Electromagnetism 70006

Answers to Problem Set 4

Spring 2006

1. Jackson 2.7: Green function for a plane.

(a) Green function: Let r = (x, y, z) and r 0 = (x0 , y 0 , z 0 ), then
G(r, r 0 ) = p

1
(x x0 )2 + (y y 0 )2 + (z z 0 )2

(x x0 )2 + (y y 0 )2 + (z + z 0 )2

(b) Solution for = V inside a circle of radius a on x y plane. First

we evaluate

2z
G
G
=
= 2
n0
x0 z0 =0
[z + 2 + 02 20 cos (0 )]3/2
From azimuthal symmetry is independent of . It follows that
Z a
Z 2
zV
d0
(, z) =
0 d0
2
2
02
0
0 3/2
2 0
0 [z + + 2 cos ]
(c) For = 0, we find
zV
(0, z) =
2

Z
0

d
Z

d0
[z 2 + 02 ]3/2

a2

d02
zV
2 0 [z 2 + 02 ]3/2

=V 1
z 2 + a2

(d) Asymptotic expansion for z 2 + 2 a2 . Let x2 = z 2 + 2 , then

[x2

1
2

1
2

1
20 cos 0 ]3/2

1
3 02 20 cos 0
15 (02 20 cos 0 )2
= 3 1
+
+

x
2
x2
8
x4

02

d0
[x2 + 02 20 cos 0 ]3/2

3 02
15 22 02 + 04
1
+
+
= 3 1
x
2 x2
8
x4
Z

0 d0

d0
[x2 + 02 20 cos 0 ]3/2

3 a2
5 32 a2 + a4
a2
1
+
+
=
2x3
4 x2
8
x4
1

Substituting x2 = z 2 + 2 , we obtain

V za2
3 a2
5 32 a2 + a4
+
+
(, z) =
1
4 z 2 + 2
8 (z 2 + 2 )2
2(z 2 + 2 )3/2
On the axis, (, z) reduces to

3 a2
5 a4
V a2
1

+
+

(0, z) =
2z 2
4 z2
8 z4
This is identical to the expansion for z a of the result from (c)
above:

z
V a2
3 a2
5 a4
V 1
=
1

+
+

2z 2
4 z2
8 z4
z 2 + a2
2. Jackson 2.11: Image potential for charged wire at x = R parallel to a
cylinder of radius b centered at the origin.
(a) The potential in cylindrical coordinates is
p
1 h
(, ) =
ln 2 + R2 2R cos
20
i
p
+ 0 ln 2 + r2 2r cos
where r is the distance of the image from the axis of the cylinder. To
achieve = V on surface of the cylinder and lim (, ) = 0,
we choose r = b2 /R and 0 = .
(b) With the above conditions, we find
2

+ r2 2r cos
(, ) =
ln 2
40
+ R2 2R cos
Note that the potential at the cylindrical surface is

b
ln
V = (b, ) =
20
R
This equation relates the potential on the cylinder to the other parameters of the problem. For large , we find
(, ) =

Rr
R2 r 2
R3 r 3
cos +
cos
2
+
cos
3
+

20

22
33
(c) Induced charge density. The radial electric field at the surface is

R2 b2

E =
=

2
=b
20 b R + b2 2Rb cos
2

Therefore
=

R 2 b2

2
2b R + b2 2Rb cos

Below is a graph of the negative of the induced charge -

@solid Rb=2; dashed Rb=4D

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
HradiansL
1

(d) The force on the charged wire: We first evaluate E at the wire.

r cos
R cos
E (, ) =
=

20 2 + r2 2r cos 2 + R2 2R cos
From this, it follows that at the wire
E (R, 0) =

Rr

1
=
20 R2 + r2 2rR
20 R r

The force/length on the charged wire is, therefore,

F /L = E (R, 0) =

2
1
2
R
=
20 R r
20 R2 b2

3. Jackson 2.13; Cracking an interesting integral

(a) Let (b, 0 ) = V1 for 0 < 0 < and V2 for < 0 < 2. It follows
from the Green function given in Prob. 2.12 that
Z
V1
d0
(, ) =
(1 2 )
2
0
2
0 1 + 2 cos ( )
Z 2
V2
d0
+
(1 2 )
2
0
2
1 + 2 cos ( )
where = /b. Notice that the second integral can be obtained from
the first by the transformation . It follows that
1
[V1 I(, ) + V2 I(, )]
2

