 4

grad(F G) = (F )(G) + (G )(F) + F curl G + G curl F (3)

div(f F) = f div(F) + F grad(f ) (4)
div(F G) = G curl(F) F curl(G) (5)
curl(f F) = f curl(F) + grad(f ) F (6)
curl(F G) = F div(G) G div(F) + (G )(F) (F )(G) (7)
4(f g) = g 4 f + f 4 g + 2 grad(f ) grad(g) (8)
4(F G) = G 4 F + F 4 G + 2 grad F grad G (9)

2
where
3
X
grad F grad G = grad(Fi ) grad(Gi ).
i=1

How do these differential operators behave in different curvilinear coordinate systems? I

will just present the results here. It is not particularly hard, but time-consuming to work
throught the details.
Lets consider only cylindrical and spherical coordinates.
In cylindrical coordinate systems, with F = Fr er + F e + Fz ez we have
f 1 f f
grad f = er + e + ez
r r z
1 (rFr ) 1 F Fz
div(F) = + +
r  r r  z
 er re ez 
1  

curl(F) =
r  r z 
 
 F rF F 
r z
      
1 f 1 f f
4f = r + + r
r r r r z z
2 2 2
f 1 f 1 f f
= 2
+ + 2 2 + 2
r r r r z
For spherical coordinates, the expressions for the different differential operators are (with
F = F e + F e + F e ):

f 1 f 1 f
grad f = e + e + e
sin()
 
1 2
div(F) = ( sin()F ) + (F ) + ( sin()F )
2 sin()
1 2 1 1
= 2
( F ) + (F ) + (sin()F )
sin sin
 
 e e sin e 
 
1  
curl(F) = 2
 
sin 
 
 F F sin F 
      
1 2 f 1 f f
4f = sin + + sin
2 sin sin
2 2 2
f 2 f 1 f 1 f cot f
= 2
+ + 2 2 2
+ 2 2+ 2
sin