Multipole expansion of Electrostatic

Potential
We have seen earlier that when the charge distribution has sufficient symmetry or when the
potential is required on a symmetry axis of the distribution, one can obtain potential due
to it at a point outside the distribution by solving Laplace’s equation with appropriate
boundary conditions. In general, the problem of finding potential due to an arbitrary
charge distribution is difficult and one must take recourse to approximations. One such
procedure is what is known as the multipole expansion of the potential at a point far
removed from the charge distribution. In this approximation, the potential is expressed
as a sum of contributions due to charge monopole, a dipole, a quadrupole etc. The
1
essential idea of the distribution is to expand as power series in 1/r where ~r is
|~r − ~r0 |
the position vector of the point at which the potential is required and ~r0 is the position
vector of a charge element in the charge distribution.
1.0 Expansion in Spherical coordinates
We will first consider the expression for the potential in spherical coordinates.

r − r’
P

r’
r

O
Consider a charge distribution shown in the figure above. The potential at the point
P (~r) due to the charge distribution is given by

1 ρ(~r0 ) 3 0
V (~r) = dr (1)
4π0 |~r − ~r0 |

Far from the charge distribution, we may obtain an expansion of the potential as a power
series in 1/r, where r is the distance of the point P from the origin. denoting the angle
between ~r and ~r0 by θ, we have
1/2
r02 r0

1 1
= 1 + 2 − 2 cos θ (2)
|~r − ~r0 | r r r

The expansion is obtained by expressing the above as a power series using a binomial
2 D.K.
c Ghosh, IIT Bombay

expansion of the above,

1/2
r02 r0 r02 r0
  
1 + 2 − 2 cos θ =1− − cos θ +
r r 2r2 r
 02 2
1 1 3 r r0
(− )(− ) 2 − 2 cos θ +
2! 2 2 r r
 02 3
1 1 3 5 r r0
(− )(− )(− ) 2 − 2 cos θ + . . . (3)
3! 2 2 2 r r

We will collect the first four terms of the above. The first term is clearly 1. Thus if the
1 1R
series is truncated here, the potential simply becomes ρ(~r0 )d3 r0 , which is just the
4π0 r
potential one would obtain if all the charges are assumed to be concentrated at the origin.
This is also called the monopole term in the expansion of the potential.
r0 r0
The term proportional to is cos θ. This leads to a potential term
r r

Z
1 1
V = r0 cos θρ(~r0 )d3 r0 (4)
4π0 r2
Z
1 1
= (r̂ · ~r0 )ρ(~r0 )d3 r0
4π0 r2
1 r̂ · p~
= (5)
4π0 r2

where in the last but one step, we have used the fact that θ is the angle between the
vectors ~r and ~r0 . The equation (5) represents the dipole term in the potential, which is
obtained by generalizing the definition of an elementary dipole to the case of a charge
distribution. Consider an elementary dipole which consists of two charges ±q, separated
by a distance d. The potential due to it at a point P which is at a distance r from the
centre of the dipole is given by
+q
r+
d/2 θ P
r
O
d/2 r_
_q

 
1 q q
V (r) = −
4π0 r+ r−
 D.
c K. Ghosh, IIT Bombay 3

d2 d2
 
2 2 2 d
where r± =r + ∓ rd cos θ = r 1 ∓ cos θ + 2 . For r  d, we have
4 r 4r
 1/2
1 1 d
' 1∓ cos θ
r± r r
 
1 d
' 1± cos θ
r 2r
Thus
1 1 d
− ≈ 2 cos θ
r+ r− r
which gives the dipole potential to be given by
1 qd cos θ 1 p cos θ
Vdip = 2
= (6)
4π0 r 4π0 r2
where p~ = qdp̂, the direction of dipole moment being from the negative charge to the
positive charge. This shows that the potential decreases more rapidly than that due to
a monopole. This definition for two charges is generalized to the case of a collection of
discrete charges, X
p~ = qi~ri (7)
i

Or, in case of continuous charge distribution,

Z
p~ = ~rρ(~r)d3 r (8)

Using the relationship (7) we can see that the dipole moment is independent of origin if
the total charge of the distribution is zero, for if we let ~ri → ~ri + ~a, the expression on
P P
the right of this equation becomes i qi ri + ~a i qi . For the potential given by (6), the
electric field components are
∂V 2p cos θ
Er = − = (9)
∂r 4π0 r3
1 ∂V p sin θ
Eθ = − = (10)
r ∂θ 4π0 r3
1 ∂V
Eϕ = − =0 (11)
r sin θ ∂ϕ
r02
The next two terms in the expansion (3) gives terms proportional respectively to and
r2
r03
and are
r3
r02 3 r02 2 r02 1
− 2
+ 2
cos θ = 2
(3 cos2 θ − 1) (12)
2r 2r r 2
03 03
3 r 1 15 8r r03
(−4 3 cos θ) + (− )(− 3 cos3 θ) = 3 (5 cos3 θ − 3 cos α) (13)
8 r 6 8 r 2r
4 D.K.
c Ghosh, IIT Bombay

