Classical Electrodynamics PHY5346

HOMEWORK 6
(October 15, 2012)
Due on Thursday, October 25, 2012
PROBLEM 16
Consider two electric dipole moments, one p
1
located at the origin and a second one
p
2
located a distance r away.
(a) Compute the potential energy between the two dipoles in terms of p
1
, p
2
, and r.
Now assume that: (1) the magnitude of both dipoles are equal; (2) the rst
dipole denes the z-axis; and (3) both the second dipole and r lie in the xz-
plane. In the interest of uniformity, call the angle between p
2
and the z-axis
and the corresponding angle for r.
(b) Show that for this situation, the potential energy between the two dipoles may
be written as
U(r, , ) =
p
2
r
3
f(, ) .
Make sure to identify the function f(, ).
(c) Make a plot of f(, ) as a function of for = 0, /2, . Study a few regions
of attraction/repulsion and make sure that they satisfy your physical intuition.
PROBLEM 17
A deformed nucleus in the form of an ellipsoid contains a charge density
0
that is
uniformly distributed throughout its volume. The nuclear ellipsoid is dened by the
following equation:
x
2
a
2
+
y
2
b
2
+
z
2
c
2
= 1 .
(a) Use Cartesian coordinates to compute the electric charge q, the dipole moment
p
i
, and the quadrupole moment Q
ij
of the nucleus.
(b) Use the results obtained in part (a) to obtain the rst three (i.e., l = 0, 1, 2)
multipole moments of the nucleus.
PROBLEM 18 (J.D. Jackson 4.7)
A localized distribution of charge has a charge density given by
(r) =
1
64
r
2
e
r
sin
2
.
(a) Make a multipole expansion of the potential due to this charge density and
determine all the non-vanishing multipole moments. Write down the potential
at large distances as a nite expansion in Legendre polynomials.
(b) Determine the potential explicitly at any point in space, and show that near the
origin it behaves (correct to order r
2
) as
(r)
1
4

r
2
120
P
2
(cos ) .