W3007 – Electricity and Magnetism 1

The electric field of a dipole

We know that the dipole contribution to the electrostatic potential is
1 r̂ · p
1
r · p

Vdip (
r) = = , (1)
4π0 r 2 4π0 r 3
where
p is the charge distribution’s dipole moment, which is an intrinsic (vector) property of the
source and does not depend on
r. What is the corresponding electric field? It is

E
dip .

dip = −∇V (2)

To take the gradient, it is convenient to use the “cartesian tensor” notation, with Einstein’s
convention that whenever an index appears twice in a product, summation over all possible values
that index can take is understood. So, for instance, the potential is
1 ri pi
Vdip = , (3)
4π0 r 3

3
where ri pi ≡ i=1 ri pi =
r · p
. With this notation, the j-th component of the electric field is

∂ 1 ∂  ri 
Ejdip = − Vdip = − pi . (4)
∂rj 4π0 ∂rj r 3

To compute the partial derivative, we first decompose it into

∂  ri  ∂ri 1 ∂ 1
= + r i . (5)
∂rj r 3 ∂rj r 3 ∂rj r 3

As to the first term, we have

∂ri
= δij , (6)
∂rj
where δij is the Kronecker-delta: it is one for i = j, and zero otherwise. Eq. (6) is just a fancy
way of writing
∂x ∂x
=1, =0, etc. (7)
∂x ∂y
in a compact notation. As to the second term in eq. (5), we have

∂ 1  1  r̂  
r  rj
=

∇ = −3 = −3 = −3 5 . (8)
∂rj r 3 r j
3 r j
4 r j5 r

Eq. (5) thus reduces to

∂  ri  1 ri rj 
= 3 δij − 3 2 . (9)
∂rj r 3 r r
2 The electric field of a dipole

As a final step, to compute the electric field according to eq. (4), we have to multiply eq. (9) by
pi and, following the summation convention, sum over i = 1, 2, 3. We have

1 1 (pi ri )rj 
Ejdip = − p i δij − 3 . (10)
4π0 r 3 r2
Now, pi δij = pj , because the Kronecker-delta combined with the summation over all possible i’s
selects the term with i = j. Also pi ri = p
·
r. We finally get

1 1  (
p ·
r)rj 
Ejdip = 3 − p j , (11)
4π0 r 3 r2
or, going back to vector notation:

dip = 1 1  (
p ·
r)
r 
E 3 − p

(12)
4π0 r 3 r2
1 1 
= p
3(
· r̂)r̂ − p

(13)
4π0 r 3