APPENDIX

THE AVERAGE

MAGNETOSTATIC FIELD INTENSITY INSIDE A SPHERE

CONTAINING AN ARBITRARY

DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT LOOPS

a source point (~,1J,s) defined by a position vector r', as shown in Figure

N.1, and a field point (x,Y,z) defined by a position vector r. Let the angles at which r'
and r point be (O',') and (O,) in conventional spherical coordinates and let I' be the
angle between r' and r. Then if ~ = Ir - r/], it follows from the law of cosines that
CONSIDER

[1'2

- =
~

+ (1")2

- 21'r' cos 1']-71~

(N.I)

As in Example (3.24), this result may be expressed in terms of one or the other of the
expansions

2:

(1")n
Pn(cos 1')

> 1"

(N.2)

2 L~

(!-)n Pn(cos 1')

< r'

(N.3)

00

-1 = -1
r

1"

n=O

n=O

r'

However, the addition theorem for spherical harmonics gives'

P n (cos 1') = P n (cos 0)P n (cos 0')

~ (n-m)1

m=l

(n

+m

); P;:'(cos O)P;(cos
.

0') cos [m(4) - 4>')]

(N.4)

so that both expansions may be written in terms of double spherical harmonics.

These results may be applied to the case of a filamentary current loop of radius a,
situated centrally in the XY plane, as depicted in Figure N.2. For all the source points,
0' = 7r/2 and the magnetic vector potential function due to this loop may be found at
= 0 with no loss in generality, since the answer is e-symmet.ric. One obtains

A.p(T,O) =

47r,LLo-

f cos 4>' d4>'

27r

(N.5)

which agrees with Example 4.6. Unlike that example, no approximations will be made
due to assumptions about the relative sizes of r and a, but instead the expansions of
1 See, e.g., J. J). Jackson, Classical Electrodunamics, pp. 67-69, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York
1962.

APPENDIX

111 agnetostatic Field Intensity inside a Sphere

"\....................

cJ>/~\\
x

II
'"..........

I ,,~
I

\ I
\~

FIGURE

N.1

Source and field point qeomeiri].

Idt

x
FIGURE

N.2

Circular current loop at origin.

553

554

M aqnetosiaiic Field Intensity inside a Sphere

r- 1 will

APPENDIX

be employed to deduce exact expressions for

Acf>(r,8) =

~.

41rJ.L 0

I~ ()~ f cos

1 n= 0

21r

~4<p.

For

>

a,

et/[Pn(cos 8)P n(O)

+ 2 fL 1 (n-1n)!
(
)' P;:(cos fJ)P;:(O)
n + m. .
m=

cos l1~eP'] deP'

This reduces to
(N.6)

(N.7)
To evaluate the radial component of B, one needs

from which it follows that

The () com ponent of B is

oo

1ra2I
(a)n-l
p~ (0)
-B e = --21r ,-0 Ir 3 n = 1 r
n + 1
1l -

r: (cos B)
n

(r)n+2 -p~(o)
- P1(cos e)

1ra 2I I~
21rJ.Lo r n = 1 a

- -1
-3

>

<

>a

<

For r a, the n = 1 term dominates and is seen to give the same field as was found in
Example 4.6.
With these expressions for the magnetic field com ponents, it is now possible to find
the average value of B throughout a spherical volume Va. Referring to Figure N .3, let
the central point of V~ lie in the XZ plane at the Cartesian position (h,O,k), and let the
current loop (which is seen edge-on) lie entirely inside V s. Then, since

n=

(B r sin fJ -t- Be cos 8)(lx cos

one finds, for r

>

1"3

ly sin

cJ

(B r cos () - Be sin O)lz

a,

1Ta~~ ~ (~)n-l P~(O)

ni:. r

21r).lo

cj>

P~(COS

- cos 8 n

[Clx cos

</>

i, sin

</

(sin ()Pn(cos fJ)

f))) + L, ( cos 8Pn(cos 8) + sin 0 P;(COS

fJ))]
n + 1 .

(N.8)

APPENDIX

1~1 agnetostatic Field

Intensity inside a Sphere

555

FIGUR!'~

whereas, for r

= -

<

a,

7ra~~ n!.:.l
~ (~)n+2
P;(O)
a

21rJ..Lo

1"3

cos ()

Bav =

P~(cos ()))
n

i, sin 4 (sin ()Pn(cos ())

()))J

(N.9)

Br 2 sin 8 dr d8 dcP

(N.lO)

(
.
P~(cOS
L, cos 8Pn(cos 8) - SIn 8
n

271"

""3"11"5

[(l cos 4>

A f f f Br sin
71"

Since

Current loop inside a spherical volurne.

N.3

0 dr dO d

+-

ff f
71"

471'"0 3 0

271"

n(O,)

with 1"1(8,4 the distance Irom the center of the loop to a point on Sa, a study of (N.8)
and (N .9) reveals the following:
1. The first integral of (N.lO) does not contribute an X component nor a Y cornponent to Bav because of the 4> periodicity of (N .8).
2. The first integral of (N.IO) does not contribute a Z component to Bav except for
the term n == 1 because sin 8 == - pi(cos 8) and cos () == PI (cos 8) and the orthogonality
relation (D.30) eliminates all other terms.
3. The second integral of (N.lO) does not contribute to Bav whatsoever, This is
because

rl(),cP) == h sin () cos cP

k cos ()

[(h sin

f)

cos cP

+ k cos ())2 +

02 - h 2 - k2r~

is even in cPo If the r integration is performed first, the resulting integrand factor must
contain only even terms in cP, each of which is representable by spherical hannonics
whose cP integrations are zero except for m == O. Even for the case m == 0, only the Z
component need be considered, so the problem is reduced to an evaluation of integrals

556

M agnetostatic Field Intensity inside a Sphere

of the type

P;(O)

f P1(COS 0)

[cos OPn(COS 0)

APPENDIX

+ sin 0 P~(COS 0)]

n

sin

ede

However, inspection of the expression for 1'l(e,</ reveals that the m = 0 component is
accompanied by an even function of (), so the index l must be even. Since P~(O) is zero
unless n is odd, the term in square brackets in the above integrand is an even function
of e. Therefore, the entire integrand is odd and the integral is zero for all allowed values
of nand !.

Because of these simplifications, (N.10) reduces to

3

Bay

= (

JJJ
1 211"

-1 3

47r0 )27r,LLo

-1 0

/[P 1(u)]2

+ [P~(u)J2lr2 dr de/> du

(N .11)

27T',li

15 3

in which m = lz7T'a 2X is the magnetic moment of the loop. This result is independent of
the position and orientation of the loop in 11 6 and therefore, if a distribution of loops
exists in l1 a, they contribute an average field in V 6 given by
N

Bav = _ 1- \'
L
27r,LLo 1 u~3 i=1

rn,

(N.12)

In the special but important ease that the distribution of loops is uniform in a region
containing V 6, and of volume density M, those loops within V 6 contribute an average
field throughout V 6 of amount
n-: = M(47l" 013j 3 ) = ~ M l
(N.13)
27T'J.Lo (j 3
3 J.Lo
This result includes the effects of
average such loops are half within
sphere of radius a around a given
loop contributes to Bav according
is within Yo.

those loops which are only partially in V 6 On the

Ve5 and half outside. Since only the integration over a
loop contributes to Bav, it follows that each partial
to that fraction of its "loop volume," 47T'a 3/3, which