PHYSICS 505: CLASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS HOMEWORK 4 3

b) Let us nd the magnitude and direction of the electric eld at the origin.
By the azimuthal symmetry of the problem, the electric eld must point in the direction
z dened by = 0. Computing rather directly, we see
|E | =
(r, )
r

r=0
=
Q
8
0

=1

2 + 1
r
1
R
+1
[P
+1
(cos ) P
1
(cos )] P

(cos(0))

r=0
,
=
Q
8
0
1
3R
2
P
1
(1) [P
2
(cos ) P
0
(cos )] ,
=
Q
8
0
1
3R
2
_
1
2
_
3 cos
2
1
_
1
_
,
=
Q
16
0
R
2
_
cos
2
1/3 2/3
_
,
E =
Qsin
2

16
0
R
2
z.

o


c) Let us briey discuss the limiting cases of the above results when 0, .
Because sin
2
() =
2

a
4
3
+ O(
6
), and is -periodic, it is clear that the electric eld
approaches
E =
Q
2
16
2
0
z +O(
4
),
for 0 and
E =
Q( )
2
16
2
0
z +O(( )
4
),
for . This is expected. Notice that as the spherical charge distribution closes,
0, we approach the eld inside a closed sphere, which vanishes by Gau law.
The symmetric situation as also begins to vanish because the total charge on
the sphere decreases like ( )
2
near . Therefore, the eld will decrease like
( )
2
.
Similarly, for 0, cos 1 and so P
+1
(1) P
1
(1) vanishes. Therefore, the
potential will vanish for 0 as expected for the interior of a charged sphere. For
, the potential will decrease like ( )
2
and will approach the potential of a
point charge of magnitude Q/8R
2
( )
2
.
Problem 3.5
Let us consider the potential inside a sphere of radius a where the potential at the surface is specied.
We are to demonstrate that
(r, , ) =
a(a
2
r
2
)
4
_
(

)d

(r
2
+ a
2
2ar cos )
3/2
=

=0

m=
A
m
_
r
a
_

Y
m
(, ),
where cos = cos cos

+ sin sin

cos(

) and A
m
=
_
d

Y

m
(

)(

).
From our work in Jacksons second chapter, we know that the rst expression for the potential is
that obtained from the Greens function
G(r, r

) =
1
|r r

|

a
r

|r
a
2
r
2
r

|
.
Therefore, it is sucient for us to show that the second expression for the potential is obtainable from
the above Greens function to show that the two expressions for the potential are equivalent.
4 JACOB LEWIS BOURJAILY
Let us begin by expressing G(x, x

) in terms of spherical harmonics. Following the now standard

procedure used above, we see that
G(r, r

) = 4

=0

m=
1
2 + 1
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
r

r
+1

a
r

_
a
2
r
2
r

_
+1
_
,
= 4

=0

m=
1
2 + 1
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
r

r
+1

r

a
2+1
_
.
To nd the potential, we must compute the normal derivative of the Greens function in the direction
of r

, evaluated at r

= a. Let us spend a moment and compute this.

G(r, r

)
r

=a
= 4

=0

m=
1
2 + 1
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
( + 1)
r

r
+2

r
1
r

a
2+1
_

=a
,
= 4

=0

m=
1
2 + 1
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
( + 1)
r

a
+2

r

a
2+2
_
,
= 4

=0

m=
1
2 + 1
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, ) (2 + 1)
_
r
a
_

1
a
2
,
= 4

=0

m=
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
r
a
_

1
a
2
.
Now, we can directly compute the potential (r, , ) using
(r, , ) =
1
4
_
(

)
G(r, r

)
r

=a
a
2
d

,
=
1
4
_
(

)4

=0

m=
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
r
a
_

1
a
2
a
2
d

,
=
_
(

=0

m=
Y

m
(

)Y
m
(, )
_
r
a
_

,
=

=0

m=
Y
m
(, )
_
r
a
_

_
(

)Y

m
(

)d

,
(r, , ) =

=0

m=
A
m
_
r
a
_

Y
m
(, ).

o


Problem 3.6
Let us consider a system of two point charges of charge q located at z = a, respectively.
a) Let us nd the electrostatic potential as an expansion in spherical harmonics and powers of r.
First notice that the electrostatic potential is trivially given by
(x) =
q
4
0
_
1
|x a|

1
|x +a|
_
,
where a (a, 0, 0) in spherical coordinates. As before, we can expand the function
1/|x a| following Jacksons equation (3.70). Furthermore, by azimuthal symmetry,
it is clear that only m = 0 spherical harmonics contribute and so we can substi-
tute Legendre polynomials in their place. Azimuthal symmetry also implies that