Equation (22) gives the quadrupole term in the expansion of the potential, which is given
by
2
0 (3 cos θ − 1) 3 0
Z
1 1 02
Vquad = r ρ(~r ) dr (14)
4π0 r3 2
Similarly (13) gives the octupole term in the expansion of the potential
3
0 (5 cos θ − 3 cos θ) 3 0
Z
1 1 03
Voctu = r ρ(~r ) dr (15)
4π0 r4 2
This expressions are generalization of the potential due to a quadrupole and an octupole,
respectively, made of discrete charges shown in the figure.
y
+q _q
_q +q _q

_q +q
d/2

+2q _q +q
x
O
_ d/2
_q
_q _q +q
+q

(a) A planar quadrupole (b) a linear quadrupole An Octupole

One can continue the expansion by including higher and higher order terms. Equations
(4),(14), (15), along with the monopole term in the expansion of the potential can be
written as
 Z Z
1 1 1
V (~r) = ρ(~r )P0 (cos θ)d r + 2 r0 ρ(~r0 )P1 (cos θ)d3 r0
0 3 0
4π0 r r
Z Z 
1 02 0 3 0 1 03 0 3 0
+ 3 r ρ(~r )P2 (cos θ)d r + 4 r ρ(~r )P3 (cos θ)d r (16)
r r

In equation (16), the angle dependent integrands are

P0 (cos θ) = 1
P1 (cos θ) = cos θ
1
P2 (cos θ) = (3 cos2 θ − 1)
2
1
P3 (cos θ) = (5 cos3 θ − 3 cos θ)
2
Legendre polynomials of orders 0 to 2. In general, the expansion of the potential can be
written down as ∞  Z 
1 X 1 0n 0 3 0
V (~r) = r ρ(~r )Pn (cos θ)d r (17)
4π0 n=0 rn+1
Note that this expansion assumes that the point P lies on the z-axis so that the angle θ is
usual polar angle. One can obtain an unrestricted expansion in the spherical basis, which
leads to spherical harmonics instead of the Legendre polynomial. This would bring out
 D.
c K. Ghosh, IIT Bombay 5

the tensor nature of the quadrupole moment. However, we will not touch upon this in
our course. Instead, we will consider the expansion in rectangular coordinates.
Multipole expansion in Cartesian Coordinates
One can expand the potential expression (1) in Cartesian coordinates. In this method, we
1
expand the function in a Taylor series in three variables x, y and z around origin.
|~r − ~r0 |
Using results proved in multi-variable calculus, we have

f (x, y, z) = α0 + αx (x − x0 ) + αy (y − y0 ) + αz (z − z0 )
+ αxx (x − x0 )2 + αyy (y − y0 )2 + αzz (z − z0 )2
+ αxy (x − x0 )(y − y0 ) + αyz (y − y0 )(z − z0 ) + αzx (z − z0 )(x − x0 ) + . . . (18)

where the coefficients of the expansion are given by

α0 = f (x0 , y0 , z0 )
∂f ∂f ∂f
αx = |x0 ,y0 ,z0 ; αy = |x0 ,y0 ,z0 ; αz = |x ,y ,z
∂x ∂y ∂z 0 0 0
1 ∂ 2f 1 ∂ 2f 1 ∂ 2f
αxx = |x ,y ,z ; α yy = |x ,y ,z ; α zz = |x ,y ,z
2! ∂x2 0 0 0 2! ∂y 2 0 0 0 2! ∂z 2 0 0 0
1 ∂ 2f 1 ∂ 2f 1 ∂ 2f
αxy = |x0 ,y0 ,z0 ; αyz = |x0 ,y0 ,z0 ; αzx = |x ,y ,z (19)
2! ∂x∂y 2! ∂y∂z 2! ∂z∂x 0 0 0
where it is assumed that the order of differentiation in the last term is unimportant. The
function that we need to expand is
1 1
0
=p
|~r − ~r | (x − x ) + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2
0 2

and since we are expanding about the origin with r  r0 , we have x0 = 0 = y0 = z0 . The
differentiations are with respect to the primed variables. We have
∂ 1 1 −2(x − x0 )
= −
∂x0 (x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 2 [(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
p

(x − x0 )
=
[(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
Substituting x0 = y 0 = z 0 = 0, we get
x
αx =
r3
By symmetry, it follows that
y z
3
αy =
; αz = 3
r r
Let us calculate the second derivatives. We have
∂2 1 ∂ (x − x0 )
=
∂x02 (x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ∂x0 [(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
p
6 D.K.
c Ghosh, IIT Bombay

Differentiating we get

−3 −2(x − x0 )2 1
( ) 0 0 0
−
2 2 2
2 [(x − x ) + (y − y ) + (z − z ) ]5/2 [(x − x ) + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
0 2

3(x − x0 )2 − [(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]
=
[(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
Once again, substituting x0 = y 0 = z 0 = 0 we have

3x2 − r2
αxx =
2r5
and likewise
3y 2 − r2 3z 2 − r2 5
αyy = ; αzz = r
2r5 2
For the other set of three second derivatives, we have

