Dirichlet Problem for Laplace's Equation Outside of a Disc

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on deriving the Poisson Integral Formula for the Dirichlet problem for Laplace's equation in the exterior of a disc. The established formula for the interior is given as $u(r,\theta)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}g(\phi) \frac{b^2-r^2}{b^2-2brcos(\theta-\phi)+r^2} d\phi$. The participant suggests that the solution form for the exterior should involve a transformation, specifically $r \to \dfrac{1}{r}$, to adjust the existing formula for the interior. This transformation is proposed as a starting point for deriving the exterior solution.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Laplace's equation and its boundary value problems.
  • Familiarity with the Poisson Integral Formula.
  • Knowledge of Fourier series, particularly sine and cosine series.
  • Experience with mathematical transformations in complex analysis.
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the derivation of the Poisson Integral Formula for the exterior of a disc.
  • Explore the application of the transformation $r \to \dfrac{1}{r}$ in solving boundary value problems.
  • Study the properties of Fourier coefficients $\gamma_n$ and $\delta_n$ in relation to boundary conditions.
  • Investigate the implications of bounded solutions in the context of Laplace's equation.
USEFUL FOR

Mathematicians, physicists, and students studying partial differential equations, particularly those interested in boundary value problems and harmonic functions.

davesface
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The Poisson Integral Formula is a representation of the bounded solution of the Dirichlet problem for Laplace's equation in the interior of the disc. Derive the corresponding formula
for the Dirichlet problem in the exterior of the disc, again assuming that the solution is bounded.So we derived the expression for the interior part of a disc in class: $u(r,\theta)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}g(\phi) \frac{b^2-r^2}{b^2-2brcos(\theta-\phi)+r^2} d\phi$, where b is the radius of the disc and $u(b,\theta)=g(\theta)$. It was fairly straightforward, except that we were able to just assume the form of the solution $u(r,\theta)=\frac{1}{2}\gamma_0 +\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} (\frac{r}{b})^n[\gamma_ncos(n\theta)+\delta_nsin(n\theta)]$, where $\gamma_n=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_{0}^{2\pi}g(\phi)cos(n\phi)d\phi$ and $\delta_n=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_{0}^{2\pi}g(\phi)sin(n\phi)d\phi$. We then played around with the sums of the series of sin and cos and took the real part of that to get our answer.

Now, for the exterior of the disc, I'm just not sure how to start off with the form of the solution. It seems like the $(\frac{r}{b})^n$ should really be the only difference, but I can't justify randomly picking a form. Any suggestions?
 
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My first thought is to try the transformation $r \to \dfrac{1}{r}$ and see where that takes you.
 

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