DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MADRAS

PH1020 Physics II Write-up on quadrapole moment Feb 2015

This set is concerned with the multipole expansion of the electrostatic (or scalar) po-
tential. In particular, we emphasize the quadrupole term in the expansion as you may have
already encountered the monopole and dipole terms in some form. Please read the material
below and work out the problems that follow.
As shown in class, consider a static charge distribution spread over a volume V with
a density ρ(r0 ) (we will use r0 for the running coordinate of the points of the charge
distribution). Then the electrostatic potential φ(r) at an arbitrary point, P , (see figure)
with position vector r, due to the charge distribution, is given by
ρ(r0 ) dV 0
Z
1
φ(r) = .
4π0 V |r − r0 |
When r  r0 for all r0 in V , we may expand |r − r0 |−1 in powers of r0 /r to get

P
r − r0
dV 0
r

r0
α

 Z Z
1 1 0 0 1
φ(r) = ρ(r )dV + 2 r0 cos α ρ(r0 ) dV 0
4π0 r V r V
Z   
1 02 3 2 1 0 0
+ 3 r cos α − ρ(r ) dV + · · ·
r V 2 2
Recall that α is the angle between r and r0 (it therefore changes from point to point
as r takes on differentR values in V ). Since qtot = V ρ(r )dV 0 is the total charge in the
0 0
R

distribution, and p = V ρ(r0 )r0 dV 0 is its dipole moment, we can write the first two terms
in the expansion as

1 qtot 1 p · êr 1 p·r

φmonopole (r) = and φdipole (r) = = (1)
4π0 r 4π0 r2 4π0 r3

respectively. We would like to write the next term (the quadrupole term) in a similar fash-
ion. Note that both q and p are intrinsic properties of the charge distribution itself (they

1
involve integrations over r0 , the running variable), and do not depend on the observation
or field point r at which the potential is being determined. We would like to have the
quadrupole term expressed similarly in terms of some property of the charge distribution.
The relevant quantity is called the quadrupole moment of the distribution.
Writing r = xêx + yêy + zêz and r0 = x0 êx + y 0 êy + z 0 êz , the integrand in the third term
can be written as
r0 2 3 3r0 2 r2 cos2 α − r0 2 r2
 
2 1
cos α − =
r3 2 2 2r5
3(xx0 + yy 0 + zz 0 )2 − (x0 2 + y 0 2 + z 0 2 )(x2 + y 2 + z 2 )
= .
2r5
The numerator is simplified as follows. Suppose
 x  we write the (components of) the position
vector r in the form a column matrix, r = yz . The transpose of this is the row matrix:
(x y z). Then the numerator can be written as the product of the three matrices below,
namely,
 02 02 02
3x0 y 0 3x0 z 0
 

2x − y0 0 − z 02 02 02 0 0
x
x y z  3y x 2y − z − x 3y z   y
2 2 2
3z 0 x0 3z 0 y 0 2z 0 − x0 − y 0 z
Therefore, the quadrupole term can be written as
↔
1 r· Q ·r 1 xi Qij xj
φquadrupole (r) = or , (2)
4π0 2r5 4π0 2r5
↔
where the symbol Q is called the quadrupole moment. It can also be written as a second-
rank tensor1 Qij with nine components given by
Z
2 2 2
Qxx = ρ(r0 ) (2x0 − y 0 − z 0 ) dV 0
ZV
2 2 2
Qyy = ρ(r0 ) (2y 0 − z 0 − x0 ) dV 0
ZV
2 2 2
Qzz = ρ(r0 ) (2z 0 − x0 − y 0 ) dV 0
ZV
Qxy = Qyx = ρ(r0 ) (3x0 y 0 ) dV 0
ZV
Qyz = Qzy = ρ(r0 ) (3y 0 z 0 ) dV 0
ZV
Qzx = Qxz = ρ(r0 ) (3z 0 x0 ) dV 0 .
V
1
Recall that a second-rank tensor transforms under rotations as Q0i1 i2 = Ri1 j1 Ri2 j2 Qj1 j2 where Rij is
the rotation matrix and a repeated index implies summation.

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The monopole (charge) q is a scalar; the dipole moment p is a vector, with 3 components.
↔
The quadrupole moment Q is a tensor, with 9 components. However, since Qxy = Qyx ,
↔
Qyz = Qzy , Qzx = Qxz (symmetric) and further, Qxx + Qyy + Qzz = 0 (traceless), Q only
has 5 independent components. The quadrupole moment can also be written in the form
of a real, symmetric (3 × 3) matrix with its trace equal to zero,
 
Qxx Qxy Qxz
Qxy Qyy Qyz  .
Qxz Qyz Qzz

For a discrete distribution of n point charges qi at positions r0i , the formulae above for the
quadrupole moment are modified in obvious manner to
n
X 2 2 2
Qxx = qi (2x0i − yi0 − zi0 )
i=1
Xn
2 2 2
Qyy = qi (2yi0 − zi0 − x0i )
i=1
n
X 2 2 2
Qzz = qi (2zi0 − x0i − yi0 )
i=1
n
X n
X
Qxy = Qyx = qi (3x0i yi0 ) , Qyz = Qzy = qi (3yi0 zi0 )
i=1 i=1
n
X
Qzx = Qxz = qi (3zi0 x0i ) .
i=1

The quadrupole moment (of charge and/or mass distributions) makes its appearance in
several branches of physics such as nuclear physics, solid state physics, plasma physics,
geophysics and astrophysics, in different contexts.