(, ) = (1 2 )
where

I(, ) =

d
1 + 2 2 cos

With a change of variables to x = ei , we can then rewrite the

integral as
Z
i x0
dx
I(, ) =
x0 (x )(x 1/)
where x0 = ei . In this later form, the integral may be done using a
partial fraction decomposition. One finds

i
(1 x0 )(x1
0 + 1)
I(, ) =
ln
1 2
(1 + x0 )(x1
0 1)

2
i
1 2i sin
=
ln
1 2
1 + 2 + 2i sin
The absolute values of the numerator and denominator in the above
fraction are equal. The phase of the numerator is
arctan( sin /(1 2 ))
and the phase of the denominator is
+ arctan( sin /(1 2 ))
. Therefore
I(, ) =

1
2 sin

+
2
arctan
1 2
1 2

(n.b. This integral is given in Eq. (47a) on p. 100 of Integraltafel, teil

2, Bestimmte Integrale, W. Grobner & N. Hofreiter, Springer (1958).)
Combining terms, we find

V1 + V2
V1 V2
2b sin
(, ) =
+
arctan
2

b2 2
(n.b. Jacksons cylinder is rotated by /2 with respect to ours)
(b) Surface charge density:

V1 V2
= 0 Er = 0
csc .
= 0
=b
b
Equal and opposite charges accumulate on the two halves and the
charge density diverges at the gap!
(c) Jackson 2.13; Alternative solution.
Expand (, ) in a series:
(, ) = a0 +

an n cos n +

n=1

X
n=1

bn n sin n

The expansion coefficients are easily found in terms of the potentials

on the surface.
V1 + V2
2
an = 0, n > 0
a0 =

2(V1 V2 )
bn

bn =

n = 1, 3, . . .

Therefore
(, ) =

2n+1
V1 + V2 (V1 V2 ) X
1
+
2
sin (2m + 1)
2

(2m + 1) b
m=0

Now, let z = ei /b and note that (twice) the sum becomes

#
"

2n+1
X
X z 2m+1
1
c.c.
S=2
sin (2m + 1) = i
(2m + 1) b
(2m + 1)
m=0
m=0
Make a second transformation z = i to obtain
"
#
X (1)m 2m+1
S=
+ c.c. = arctan + arctan
(2m
+
1)
m=0
From the rule tan (A + B) = (tan A + tan B)/(1 tan A tan B), it
follows
tan S =

+
z z
(/b) sin
2b sin
= i
=2
= 2

1
1 zz
1 (/b)2
b 2

The sum S is therefore

S = arctan
and

2b sin
b2 2

V1 + V2
V1 V2
(, ) =
+
arctan
2

2b sin
b2 2

4. Jackson 2.16: Green Function for rectangular region. The potential is

given by
Z 1 Z 1
1
dx0 dy 0 G(x, y; x0 y 0 )(x0 , y 0 )
(x, y) =
40 0
0

Z y
Z

2 X sin nx
0
0
=
sinh ny 0 dy 0
sin nx dx sinh n(1 y)
0 n=1 n sinh n 0
0

Z 1
0
0
sinh ny
sinh n(1 y ) dy (x0 , y 0 )
y

For the case of a uniform charge distribution (x, y) = 1, we can carry out
the integrals easily:
Z 1
2
sin nx0 dx0 =
for odd n and 0 for even n
n
0
Z y
1
sinh ny 0 dy 0 =
[cosh ny 1]
n
0
Z 1
1
sinh n(1 y 0 ) dy 0 =
[cosh n(1 y) 1]
n
y
The combination arising from the y 0 integration can be simplified:
(cosh ny 1) sinh n(1 y) + (cosh n(1 y) 1) sinh ny
= sinh n sinh ny sinh n(1 y)

1
2 sinh n
2 cosh n(y 2 )
= sinh n 1
sinh n

cosh n(y 12 )
= sinh n 1
cosh n
2
Collecting terms and introducing m through n = 2m + 1, we obtain
"
#

cosh (2m + 1)(y 12 )

4 X sin (2m + 1)x
(x, y) = 3
1
0 m=0 (2m + 1)3
cosh (2m+1)
2

Here is a plot of 40 (x, y) obtained by summing terms up to m = 10

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

1
0.8
0.6
0.2

0.4
0.4
0.2

0.6
0.8
10