I solve problem 5.57 in Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics. This problem asks to calculate the average of a magnetic field over a ball; I solve it in D≥3 space dimensions.
The average of the magnetic field over a ball B with radius R is
Fij av=1|B|∫r≤Rdx Fij
with |B| the volume of the ball. Hence,
Fij av=1|B|∫r≤Rdx ∂iAj−(i↔j)
In D dimensions, the potential is given by
A(x)=1A∫J(y)||x−y||D−2dy
with A the area of the sphere SD−1 with radius 1. Therefore
Fij av=1A|B|∫dy Jj(y)∫r≤Rdx ∂∂xi1||x−y||D−2−(i↔j)=1A|B|∫dy Jj(y)∫r=Rdx →n(x)||x−y||D−2−(i↔j)
with →n the unit vector perpendicular on the sphere pointing outwards. I calculated the latter integral in a previous blog post
∫r=Rdx →n(x)||y−x||D−2={D−2DAyif ||y||≤RD−2DAyRD||y||Dif ||y||≥R
Case 1: suppose all current is inside the ball with radius R
Then ||y||≤R for all y and therefore
Fij av=1A|B|∫dy Jj(y)D−2DAyi−(i↔j)=D−2D2|B|Mij
with the magnetic moment defined as
Mij=∫dx xiJj
Case 2: suppose all current is outside the ball with radius R
Then ||y||≥R for all y and therefore
Fij av=1A|B|∫dy Jj(y)D−2DAyi RD||y||D−(i↔j)
The Biot-Savart law in D dimensions is
Fij(x)=1A∫dy Jj(y)(−)(D−2)||x−y||D(xi−yi)−(i↔j)
thus
Fij(0)=D−2A∫dy yiJj(y)||y||D−(i↔j)
thus
Fij av=1|B|ADFij(0)RD
and finally
Fij av=Fij(0)
All in all the result is thus
Fij av={D−2D2|B|Mijif all current is inside the ballFij(0)if all current is outside the ball
Remarks
This calculation does not provide much insight. I think there should be a quicker way to obtain the short final result. What I do not like is that on the one hand, I use an explicit solution (1) of Maxwell's equation, and on the other hand, I calculate the integral (2) by solving a partial differential equation which is quite similar to Maxwell's equations (see previous blog post). I think that it should be possible to obtain the result (3) only using Maxwell's equations, not using explicit solutions of Maxwell's equations and messy integrals. Please leave a comment if you know a shorter method to obtain (3).
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