c) Sketch the field lines and equipotentials.

The equipotentials correspond to (⇢, ) = 0. To see what this looks like, we

may invert (6) to solve for b as a function of at fixed 0 . The result is
✓ ◆
2⇢2 b2 sin 2 ⇡ 0
= tan
b4 ⇢4 2V
s
sin 2 sin2 2
) (⇢/b) =2
+ 1+
tan(⇡ 0 /2V ) tan2 (⇡ 0 /2V )

A plot of the equipotentials is given by

−V V

V −V

where we have also shown the electric field lines (the curves with arrows).

2.15 a) Show that the Green function G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) appropriate for Dirichlet boundary
conditions for a square two-dimensional region, 0  x  1, 0  y  1, has an
expansion
1
X
G(x, y; x , y ) = 2
0 0
gn (y, y 0 ) sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 )
n=1

where gn (y, y 0 ) satisfies

✓ ◆
@2 2 2
n ⇡ gn (y, y 0 ) = 4⇡ (y 0 y) and gn (y, 0) = gn (y, 1) = 0
@y 02

We start by recalling the the Green’s function is defined by

(@x20 + @y20 )G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) = 4⇡ (x0 x) (y 0 y) (7)

Although this is symmetric in x0 and y 0 , the problem suggests that we begin by

expanding in x0 (and also x). This of course breaks the symmetry in the expanded
form of the Green’s function by treating x0 somewhat di↵erently. Nevertheless
G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) is unique for the given boundary conditions; it just may admit
 di↵erent expansions, and we are free to choose whatever expansion is the most
convenient.
Given the boundary condition that G vanishes for x0 = 0 and x0 = 1, this suggests
an expansion in a Fourier sine series
1
X
G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) = fn (x, y; y 0 ) sin(n⇡x0 )
n=1

Substituting this into (7) then gives

1
X
(@y20 n2 ⇡ 2 )fn (x, y; y 0 ) sin(n⇡x0 ) = 4⇡ (x0 x) (y 0 y) (8)
n=1

However this is not particularly useful (yet), since the (x0 x) on the right hand
side does not match with the Fourier sine series on the left. We can get around
this by invoking the completeness relation for the sine series
1
X
sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 ) = 1
2 (x x0 )
n=1

By replacing the delta function in (8) by this sum, we end up with

1
X 1
X
(@y20 n ⇡ )fn (x, y; y ) sin(n⇡x ) =
2 2 0 0
8⇡ (y 0
y) sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 ) (9)
n=1 n=1

Matching left and right sides of the Fourier sine series indicates that the x be-
havior of fn (x, y; y 0 ) must be given by sin(n⇡x). Putting in a factor of two for
convenience
fn (x, y; y 0 ) = 2gn (y, y 0 ) sin(n⇡x)
finally motivates the expansion
1
X
G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) = 2 gn (y, y 0 ) sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 )
n=1

When this is inserted into (9), we match the x and x0 behavior perfectly, and we
are left with an equation in y 0

(@y20 n2 ⇡ 2 )gn (y, y 0 ) = 4⇡ (y 0 y) (10)

The boundary conditions are that G vanishes at y 0 = 0 and y 0 = 1. Hence we

must also demand gn (y, 0) = gn (y, 1) = 0.
b) Taking for gn (y, y 0 ) appropriate linear combinations of sinh(n⇡y 0 ) and cosh(n⇡y 0 )
in the two regions, y 0 < y and y 0 > y, in accord with the boundary conditions
and the discontinuity in slope required by the source delta function, show that
the explicit form of G is
1
X 1
G(x, y; x , y ) = 8
0 0
sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 ) sinh(n⇡y< ) sinh[n⇡(1 y> )]
n=1
n sinh(n⇡)

where y< (y> ) is the smaller (larger) of y and y 0 .

