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attractive?
Michael Levin1 and Steven G. Johnson2
1
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138
2
Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139
(Dated: July 14, 2010)
We give an example of a geometry in which the electrostatic force between a point charge and
a neutral metallic object is repulsive. The example consists of a point charge centered above a
thin metallic hemisphere, positioned concave up. We show that this geometry has a repulsive
arXiv:1007.2175v1 [physics.class-ph] 13 Jul 2010
regime using both a simple analytical argument and an exact calculation for an analogous two-
dimensional geometry. Analogues of this geometry-induced repulsion can appear in many other
contexts, including Casimir systems.
(a) (b)
z z
0
U(z)−U( )
8
R
U(z) (units of q )
2
−0.005
z positive.
We now compute the 2d electrostatic interaction be-
tween the point charge and the metal semicircle assum-
ing that the point charge carries charge q. Our starting −0.01
point is the 2d boundary value problem defined by
∇2 φy (x) = −2πq · δ(x − y) (3)
−0.015
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
with the boundary conditions z/R
φy (x) = const. for x ∈ ∂SR
FIG. 5: Exact 2d electrostatic interaction energy U (z) for
φy (x) + q log |x| = 0 for x → ∞ charge-semicircle geometry. In analogy with the 3d case, the
metallic semicircle is centered at the origin and positioned
Z
n · ∇φy (x)dx = 0 (4) in the lower half plane, while the point charge is at position
∂SR
y = (0, z) with z positive.
Here, the first equation imposes the boundary condition
that the semicircle is an equipotential surface, while the
third equation imposes the condition that the semicircle It follows that the potential for the semicircle geometry
is electrically neutral. The force that the metallic object is
exerts on the charge is given by
φv (u) = φD
h(v) (h(u))
F(y) = −q∇φ̃y (x)|x=y (5)
R2
= −q log |h(u) − h(v)| + q log h(u) −
where 2h(v̄)
− q log |h(u)| (10)
φ̃y (x) = φy (x) + q log |x − y| (6)
is the potential created by the induced charges on the so that
metal object. The electrostatic energy of the system,
!
2
dh R
U (y), is given by φ̃v (v) = −q log + q log 1 − 2 (11)
dv 2 |h(v)|
Z y
U (y) − U (∞) = − F(x) · dx Substituting in the expression for h, we derive
∞
q
4R2
= φ̃x (x)|y∞ 2− √ 2
2 |iR+v+i R2 −v2 |
φ̃v (v) = q log (12)
q
= φ̃y (y) (7) 1 − i √R2v−v2
2
Here the second equality follows from the fact that Specializing to the case where v is on the positive imag-
φ̃x (y) = φ̃y (x) so that 2q ∇x φ̃x (x) = −F(x). inary axis, v = iz, so that y = (0, z), and using the
Our strategy will be to solve the boundary value prob- convention that U (∞) = 0, we obtain the electrostatic
lem (3) using a conformal mapping, obtain φ̃y , and then energy:
compute the energy (7). To this end, let us view our 2d
2
system as the complex plane C, and use complex coordi- 2 2 − 4R
√
q 2
(R+z+ R +z )2 2
nates u = x1 + ix2 , v = y1 + iy2 in place of x, y. One can U (z) = log (13)
check that the analytic function 2 1 + √R2z+z2
√
iR + u + i R2 − u2 A plot of U (z) is shown in Fig. 5. We can see from the
h(u) = (8)
2 figure (or from a little algebra) that the force Fz = − dU
dz
defines a conformal map from the region outside the semi- is repulsive for z < R and attractive for z > R, with
circle, Fz vanishing at z = R. Using (12), one can check that
√ C \ SR to the region outside the disk D of radius the equilibrium at z = R is unstable to perturbations
R/ 2 centered at the origin, C \ D.
The boundary value problem for a metallic disk can be away from the symmetry axis, as required by Earnshaw’s
easily solved using image charges. The potential for this theorem and its generalizations.1,2 More generally, this
geometry is given by instability persists for all z, not just z = R.
