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5233 l21
5233 l21
LECTURE 21
Green's Identities
r F dV =
Z
@D
F n dS
where @D is the boundary of D and n(r) is the unit vector that is (outward) normal to the surface @D at
the point r 2 @D.
(21.2)
r2 dV
@D
r n dS :
Recall that the identity (21.2) was essential to the proof that any extrema of a solution of 2-dimensional
Laplace's equation
2
must occur on the boundary of region. The analogous proposition about extrema for solutions of Laplace's
equation in n-dimensions is also true and again it is relatively easy consequence of (21.2).
Another special case of Stokes' theorem comes from the choice
(21.3)
F = r :
For this case, Stokes' theorem says
Z
(21.4)
Using the identity
(21.5)
we nd (21.4) is equivalent to
(21.6)
r (r ) dV =
@D
r ndS :
r (F) = r F + r F
r r dV +
Z
D
r2 dV =
Z
@D
r r dV +
r2 dV =
91
Z
@D
r n dS :
r n dS :
92
(r) = jr , r1 j +
o
Notice that if satises Laplace's equation the rst term on the right hand side vanishes and so we have
R
(ro ) = ,41 @D jr,1roj r , r jr,1roj ndS
(21.10)
R @ 1
1 @ dS :
= 41 @D @n
,
r,ro jr,roj @n
@
Here @n is the directional derivative corresponding to the surface normal vector n. Thus, if satises
Laplace's equation in D then its value at any point ro 2 D is completely determined by the values of and
@
on the boundary of D.
@n
93
r2 , r2 dV =
Z
@D
(r , r) n dS
94
Then the last integral on the right hand side of (21.19) vanishes and so we have
Z
Z
(ro ) = G(r; ro)f (r) dV + h(r) @G
(21.21)
(r; ro) dS :
@n
D
@D
Thus, once we nd a solution o (r; ro) to the homogenenous Laplace equation satisfying the boundary
condition (21.20), we have a closed formula for the solution of the PDE/BVP (21.14) in terms of integrals of
(r; ro) times the function h(r) describing the boundary
G (r; ro) times the driving function f (r), and of @G
@n
conditions on . Note that the Green's function G (r; ro) is xed once we x o which in turn depends only
on the nature of the boundary of the region D (through condition (21.20)).
Example
Let us nd the Green's function corresponding to the interior of sphere of radius R centered about the
origin. We seek to nd a solution of o of the homogenous Laplace's equation such that (21.20) is satised.
This is accomplished by the following trick.
Suppose (r; ; ) is a solution of the homogeneous Laplace equation inside the sphere of radius R centered
at the origin. For r > R, we dene a function
2
(21.22)
~ (r; ; ) = R R ; ; :
r
I claim that ~ (r; ; ) so dened also satises Laplace's equation in the region exterior to the sphere.
To prove this, it suces to show that
@
@
(21.23)
r2 @@r~ + sin(1 ) @
sin() @@~ + sin21() @@ 2 ~2
0 = r2 r~ = @r
or
!
!
@
@ ~
1
@
@ ~
1 @ 2 ~ :
2
(21.24)
r
=
,
sin(
)
,
@r
@r
sin() @
@
sin2 () @ 2
Set
R2
(21.25)
:
u=
r
so that
2
r = Ru
(21.26)
~ (r; ; ) = Ru (u; ; ) 2
@
R @
u2 @
@
= , du
@r
dr @u = , r 2 @u = , R2 @u
and so
4
,
2 @
@
R
r2 @@r~ = , Ru 2 @u
, Ru22 @u@ Ru
@r
u2
,@
@
= uR2 @u
(u)
@u
= uR2 u @@u22 + 2 @@u
, @ , @
(21.27)
2
= Ru @u
u @u ,
2
@
sin(
) @@ + sin21() @@ 2
= , Ru sin(1 ) @
@
= , sin(1 ) @
sin() @@~ + sin21() @@ 2 ~2
Notice that
lim ~ (r; ; ) = (r; ; )
(21.28)
r !R
This transform is called Kelvin inversion.
95
Now let return to the problem of nding a Green's function for the interior of a sphere of radius. Let
~r = r
(21.29)
R2
R2
; ; = 2 r :
r
r
r2 (r) = f (r) ; r 2 B
(R; ; ) = 0 :
where B is a ball of radius R centered about the origin. According to the formula (21.21) and (21.33), the
solution of (21.36) is given by
(ro ) =
=
ZB
B
@B
h ( ; )
@G
(r; ro) dS
@n
96
Thus,
(r; ; ) =
2 Z