PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
part of EM, Scalar and Vector Fields module (PHY2064)

Richard Sear

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

This lecture
Laplacian in spherical & circular polar coordinates
Laplace’s PDE in electrostatics
Schrödinger’s (time independent) equation, for the hydrogen
atom
So we will introduce spherical and circular polar coordinates and
apply them to two PDEs: Laplace’s and Schrödinger’s.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Spherical & cylindrical polar coordinates much easier than

Cartesian coordinates for spheres & circles

Often, we wish to solve a PDE such as Laplace’s equation, the

wave equation, Schrödinger’s equation etc, for a system that has
either spherical or circular symmetry, e.g., a hydrogen atom, the
temperature distribution inside a sphere, the waves on the circular
membrane on the top of a drum, etc. Although in principle we
could obtain solutions in these cases in Cartesian coordinates (i.e.
x, y and z), in practice it is much much easier to obtain solutions
using a coordinate system suited to the problem: either spherical
or circular polar coordinates.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplacian in spherical polar coordinates

In order to do this, the first thing we need to know is what the

Laplacian, ∇2 , is in spherical and circular polar coordinates. In
spherical polar coordinates, and for the function u(r , θ, φ), the
Laplacian times u is

∂2u
   
2 1 ∂ 2 ∂u 1 ∂ ∂u 1
∇ u= 2 r + 2 sin θ + 2 2
r ∂r ∂r r sin θ ∂θ ∂θ r sin θ ∂φ2
where r is the distance from the origin, θ is the angle between the
vector r and the z axis, and φ is the angle between the projection
of r onto the xy plane and the x axis. These are the usual
spherical polar coordinates, and are in the little booklet you get
given in exams.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplacian in circular polar coordinates

In circular polar coordinates, and for the function u(r , θ), the
Laplacian is
1 ∂2u
 
2 1 ∂ ∂u
∇ u= r + 2 2
r ∂r ∂r r ∂θ
where r is the distance from the origin, and θ is the angle between
r and the x axis. These are the usual circular polar coordinates.
This in the little booklet you get given in exams, but the notation
is different, there ρ is used instead of r and φ instead of θ, but it is
same expression just with different variable names.

I do not expect you to remember either of these expressions as they

are in the booklet. However, they are important, and the r parts of
these expression are so common, it will help you to know them.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplacian in spherical polar coordinates: no θ or φ

dependence

Often, for spherically symmetric systems the function only depends

of r , i.e., we want to solve for a function u(r ). Then the θ and φ
derivatives are zero, and the spherical-polar-coordinates Laplacian
simplifies to  
2 1 d 2 du
∇ u= 2 r
r dr dr
we can do the derivative of a product, and get

d2 u 2 du
∇2 u = +
dr 2 r dr

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplacian in circular polar coordinates: no θ dependence

In 2D the circular-polar-coordinates Laplacian simplifies to

 
1 d du
∇2 u = r
r dr dr

when u is only a function of r . We can again do the derivative of a

product, and get
d2 u 1 du
∇2 u = 2 +
dr r dr
Note that the 2D and 3D r parts of the Laplacian are the same
except that we have 1/r in front of the first derivative in 2D, and
2/r in 3D.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplace’s equation for a system with spherical symmetry

As an example of Laplace’s equation in a spherical geometry, let us
consider a conducting sphere of radius R, that is at a potential VS .
φ(r)
r

VS

R
The sphere is in a large volume with no charges, and we assume that the
potential at infinity is 0 V. So, the two BCs for the volume of space
outside the sphere are at the surface of the sphere and at r → ∞. We
centre the coordinates on the sphere, and then the problem has spherical
symmetry.
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Gauss’ Law and Laplace’s equation

Gauss’ Law (one of Maxwell’s four equations) is

∇.E(r) = ρ(r)/0

Now E = −∇φ, by definition, and if the charge density ρ = 0, we

have
∇. [∇ − φ(r)] = −∇2 φ(r) = 0
or
∇2 φ(r) = 0
Outside the sphere, where the charge density is zero, φ(r ) obeys
Laplace’s equation

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplace’s equation for a system with spherical symmetry

In spherical polar coordinates

d2 φ(r ) 2 dφ(r )
∇2 φ(r ) = 0 or + =0
dr 2 r dr
Note that φ(r ) is a function of r only, and hence this is an ODE
not an PDE. When the system is spherically symmetric although it
has three Cartesian coordinates, x, y and z, once we move over
into spherical coordinates it is only a function of one variable. The
PDE simplifies into an ODE which makes life much easier.

This is a second-order Cauchy-Euler (CE) ODE.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplace’s equation for a system with spherical symmetry

As this is a Cauchy ODE, its solutions are power laws.

d2 φ(r ) 2 dφ(r )
+ =0
dr 2 r dr
Thus we try the power law solution

φ(r ) = r β

We need the first and second derivatives, which are

dφ(r ) d2 φ(r )
= βr β−1 and = β(β − 1)r β−2
dr dr 2
Substituting these in we get
2
β(β − 1)r β−2 + βr β−1 = 0 or β(β − 1)r β−2 + 2βr β−2 = 0
r
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Laplace’s equation for a system with spherical symmetry

Cancelling the r β−2 we get a simple equation for β

β 2 − β + 2β = 0 or β(β + 1) = 0

The solutions of this equation are β = 0 and β = −1, i.e., a

constant and r −1 . We multiply each of these solutions by a
constant and add them together to obtain the general solution:
1
φ(r ) = C + D
r
where C and D are the constants.

