Green’s function and image system for the Laplace operator in the prolate spheroidal geometry

• Main Authors: Changfeng Xue, Shaozhong Deng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2017-01-01
• Series: AIP Advances
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4974156

In the present paper, electrostatic image theory is studied for Green’s function for the Laplace operator in the case where the fundamental domain is either the exterior or the interior of a prolate spheroid. In either case, an image system is developed to consist of a point image inside the complement of the fundamental domain and an additional symmetric continuous surface image over a confocal prolate spheroid outside the fundamental domain, although the process of calculating such an image system is easier for the exterior than for the interior Green’s function. The total charge of the surface image is zero and its centroid is at the origin of the prolate spheroid. In addition, if the source is on the focal axis outside the prolate spheroid, then the image system of the exterior Green’s function consists of a point image on the focal axis and a line image on the line segment between the two focal points.