Dirac Delta Function

Shoresh Shafei

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University

Pullman, Washington 99164-2814
Feb, 10, 2008

1 Linear Transformation
We try to find Dirac delta function for different coordinates in 2 and 3
Dimensions. These forms of delta function are regularly used in solving
the Electrodynamics problems, when there are some charged distribution,
confined in a space, on surface or line. Having the definition of delta function
in Cartesian coordinates, one can find the form of delta function in any other
rectangular coordinates using the following procedure. If set of coordinates
⃗u is related to Cartesian coordinates via
ui = ui (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ), i = 1, . . . , n (1)
then
⃗ = 1 δ(⃗u − ⃗η )
δ(⃗x − ξ) (2)
J
where η = u(ξ) and the Jacobian J is given by1
∂ x⃗i
J(ξ) = det[ ] (3)
∂ u⃗j

2 Cartesian Coordinates
The form of delta function in 3 dimensional Cartesian coordinates is
δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = δ(x − x′ )δ(y − y ′ )δ(z − z ′ ) (4)
where δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = 0 for (x, y, z) ̸= (x′ , y ′ , z ′ ) and ∞ for (x, y, z) = (x′ , y ′ , z ′ )
1
Ref: S. I. Hayek, Advanced Mathematical Methods in Science and Engineering,Marcel
Decker Inc, 2001

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3 Spherical Coordinates
In Spherical Coordinates we have
x = r sin θ cos ϕ, y = r sin θ sin ϕ, z = r cos θ, (5)
So the Jacobian matrix reads to be
 ∂x ∂x ∂x

∂r ∂θ ∂ϕ
 ∂y ∂y ∂y  2
J = det  ∂r ∂θ ∂ϕ  = r sin θ (6)
∂z ∂z ∂z
∂r ∂θ ∂ϕ

Hence, in Spherical Coordinates, delta function has the following form:

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δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = δ(r − r′ )δ(θ − θ′ )δ(ϕ − ϕ′ ) (7)
r2 sin θ
and using delta function features
1
δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = 2 δ(r − r′ )δ(cos θ − cos θ′ )δ(ϕ − ϕ′ ) (8)
r
For the two dimensional case, the Jacobian is
( ∂x ∂x )
J = det ∂y ∂r ∂θ =r (9)
∂y
∂r ∂θ

Hence, the delta function reads to be

1
δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = δ(r − r′ )δ(θ − θ′ ) (10)
r

4 Cylindrical Coordinates
Cartesian coordinates are related to Cylindrical coordinates via following
relations
x = ρ cos ϕ, y = ρ sin ϕ, z = z, (11)
which leads to Jacobian in three dimensional Cylindrical coordinates,
 ∂x ∂x ∂x 
∂ρ ∂ϕ ∂z
 ∂y ∂y ∂y 
J = det  ∂ρ ∂ϕ ∂z =ρ (12)
∂z ∂z ∂z
∂ρ ∂ϕ ∂z

The delta function in cylindrical coordinates is to be

1
δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = δ(ρ − ρ′ )δ(ϕ − ϕ′ )δ(z − z ′ ) (13)
ρ

2
5 Example
The following problem is taken from Jackson Classical Electrodynamics,
chapter 1, question 3:
Using the delta function in appropriate coordinates, express the follow-
ing charge distributions as three dimensional charge densities ρ(⃗x)
a. In spherical coordinates, a charge q uniformly distributed over a spherical
shell of radius R
b. In cylindrical coordinates, a charge λ per unit length, uniformly dis-
tributed over a cylindrical surface of radius R
c. In cylindrical coordinates, a charge q spread uniformly over a flat circular
disk of negligible thickness and radius R.
d. The same as part c., but using spherical coordinates.

Solution
a. For this part we note that, charge distribution is confined to a surface
of a shell with radius R. We define ρ(⃗x) = Cδ(r − R). To find C we exploit
the fact that the integration of charge distribution over the space results the
total charge q, i.e. in spherical coordinates
∫ ∫ 2π ∫ π ∫ ∞
ρ(⃗x)dv = dϕ dθ Cδ(r − R)r2 dr = q (14)
0 0 0

which leads to ∫ ∞
4π Cδ(r − R)r2 dr = q (15)
0
Solving the integral we find
q
C= (16)
4πR2
Thus, ρ(⃗x) is obtained
q
ρ(⃗x) = δ(r − R) (17)
4πR2
We may note that, the charge has spatial distribution and consequently the
integration is calculated over entire space. Meanwhile, delta function was
one-dimensional. The final point is that parameter C is independent of θ, ϕ
and r because the form of charge distribution.

b. We want to find the 3-D charge distribution. We anticipate that

charge distribution over a cylinder has the following form

P (⃗x) = Cδ(ρ − b) (18)

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where P (⃗x) denotes volume charge distribution and b is the radius of cylin-
der. To obtain C, suppose that we have divided a cylinder with radius to
l circles where l is the length of the cylinder. By charge distribution per
unit length, λ, we mean the charge contribution of each of these circles.
Therefore, one can see that the total charge q of the cylinder equals to

q = λl (19)

Adopting this relation, one can write

∫ ∫ l ∫ 2π ∫ b
q = λl = P (⃗x)dv = dz dϕ Cρδ(r − b)dρ (20)
0 0 0

We have used delta function to confine P (⃗x) to cylinder surface. Like the
preceding cases, it is obvious that C does not depend neither to ϕ nor z and
ρ. The integral yields
λ = 2πbC (21)
whence
λ
C= (22)
2πb
From these results, volume charge distribution of cylinder is obtained to be
λ
P = δ(ρ − b) (23)
2πb
c) In cylindrical coordinates, the charge distribution over thick flat disk
has the following representation

ρ(x) = CΘ(ρ − R)δ(z) (24)

In the equation above, Θ(ρ − R) is Step Function defined to be zero for

ρ > R and 1 for ρ ≤ R. The step function is used to indicate that a function
is nonzero for a range of a parameter while delta function is adopted for
parameters that are zero every where but in one point. We have
∫ ∫ 2π ∫ ∞ ∫ ∞
ρ(⃗x)dv = dϕ dz ρdρCΘ(ρ − R) = q (25)
0 −∞ 0

Whence ∫ R
2πC ρdρ = q (26)
0
which leads to
q
C= (27)
πR2

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Hence we find
q
ρ⃗(x) = Θ(ρ − R)δ(z) (28)
πR2
d) If we want to use delta function in spherical coordinates to express
the charge distribution on the disk in x-y plane we find that θ = π/2 is the
constraint of the problem. Again, for r dependence, we use step function.
1 π
δ(⃗x − x⃗′ ) = Θ(r − R)δ(θ − ) (29)
r 2
We notice that 1/r in relation above comes from two dimensional Jacobian.
In order to test our result we integrate over ρ(⃗x)
∫ ∫
1 π
q = ρ(⃗x)dv = C Θ(r − R)δ(θ − )dv
r 2
∫ 2π ∫ π ∫ ∞
π
= C dϕ dθ sin θδ(θ − ) rΘ(r − R)dr (30)
0 0 2 0

which yields
q
C= (31)
πR2
Then
q π
ρ(⃗x) = 2
δ(θ − )Θ(r − R) (32)
πR r 2