# multipole Definition and Topics - 5 Discussions

A multipole expansion is a mathematical series representing a function that depends on angles—usually the two angles used in the spherical coordinate system (the polar and azimuthal angles) for three-dimensional Euclidean space,

R

3

{\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{3}}
. Similarly to Taylor series, multipole expansions are useful because oftentimes only the first few terms are needed to provide a good approximation of the original function. The function being expanded may be real or complex-valued and is defined either on

R

3

{\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{3}}
, or less often on

R

n

{\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}
for some other

n

{\displaystyle n}
.
Multipole expansions are used frequently in the study of electromagnetic and gravitational fields, where the fields at distant points are given in terms of sources in a small region. The multipole expansion with angles is often combined with an expansion in radius. Such a combination gives an expansion describing a function throughout three-dimensional space.The multipole expansion is expressed as a sum of terms with progressively finer angular features (moments). The first (the zeroth-order) term is called the monopole moment, the second (the first-order) term is called the dipole moment, the third (the second-order) the quadrupole moment, the fourth (third-order) term is called the octupole moment, and so on. Given the limitation of Greek numeral prefixes, terms of higher order are conventionally named by adding "-pole" to the number of poles—e.g., 32-pole (rarely dotriacontapole or triacontadipole) and 64-pole (rarely tetrahexacontapole or hexacontatetrapole). A multipole moment usually involves powers (or inverse powers) of the distance to the origin, as well as some angular dependence.
In principle, a multipole expansion provides an exact description of the potential, and generally converges under two conditions: (1) if the sources (e.g. charges) are localized close to the origin and the point at which the potential is observed is far from the origin; or (2) the reverse, i.e., if the sources are located far from the origin and the potential is observed close to the origin. In the first (more common) case, the coefficients of the series expansion are called exterior multipole moments or simply multipole moments whereas, in the second case, they are called interior multipole moments.

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1. ### A Calculate variance on the ratio of 2 angular power spectra

In the context of Survey of Dark energy stage IV, I need to evaluate the error on a new observable called "O" which is equal to : O=\left(\frac{C_{\ell, \mathrm{gal}, \mathrm{sp}}^{\prime}}{C_{\ell, \mathrm{gal}, \mathrm{ph}}^{\prime}}\right)=\left(\frac{b_{s p}}{b_{p...
2. ### Finding the Monopole and Multipole Moments of the Electric Potential

My first attempt revolved mostly around the solution method shown in this "site" or PowerPoint: http://physics.gmu.edu/~joe/PHYS685/Topic4.pdf . However, after studying the content and writing down my answer for the monopole moment as equal to ##\sqrt{\frac{1}{4 \pi}} \rho##, I found out the...
3. ### Multipole Expansion of a Thin rod

Homework Statement Consider a very thin rod lying on the z axis from z = −L/2 to z = L/2. It carries a uniform charge density λ. Show that away from the rod, at the point r (r >>L), the potential can be written as V (r, θ) = (2Lλ/4πε0)(1/L)[ 1 + 1/3(L/2r)2P2(cos θ) + 1/3(L/2r)4 P4(cos θ) + · ·...
4. ### Electric dipole moment for a uniformly charged ring

Homework Statement Text description: Let V(z) be the potential of a ring of charge on the axis of symmetry at distance z from the center. Obtain the first two non-vanishing terms of the multipole expansion for V(z) with z>>a where a is the radius of the ring. Can you see by symmetry that the...
5. ### Potential from a simple Quadrupole expansion

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on this problem for which I am getting inconsistencies depending on how I do it. I'm trying to find the potential due to the quadrupole moment of the following distribution: +q at (0,0,d), -2q at (0,0,0), and +q at (0,0,-2d) I am doing this using two...