The values of the two constants are set by the two BCs, i.e., to
determine the value of the potential everywhere outside the sphere
we need to not only solve the PDE but also apply two BCs. Two
BCs because it is a second order differential equation.
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

BCs for Laplace’s equation for a system with spherical

symmetry
We have two BCS: φ(r = R) = VS (surface of sphere) and
φ(r → ∞) = 0. Applying the BC at r → ∞
D
φ(r → ∞) = C + =C =0
∞
so C = 0, and the function is now
1
φ(r ) = D
r
if the potential at the surface of a sphere of radius R is VS , then
1
φ(r = R) = D = VS D = VS R
R
and the potential is
R
φ(r ) = VS
r
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Coulomb’s Law derived from Maxwell’s equation

By solving Laplace’s equation and applying the BCs appropriate to

a charged sphere we obtained the potential
R
φ(r ) = VS
r
This is just Coulomb’s Law. Coulomb’s Law was discoved before
Maxwell proposed his equation, but Coulomb’s Law is not
independent of Maxwell’s equations, it can (as we have just
showed) be derived from one of them.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom

As a second example of a PDE where we need to use spherical

polar coordinates, we will determine the ground state wavefunction
and energy of the hydrogen atom. The (time-independent)
Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom is

~2 2 e2
− ∇ ψ− ψ = Eψ
2m 4π0 r
where ψ is the wavefunction and E the energy. m is the mass of
the electron. The first and second terms on the left-hand side are
the kinetic energy term and the Coulomb attraction between the
proton and the electron, respectively.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom

Now, to simplify the bunches of constants above it is best to

multiply both sides of this equation by 4π0 /e 2 . Then we have

1 h2 0 2 1 2


− ∇ ψ − ψ = E 4π0 /e ψ
2 πme 2 r
where we used ~ = h/2π. Now, we define the Bohr radius as

h2 0
a= = 0.53Å
πme 2
which is a length. We also define an energy U in units of 4π0 /e 2 ,
by setting U = E (4π0 /e 2 ).

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom

Then we get the neater equation

1 1
− a∇2 ψ − ψ = Uψ
2 r
Now, this equation yields all the wavefunctions of the hydrogen
atom and many of them depend on all three of r , θ and φ.

However, some depend only on r , these are called the s

wavefunctions.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom

If we restrict ourselves to studying the s wavefunctions we can

replace the Laplacian by just the r -derivative terms - the θ and φ
derivatives are zero and so these terms are zero. Then we have
 2 
1 d ψ 2 dψ 1
− a 2
+ − ψ = Uψ
2 dr r dr r

1 d2 ψ a dψ 1
− a 2 − − ψ = Uψ
2 dr r dr r
This is the equation that yields the s wavefunctions and their
corresponding energies.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom
To obtain a simple solution we will try substituting in an
exponential into this equation, i.e., we will try
ψ(r ) = exp (−r /d)
where d is the decay length for the exponential, whose value we
don’t know at the moment.
I don’t expect you to know that exponential is the right functional
form to guess. Here we know that in the 1s state, the electron is
bound to the proton, which means that ψ → 0 as r → ∞, and an
exponential decay is then a sensible guess, which turns out to be
correct.
Note that guessing the solutions is a perfectly respectable way to
solve differential equations, so long as you then substitute it into
the PDE, check whether it is a solution, and disgard it if it does
not work of course.
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom
With
ψ(r ) = exp (−r /d)
as the trial function the derivatives are
dψ exp(−r /d) ψ d2 ψ exp(−r /d) ψ
=− =− and 2
= 2
= 2
dr d d dr d d
Substituting into Schrödinger’s equation, we get
 
1 ψ a ψ 1
− a× 2 − × − − ψ = Uψ
2 d r d r

or, if we cancel the ψ’s and rearrange a bit

a 1 a 
− 2+ −1 =U
2d r d
Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates
 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

The LHS must equal the RHS at all values of r

So, we have
a 1 a  0
− + − 1 =U+ at all values of r
2d 2 r d r
For LHS=RHS at all values of r , the constant terms must be equal
a
− =U
2d 2
and the coefficients of 1/r must be equal
a
−1=0 so d = a
d
using d = a in equation for U gives
a 1
U=− =−
2d 2 2a

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

 PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates

Schrödinger equation for the ground state of the hydrogen

atom

So the 1s state of the H atom has an energy

me 4
 
1 1 1
E= U = × − = −
(4π0 /e 2 ) (4π0 /e 2 ) 2a 820 h2
so
E = −13.6eV = −2.2 × 10−18 J
and a (not normalised) wavefunction

ψ(r ) = exp(−r /a) = exp(−r /0.53)

for r in Å’s.

Richard Sear PDEs in Spherical and Circular Coordinates