∂2 1 ∂ (x − x0 )
=
∂y 0 ∂x0 (x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ∂y 0 [(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]3/2
p

The right hand side evaluates to

3(x − x0 )(y − y 0 )
[(x − x0 )2 + (y − y 0 )2 + (z − z 0 )2 ]5/2

which gives
3xy
αxy = αyx =
2r5
Analogously
3yz 3zx
αyz = αzy = 5
; αzx = αxz = 5
2r 2r
In the present case, the terms in equation (18) are to be obtained by letting x, y, z →
x0 , y 0 , z 0 and setting x0 = y0 = z0 = 0. Thus the expression for the potential (1), becomes,
keeping terms only up to quadrupole moment terms
" Z 3 Z
1 1 0 3 0
X xi
V (x, y, z) = ρ(r )d r + 3
x0i ρ(r0 )d3 r0
4π0 r i=1
r
3 3 3
#
3x2i − r2
Z Z
X
02 0 3 0
X X 3xi xj 0 0 0 3 0
+ xi ρ(r )d r + xi xj ρ(r )d r (20)
i=1
2r5 i=1 j=1,j6=i
2r5

The last two terms inside the bracket of the above expression can be rearranged as follows:
3 X
3
r2
Z Z
X xi xj
3x0i x0j ρ(r0 )d3 r0 − 5 r02 ρ(r0 )d3 r0
i=1 j=1
2r5 2r
 D.
c K. Ghosh, IIT Bombay 7

where we have used i x02 02 2

P P 2 P
i = r . We may rewrite r = i xi = i,j δi,j xi xj . This makes
the above to be equal to
3 3
1 XX
xi xj (3x0i x0j − δi,j r02 )
2r5 i=1 j=1

With these simplifications, the expression for the potential becomes

" Z 3 Z
1 1 0 3 0
X xi
V (x, y, z) = ρ(r )d r + 3
x0i ρ(r0 )d3 r0
4π0 r i=1
r
3 3 Z #
1 XX
+ 5 xi xj (3x0i x0j − δi,j ri02 )ρ(r0 )d3 r (21)
2r i=1 j=1,

The quadrupole moment tensor is a tensor of rank 2 having 9 components, which are
defined by the integral in the last term of (21)
Z
Qij = ρ(r0 )(3x0i x0j − δi,j ri02 )d3 r0 (22)

It is a traceless tensor which can be seen easily

Q11 + Q22 + Q33 = 0

Conventionally, when the charge distribution has azimuthal symmetry, one has Q11 = Q22
one defines the quadrupole moment to be given by Q33 , which is then also equal to
−2Q11 = −2Q22 in view of the traceless nature of the quadrupole moment. It is easy to
see that in spherical coordinates
Z Z
Q33 = ρ(r )(3z − r ) = ρ(r0 )(3 cos2 θ − 1)
0 2 2

as obtained before.
Examples :
Example 1 : Consider the planar quadrupole shown in Figure 2(a). The charge density
is discrete and is given by ρ(r0 ) = +qδ(x0 − d/2)δ(y 0 − d/2)δ(z 0 ) − qδ(x0 + d/2)δ(y 0 −
d/2)δ(z 0 ) + qδ(x0 + d/2)δ(y 0 + d/2)δ(z 0 ) − qδ(x0 − d/2)δ(y 0 + d/2)δ(z 0 ). In this case, only
Q12 and Q21 are non-zero and each is given by Q = 3d2 q. The potential is the given by

1 1 3qd2 xy
V = [Q 12 xy + Q21 yx] =
4π0 2r5 4π0 r5
Example 2 : (From Griffiths Problem 3.27) : A sphere of radius R , centered at the
origin, carries a charge density
R
ρ(r, θ) = k (R − 2r) sin θ,
r2
8 D.K.
c Ghosh, IIT Bombay

where k is constant. Find the approximate potential outside the sphere along z-axis, far
from the sphere.
We will expand the potential in multipoles. The monopole terms is zero , as can be seen
by calculating the total charge,
Z R Z π
R − 2r
Q =kR dr sin θ2πr2 sin θdθ
0 0 r2
Z R Z π
π
= 2πkR (R − 2r)dr sin2 θdθ = 2πkR(Rr − r2 )|R
0 × =0
0 0 2
We next calculate the dipole term, which is obtained by multiplying the integrand above
by r cos θ. In this case, the angle integration is
Z π
sin3 θ π
sin2 θ cos θdθ = | =0
0 3 0
Thus the dipole term also does not contribute to the potential. We next calculate the
R
quadrupole term, given by Q = ρ(r)r2 (3 cos2 θ−1)d3 r. This can be calculated as follows:
Z R Z π
2
Qzz = 2πkR r (R − 2r)dr sin2 θ(3 cos2 θ − 1)dθ
0
Z 0π
Rr3 r4
= 2πkR( − 2 )|R × (3 cos2 θ − 1) sin2 θdθ
3 4 0 0
R4 π kπ 2 R5
= 2πkR × =
6 8 24
The potential due to the quadrupole is

1 Qzz kπR5
V = =
4π0 2r3 1920 r3