Problem 1.

14

Consider the electrostatic Green functions of Section 1.10 for Dirichlet and Neumann bound-
ary conditions on the surface S bounding the volume V . Apply Green's theorem (1.35) with
integration variable ~y and ' = G(~x; ~y), = G(~x0; ~y), with ry G(~z; ~y) = 4(~y ~z). Find
2

an expression for the dierence [G(~x; ~x0) G(~x0; ~x)] in terms of an integral over the boundary
surface S .
Starting with equation 1.35:
Z I  
r ' d y = ' @@n @'


'r 2 2 3
da
V S @n
Z I  

@ @'
G(~x; ~y)r2y G(~x0 ; ~y) G(~x0 ; ~y)r2y G(~x; ~y) d3 y = ' da
V S @n @n
Z Z I  
@ @'
G(~x; ~y) [ 4 (~y ~x0 )] d3 y G(~x0 ; ~y) [ 4 (~y ~x)] d3 y = ' da
V V S @n @n
I  
4G(~x; ~x0) + 4G(~x0; ~x) = ' @@n @'
@n
da
S
 
G(~x; ~x0 ) G(~x0 ; ~x) =
1 I G(~x; ~y) @G(~x0; ~y) G(~x0; ~y) @G(~x; ~y) da
4 S @n @n

1.14.a
For Dirichlet boundary conditions on the potential and the associated boundary condition
on the Green function, show that GD (~x; ~x0) must be symmetric in ~x and ~x0.
Note that GD (~x; ~y) = 0 and GD (~x0; ~y) = 0 on the bounding surface. Therefore:
I  
1
D (
 :
 0 @G (~x0 ; ~y )
 
: 0 @G (~x ; ~
y )
0 0
GD (~x; ~x ) GD (~x ; ~x) =
4 S  G ~x; ~y) D
@n GD (~x ; ~y)
0 D
@n
da
GD (~x; ~x0 ) GD (~x0 ; ~x) = 0

) GD (~x; ~x0 ) = GD (~x0 ; ~x)

1
1.14.b
For Neumann boundary conditions, use the boundary conditions (1.45) for GN (~x; ~x0) to show
that GN (~x; ~x0) is not symmetric in general but that GN (~x; ~x0) F (~x) is symmetric in ~x and
~x0 , where I
F (~x) =
1 GN (~x; ~x0 )day
S S
 
GN (~x; ~x0 ) GN (~x0 ; ~x) =
1 I G (~x; ~y) @GN (~x0; ~y) G (~x0; ~y) @GN (~x; ~y) da
4 I S  N 
@n

N

@n

0 0
GN (~x; ~x ) GN (~x ; ~x) =
1 4  0 4 
4I S GN (~x; ~y) S GN (~x ; ~y)
S
da

GN (~x; ~x0 ) GN (~x0 ; ~x) =

1 [G (~x; ~y) G (~x0; ~y)] da
I
S S N I
N

GN (~x; ~x0 )
1 G (~x; ~y)da = G (~x0; ~x) 1 G (~x0; ~y)da
N N N
|
S S {z }
S | S {z }
F (~x) F (~x0 )

) GN (~x; ~x0 ) F (~x) = GN (~x0 ; ~x) F (~x0 )

1.14.c
Show that the addition of F (~x) to the Green function does not aect the potential (~x).
See problem 3.26 for an example of the Neumann Green function.
Note that F (~x) is independent of ~x0. Therefore:
r0 F (~x) = 0
2

@F (~x)
@n0
=0

So:
r0 G(~x; ~x0) = r0 [GN (~x; ~x0) + F (~x)] = 4(~x ~x0)
2 2

@G(~x; ~x0 ) @ 4
0 = 0 [ GN (~x; ~x0 ) + F (~x)] =
@n @n S
Therefore, the addition of F (~x) does not aect the fact that G(~x; ~x0) is a valid Green function.
As a result, the fact that (~x) is a solution remains unaected. Because (~x) is a unique
solution, the fact that (~x) remains a solution must mean that (~x) remains unaected.