To find the Green’s function for (10), we begin with the solution to the homoge-
neous equation (@y20 n2 ⇡ 2 )gn (y, y 0 ) = 0. This clearly has exponential solutions
0
e±n⇡y , or equivalently sinh(n⇡y 0 ) and cosh(n⇡y 0 ). As a result, we can write the
Green’s function as
⇢
g< ⌘ a< sinh(n⇡y 0 ) + b< cosh(n⇡y 0 ) y 0 < y
gn (y, y ) =
0
(11)
g> ⌘ a> sinh(n⇡y 0 ) + b> cosh(n⇡y 0 ) y 0 > y

We wish to solve for the four constants a< , b< , a> , b> given the boundary condi-
tions gn (y, 0) = 0, gn (y, 1) = 0 and the continuity and jump conditions

g> = g< @y0 g> = @y0 g< 4⇡ when y0 = y

We start with the boundary conditions. For g< to vanish at y 0 = 0 we must take
the sinh solution, while for g> to vanish at y 0 = 1 we end up with a> sinh(n⇡) +
b> cosh(n⇡) = 0 or b> = a> tanh(n⇡). Thus
⇢
a< sinh(n⇡y 0 ) y0 < y
gn (y, y ) =
0
(12)
a> [sinh(n⇡y 0 ) tanh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y 0 )] y 0 > y

The continuity and jump conditions yield the system of equations

✓ ◆✓ ◆ ✓ ◆
sinh(n⇡y) sinh(n⇡y) + tanh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y) a< 0
=
cosh(n⇡y) cosh(n⇡y) + tanh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y) a> 4/n

which is solved by
✓ ◆ ✓ ◆
a< 4 sinh(n⇡y) tanh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y)
=
a> n tanh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y)
✓ ◆
4 cosh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y) sinh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y)
=
n sinh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y)

Inserting this into (12) gives

4
gn (y, y 0 ) =
n sinh(n⇡)
⇢
sinh(n⇡y 0 )[sinh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y) cosh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y)] y 0 < y
⇥
sinh(n⇡y)[sinh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y 0 ) cosh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y 0 )] y 0 > y
 This is simplified by noting

sinh[n⇡(1 y)] = sinh(n⇡) cosh(n⇡y) cosh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y)

and by using the definition y< = min(y, y 0 ) and y> = max(y, y 0 ). The result is

4
gn (y, y 0 ) = sinh(n⇡y< ) sinh[n⇡(1 y> )]
n sinh(n⇡)

which yields
X 8
G(x, y; x0 , y 0 ) = sin(n⇡x) sin(n⇡x0 ) sinh(n⇡y< ) sinh[n⇡(1 y> )]
n
n sinh(n⇡)

Alternatively, instead of using (11), note that we can automatically solve the
boundary conditions gn (y, 0) = gn (y, 1) = 0 by writing
⇢
g< ⌘ a< sinh(n⇡y 0 ) y0 < y
gn (y, y ) =
0
g> ⌘ a> sinh[n⇡(1 y 0 )] y 0 > y

Solving the continuity and jump conditions then gives directly

4 sinh[n⇡(1 y)] 4 sinh(n⇡y)

a< = , a> =
n sinh(n⇡) n sinh(n⇡)

so that
⇢
4 sinh[n⇡(1 y)] sinh(n⇡y 0 ) y 0 < y
gn (y, y ) =
0
n sinh(n⇡) sinh(n⇡y) sinh[n⇡(1 y 0 )] y 0 > y

which is the same result as above. Finally, we note that the one-dimensional
Green’s function gn (y, y 0 ) can also be obtained through Sturm-Liouville theory
as
1
gn (y, y 0 ) = u(y< )v(y> )
A
where u(y 0 ) and v(y 0 ) are solutions to the homogeneous equation satisfying bound-
ary conditions at y 0 = 0 and y 0 = 1, respectively. Here A is a constant given by
W (u, v) = A/p where W is the Wronskian, and the self-adjoint di↵erential oper-
ator is
d d
L = 0 p(y 0 ) 0 + q(y 0 )
dy dy

2.22 a) For the example of oppositely charged conducting hemispherical shells separated
by a tiny gap, as shown in Figure 2.8, show that the interior potential (r < a) on
the z axis is 
a (a2 z 2 )
in (z) = V 1 p
z a a2 + z 2