PHYS809

Class 20 Notes
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

eim( ) , ( z z ) =

m =

1
2

ik ( z z )
e 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 kI m ( k ) m
kK m ( k ) m
.
=
d ( k )
d ( k )

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

(16.6)

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
= k
ek
e

e
ek
2k
2k
2 k
2 k

(16.8)

1
.

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)