As an aside, we note that the vanishing of Fz at z = R
R2
D
can be established without any calculation at all: it fol-
φv (u) = −q log |u − v| + q log u −
− q log |u| (9)
2v̄ lows from a simple geometric argument similar to the one
5
j(x) ⊥ ∂M for x ∈ ∂M
In this section we construct analogues of these geomet-
ric effects involving current flow in a resistive sheet. We j(x) = 0 for x → ∞
show that current flows can behave in very counterintu-
Z
itive ways in certain geometries. Our starting point is a n · j(x)dx = 0 (17)
∂M
perfectly homogeneous infinite resistive sheet with con-
ductivity σ. Imagine injecting current I into some point (Here, the first boundary condition comes from the van-
y and collecting it at the infinitely distant boundary. As ishing resistivity in the region M , while the third bound-
long as the material is homogeneous, then the current will ary condition comes from current conservation). These
flow out from the injection point in a radially symmetric equations are identical to the equations obeyed by the
7
electric field E in the point charge-metallic object elec- While this electrostatics problem is different from the
trostatics problem. But we know that in the charge- ones we’ve considered previously, we can analyze it in
semicircle electrostatics problem, the metal semicircle the same way as before: we note that when z = 0, the
generates a repulsive electric field near the point charge vacuum field lines of the point charge automatically obey
when z is small. Translating this into the current flow the Neumann boundary conditions (18). This means that
language, we conclude that shorting out the semicircle the electric field lines at z = 0 are the same as in a vac-
must increase the current flow in the positive z direction, uum, so the electrostatic energy U at z = 0 is the same
in the vicinity of y. as at infinite separation: U (z = 0) = U (z = ∞). Since
It is interesting to consider the opposite question as the force is repulsive at large z (this follows from general
well: how does the current flow change if we cut a hole arguments similar to the Dirichlet boundary condition
in the sheet in some region M , effectively making the case), we conclude that there is an attractive regime at
resistivity infinite there? Intuitively, one expects that small z. Translating this into the current flow language,
this will decrease the amount of current flowing towards we deduce that cutting the sheet along radial lines in-
M . Surprisingly, for some shapes of M , this is not the creases the current flow in the negative z direction in the
case. vicinity of y, when z is small.
The counterexample geometry for this problem is to VI. CONCLUSION
inject current at some point y = (0, z) in the upper half
plane and to cut the sheet along two line segments in the
lower half plane, which are symmetric with respect to In this paper we have shown that, in certain geome-
the vertical axis, and which have the property that their tries, a neutral metallic object can repel a point charge.
extensions pass through the origin [Fig. 7(b)]. When z We have also shown that analogues of this geometry-
is small, the effect of making these cuts is to increase the induced repulsion can appear in Casimir systems and
current flow in the negative z direction, at least in the current flow problems. These examples demonstrate
vicinity of y. that geometry alone can reverse the sign of electrostatic
To see this, note that in this case, the current density and Casimir forces, and lead to surprising behavior in
obeys Neumann boundary conditions at ∂M instead of many other systems. More generally, we expect that
Dirichlet boundary conditions: analogues of this effect can appear in almost any phys-
ical system governed by Laplace-like equations, from
j(x) k ∂M for x ∈ ∂M superconductor-magnet systems to (idealized) fluid flow
problems.
j(x) = 0 for x → ∞ (18)
One direction for future research would be to investi-
As a result, this current flow problem maps onto a differ- gate to what extent these counterexamples are special.
ent kind of electrostatics problem. Instead of the point For example, are all shapes which repel a point charge
charge-metallic object problem, the analogue problem in similar to the hemisphere geometry discussed here, or are
this case involves a point charge and an object with a di- there completely different kinds of geometries with this
electric constant that is much smaller than the surround- property? More specifically, is it possible to achieve re-
ing medium. (Such a geometry is unusual, but could in pulsion with a convex metallic object? One can ask sim-
principle be realized by immersing a point charge and an ilar questions about Casimir repulsion. There are many
object with a small dielectric constant in a liquid with a open questions here—we have only just begun to under-
large dielectric constant). stand these counterintuitive geometric effects.
1
W. Braunbek, Z. Phys. 112, 753 (2010). and S. G. Johnson, arXiv:1003.3487 (2010).
2 7
D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics (Prentice- S. J. Rahi, M. Kardar, and T. Emig, arXiv:quant-
Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999), 3rd ed. ph/0911.5364v1 (2009).
3 8
J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (Wiley, New York, Strictly speaking, since the integral in (1) is divergent for a
1998), 3rd ed. geometry with an ideal point charge, we need to be careful
4
M. T. H. Reid, private communication (2010). to avoid any references to the absolute energy U (z) (which
5
L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, and L. P. Pitaevskiı̆, Statisti- is infinite) and instead only consider differences in energies,
cal Physics Part 2, vol. 9 (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1960). like U (z) − U (∞). This is implicit in the discussion here.
6
M. Levin, A. P. McCauley, A. W. Rodriguez, M. H. Reid,