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Green's Function in Spherical Polar Coordinates

1) The document discusses constructing Green's functions in spherical and cylindrical polar coordinates. For spherical coordinates, the Green's function is expressed as a sum involving spherical harmonics and radial functions glm(r,r') that satisfy Laplace's equation. 2) Solutions for glm(r,r') are obtained for the region between two concentric spheres in terms of the radii a and b, satisfying boundary conditions on the spheres. 3) For cylindrical coordinates, the Green's function is expressed as a double sum involving Bessel functions of the first and second kind and satisfies Laplace's equation in cylindrical coordinates.

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Raymart Jay Canoy
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277 views

Green's Function in Spherical Polar Coordinates

1) The document discusses constructing Green's functions in spherical and cylindrical polar coordinates. For spherical coordinates, the Green's function is expressed as a sum involving spherical harmonics and radial functions glm(r,r') that satisfy Laplace's equation. 2) Solutions for glm(r,r') are obtained for the region between two concentric spheres in terms of the radii a and b, satisfying boundary conditions on the spheres. 3) For cylindrical coordinates, the Green's function is expressed as a double sum involving Bessel functions of the first and second kind and satisfies Laplace's equation in cylindrical coordinates.

Uploaded by

Raymart Jay Canoy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PHYS809

Class 15 Notes
Green function in spherical polar coordinates
To illustrate construction of a Green function in spherical polar coordinates consider the Dirichlet
problem in a region bounded by two concentric sphere of radii a and b with a < b. The Green function is
the solution of

2G ( r , , , r , , ) =

4
( r r ) ( cos cos ) ( ) ,
r2

(15.1)

with G = 0 on r = a and r = b.
Since the completeness relation for the spherical harmonics is

Y ( , ) Y ( , ) = ( ) ( cos cos ) ,
*
lm

lm

(15.2)

l = 0 m = l

we look for a solution of form

G ( r , , , r , , ) = g lm ( r , r ) Ylm* ( , ) Ylm ( , ).

(15.3)

l = 0 m = l

Remembering that r l Ylm ( , ) is a solution of Laplaces equation, substitution of (15.3) into equation
(15.1) gives

l
1 2
*
l ( l + 1)
4

r
g
g
Y
Y
r
r
Ylm* ( , ) Ylm ( , ).

(
)
(
)
(
)
2

lm
lm lm
lm
2
2
r
r
r
r
r

l = 0 m = l
l = 0 m = l

(15.4)

Since the spherical harmonics are linearly independent, we must have

l ( l + 1)
1 2
4
r
g lm
g lm = 2 ( r r ) .
2
2
r r r
r
r

(15.5)

The homogeneous equation has solution of form

glm ( r , r ) = Amn r l + Bmn r l 1 ,


where the coefficients will depend on r .
Because of the boundary conditions at r = a and r = b, the solution is of form

(15.6)

r l
A<
a
glm ( r , r ) =
l
r
A
> b

l +1
a
, a r < r ,
r

b

r

l +1

(15.7)

r r < b.

The coefficients are determined from continuity and the jump condition at r = r . By integrating (15.5)
from r to r + , the jump condition is

g lm
g
lm
r + r

4
.
r 2

(15.8)

The two conditions give

r l a l +1
r l b l +1
A< = A> ,
b r
a r

(15.9)

l r l ( l + 1) b l +1
l r l ( l + 1) a l +1
4
A> +

A
+

= 2.
<

r r
r r
r
r b
r a

(15.10)

and

These two equations have solution


l

r b

4 b r
A< =
2l + 1 bl +1 a l +1
l
al
b

l +1

r a

4 a r
A> =
2l + 1 bl +1 a l +1
l
al
b

l +1

(15.11)

Hence

r l b l +1 r l

b r a
4
1
glm ( r , r ) =

2l + 1 bl +1 a l +1 r l a l +1 r l

al
b l a r b

l +1
a
, a r < r ,
r

b
,
r
l +1

(15.12)

r r < b.

This can be written more compactly as

glm ( r , r ) =

l a 2l +1 1
r> l
r

<

,
r< l +1 r> l +1 b 2l +1
a 2l +1
( 2l + 1) 1
b
4

(15.13)

where r< = min ( r , r ) and r> = max ( r , r ) .


Note that for a single sphere the interior Green function is obtained in the limit a 0, and the exterior
Green function is obtained in the limit b .
The exterior Green function is

4 l a 2l +1 1 *
r< l +1 l +1 Ylm ( , ) Ylm ( , ). (15.14)
r< r>
l = 0 m = l ( 2l + 1)

G ( r , , , r , , ) =

This can also be obtained by using the method of images and expanding each term in the potential by
using

l
1
1 r< l *
(15.15)
Y , )Ylm ( , ) .
= 4
l +1 lm (
x x
l = 0 m = l 2l + 1 r>
Alternatively, equation (15.14) in the limit a 0 can be thought of as a proof of the addition theorem

for spherical harmonics.


Green function in cylindrical polar coordinates
In cylindrical polar coordinates ( , , z ) , the Green function is a solution of

2G ( , , z , , , z ) =

( ) ( ) ( z z ) .

(16.1)

If and z are unrestricted, we can represent the last pair of Dirac delta functions by

1
( ) =
2

im ( )

m =

1
, ( z z ) =
2

ik ( z z )

dk =

cos k ( z z) dk. (16.2)


0

We then represent the Green function in a similar way

G ( , , z , , , z ) =

1
2

im( )

cos k ( z z ) g m ( k , , ) dk .

(16.3)

m = 0

Substitution into equation (16.1) gives that g m ( k , , ) is a solution of

1 g m 2 m 2
4
( ) .

k + 2 gm =

(16.4)

The solutions to the homogeneous equations are the modified Bessel functions I m ( k ) and K m ( k ) .

Because Km is singular at = 0, the solution of equation (16.4) for < will involve only I m ( k ) .
Similarly, because Im is divergent as , the solution for > will involve only K m ( k ) .
Furthermore, because the Green function is symmetric under interchange of x and x, these functions
will enter in the combination I m ( k < ) K m ( k > ) . Hence we conclude that

g m = CI m ( k < ) K m ( k > ) ,
where C is a constant that is determined by the jump condition, which from equation (16.4) is

g m

g m

4
.

(16.5)

This gives

dK ( k )
dI ( k )
4
C I m ( k ) m
K m ( k ) m
.
=
d
d

(16.6)

Note that since C is a constant, we must have that the Wronskian

W 1 ( x ) , 2 ( x ) = 1 2 1 2 ,

(16.7)

must be proportional to 1 x . Hence we can find the constant of proportionality by evaluating the
Wronskian at any point.
Using the asymptotic forms for I m ( k ) and K m ( k ) , we find that

kI m ( k )

dK m ( k )
dI ( k )
kK m ( k ) m
d ( k )
d ( k )

1
1
k
k
ek
e
e
ek
= k

2k
2k
2 k
2 k

1
= .

(16.8)

Hence C = 4 , so that

G ( , , z , , , z ) =

im ( )

cos k ( z z ) I m ( k < ) K m ( k > ) dk . (16.9)

m = 0

Since we have imposed no boundaries, this is a representation in cylindrical polar coordinates of the
potential at x of unit charge positioned at x, i.e.

1
2

= eim( ) cos k ( z z ) I m ( k < ) K m ( k > ) dk .


x x m = 0

(16.10)

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