亥姆霍兹方程helm_sp.pdfVIP

Physics 116C Helmholtz’s and Laplace’s Equations in Spherical Polar Coordinates: Spherical Harmonics and Spherical Bessel Functions Peter Young (Dated: October 23, 2009) I. HELMHOLTZ’S EQUATION As discussed in class, when we solve the diffusion equation or wave equation by separating out the time dependence, u(r, t) = F (r) T (t) , (1) the part of the solution depending on spatial coordinates, F (r), satisfies Helmholtz’s equation 2 2 ∇ F + k F = 0 , (2) where k2 is a separation constant. In this handout we will find the solution of this equation in spherical polar coordinates. The radial part of the solution of this equation is, unfortunately, not discussed in the book, which is the reason for this handout. 2 Note, if k = 0, Eq. (2) becomes Laplace’s equation ∇ F = 0. We shall discuss explicitly the solution for this (important) case. A. Reminder of the Solution in Circular Polars Recall that the solution of Helmholtz’s equation in circular polars (two dimensions) is ∞ F (r, θ) = Jn (kr)(Akn cos nθ + Bkn sin nθ) (2 dimensions), (3) k n=0 where Jn (kr) is a Bessel function, and we have ignored the second solution of Bessel’s equation, the Neumann function1 Nn (kr), which diverges at the origin. For the special case of k = 0 (Lap