Coordinate systems and the Dirac delta function

October 8, 2013
We will use two coordinate systems besides Cartesian coordinates: cylindrical and spherical. We will also
need an object called the Dirac delta function.
1 Cylindrical coordinates
Cylindrical (or polar) coordinates keep the Cartesian z unchanged, but label points in the xy-plane with
a radius, , and an angle measured counterclockwise (looking down the z-axis) from the x-axis. The
relationship of cylindrical (, , z) to Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) is therefore
x = cos
y = sin
z = z
with inverse relations
=
_
x
2
+ y
2
= tan
1
_
y
x
_
z = z
1
cos
2

d =
dy
x

ydx
x
2
d =
cos
2

cos
dy
cos
2
sin dx

2
cos
2

d =
cos

dy
sin

dx
We may dene unit vectors in the direction of increase of each of these coordinates. The easiest way to
develop the relationships we need is to express them in terms of the constant Cartesian basis. Since lies
in the xy plane,
=
x

i + y

j
_
x
2
+ y
2
=
cos

i + sin

j
_

2
= cos

i + sin

j
and is orthogonal to this,
= sin

i + cos

j
1
while in the z direction we still have

k. For any vector we may expand in either basis,
v = v

+ v

+ v
z

k
Inverting the relations we also have

i = cos sin

j = sin + cos
We can nd the length, dl, of innitesimal displacements in two ways. The dicult way is to change
coordinates from the Cartesian distance,
dl
2
= dx
2
+ dy
2
+ dz
2
where we can nd the dierentials,
dx = cos d sin d
dy = sin d + cos d
dz = dz
Substituting,
dl
2
= (cos d sin d)
2
+ (sin d + cos d)
2
+ dz
2
=
_
cos
2
d
2
2 cos sin dd +
2
sin
2
d
2
_
+
_
sin
2
d
2
+ 2 sin cos dd +
2
cos
2
d
2
_
+ dz
2
=
_
cos
2
+ sin
2

_
d
2
+
2
_
sin
2
+ cos
2

_
d
2
+ dz
2
= d
2
+
2
d
2
+ dz
2
This is just the length of the innitesimal displacement vector
dl = d + d + dz

k
The second way to nd the expression for dl
2
is to draw a picture. In the xy-plane, we can draw two vectors
from the origin that are separated by a small angle d and dier in length by d. Then, since these are
innitesimals, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to write down the distance between the ends of the two
vectors. The angular separation is by an arc-length d and the lengths dier by d, so the Pythagorean
theorem gives the length of the diagonal as
(diag)
2
= d
2
+
2
d
2
Adding the Cartesian third direction, we have
dl
2
= d
2
+
2
d
2
+ dz
2
We also need derivatives. We can transform using the chain rule,

x
=

x

+

x

+
z
x

z
=
x

sin

= cos

sin
1

2
For y,

y
=

y

+

y

+
z
y

z
= sin

+ cos
1

so the gradient in cylindrical coordinates is

f =

i
f
x
+

j
f
y
+

k
f
z
= (cos sin )
_
cos
f

sin
1

_
+ (sin + cos )
_
sin
f

+ cos
1

_
+

k
f
z
=
_
cos
2

sin cos
1

+ sin
2

+ sin cos
1

_
+
_
sin cos
f

+ sin
2

+ sin cos
f

+ cos
2

_
+

k
f
z
=
_
cos
2
+ sin
2

_
f

+
_
sin
2
+ cos
2

_
1

+

k
f
z
=
f

+
1

+

k
f
z
We can compute the divergence and the curl in the same way, writing out the Cartesian expressions and
changing coordinates. The process is lengthy. Fortunately, there is a much easier way to do it that depends
on the metric.
2 General formulas for gradient, divergence and curl
In any coordinates, if we can write the innitesmal distance between two points as
dl
2
= f
2
dx
2
1
+ g
2
dx
2
2
+ h
2
dx
2
3
then we can think of the distance as a double sum over the displacement vector (dx
1
, dx
2
, dx
3
),
dl
2
=
3

i,j=1
g
ij
dx
i
dx
j
where
g
ij
=
_
_
f
2
0 0
0 g
2
0
0 0 h
2
_
_
with inverse
g
ij
=
_
_
1
f
2
0 0
0
1
g
2
0
0 0
1
h
2
_
_
We can even include o-diagonal terms in g
ij
as long as it is symmetric, i.e., if you ip the matrix across
the diagonal, you get the same matrix back. In Euclidean space, there always exist coordinates where g
ij
is diagonal.Let e
i
be three orthonormal basis vectors in the x
i
directions. The formulas below hold for any
symmetric metric g
ij
, not just diagonal ones.
3
We need one more thing, that looks a lot like the square root of the metric. If the metric is diagonal, it
actually is the square root. Its called a triad or a dreibein,
h
ij
=
_
_
f 0 0
0 g 0
0 0 h
_
_

h
ij
=
_
_
1
f
0 0
0
1
g
0
0 0
1
h
_
_
The general denition of h
ij
is that it satises
g
ij
=
3

k,m=1
h
ik
h
jm

km
=
3

k=1
h
ik
h
jk
Let the determinant of h
ij
be h. Then we can write everything we need in terms of h
ij
and its determinant.
I have used advanced techniques to derive each of these within a few lines. The techniques are not beyond
your ability, but it would take us too far aeld to discuss them in detail now.
Gradient:
=
3

i,j=1
e
i

h
ij

x
j
Divergence:
v =
3

i,j=1
1
h

x
i
_
h

h
ij
v
j
_
Curl:
v =
1
h

i,n,j,k,m
e
i
h
in

njk

j
(h
km
v
m
)
Laplacian:

2
f =
3

i,j,k=1
1
h

x
k
_
h

h
ki

h
ij
f
x
j
_
Example: cylindrical (or polar) coordinates
Lets compute these for cylindrical and spherical coordinates. The metric is the matrix
g
ij
=
_
_
1 0 0
0
2
0
0 0 1
_
_
4
so that
h
ij
=
_
_
1 0 0
0 0
0 0 1
_
_
with determinant h = . The basis vectors are e
i
=
_
, ,

k
_
Gradient:
=
3

i,j=1
e
i

h
ij

x
j
=

+
1

+

k

z
Divergence:
v =
3

i,j=1
1
h

x
i
_
h

h
ij
v
j
_
=
1

x
i
(v

) +
1

+

z
v
z
Curl:
v =
1
h

i,n,j,k,m
e
i
h
in

njk

j
(h
km
v
m
)
=
1

j,k,m

1jk

j
(h
km
v
m
) +
1

j,k,m

2jk

j
(h
km
v
m
) +
1

j,k,m

k
3jk

j
(h
km
v
m
)
=
_
1

v
z

z
v

_
+ (
z
v

v
z
) +

k
_
1

(v

)
1

_
Laplacian:

2
f =
3

i,j,k=1
1
h

x
k
_
h

h
ki

h
ij
f
x
j
_
=
1

_
+
1

2
f

2
+

2
f
z
2
Example: spherical coordinates
Now consider spherical coordinates, r, , . The metric is the matrix
g
ij
=
_
_
1 0 0
0 r
2
0
0 0 r
2
sin
2

_
_
so that
h
ij
=
_
_
1 0 0
0 r 0
0 0 r sin
_
_
with inverse

h
ij
=
_
_
1 0 0
0
1
r
0
0 0
1
r sin
_
_
5
and determinant h = r
2
sin . The basis vectors are e
i
=
_
r,

,
_
.
Gradient:
=
3

i,j=1
e
i

h
ij

x
j
= r

h
11

r
+

h
22

h
33

= r

r
+

1
r

+
1
r sin

Divergence:
v =
3

i,j=1
1
h

x
i
_
h

h
ij
v
j
_
=
1
r
2
sin
_
sin

r
_
r
2
v
r
_
+ r

(sin v

) + r

_
=
1
r
2

r
_
r
2
v
r
_
+
1
r sin

(sin v

) +
1
r sin

Curl:
v =
1
h

i,n,j,k,m
e
i
h
in

njk

x
j
(h
km
v
m
)
=
1
r
2
sin

j,k,m
_
r
1jk

x
j
(h
km
v
m
) +

r
2jk

x
j
(h
km
v
m
) + r sin
3jk

x
j
(h
km
v
m
)
_
=
1
r
2
sin
_
r
_

(h
33
v
3
)

(h
22
v
2
)
_
+

r
_

(h
11
v
1
)

r
(h
33
v
3
)
_
+ r sin
_

r
(h
22
v
2
)

(h
11
v
1
)
__
=
1
r
2
sin
_
r
_

(r sin v

(rv

)
_
+

r
_

(v
r
)

r
(r sin v

)
_
+ r sin
_

r
(rv

v
r
__
=
_
r
1
r sin
_

(sin v

_
+

_
1
r sin

(v
r
)
1
r

r
(rv

)
_
+
_
1
r

r
(rv

)
1
r

v
r
__
Laplacian:

2
f =
3

i,j,k=1
1
h

x
k
_
h

h
ki

h
ij
f
x
j
_
=
1
r
2

r
_
r
2
f
r
_
+
1
r
2
sin

_
sin
f

_
+
1
r
2
sin
2

2
f

2
3 Dirac delta function
The Dirac delta function (actually a distribution) is dened as the limit of a sequence of functions,
(x x
0
) = lim
n
h
n
(x)
such that
(x x
0
) = 0 for x = x
0

f (x) (x x
0
) dx = f (x
0
) for any test function f (x)
6
By setting f (x) = 1, it follows from the integral expression that

(x x
0
) dx = 1
and also that the integral of (x x
0
) over any interval not containing the point x
0
will give zero.
It is useful to think of an analogy with the Kronecker delta,
v
i
=
3

i1

ij
v
j
f (x
0
) =

f (x) (x x
0
) dx
where the discrete sum in the rst expression is replaced by a continuous sum over x in the second.
One such limit is a sequence of Gaussians,
h
n
(x) =
n

2
exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
where we choose each Gaussian to have unit integral. In the limit as n , the exponential suppresses the
n in the amplitude, except when x = x
0
. At this point the limit distribution diverges. We can prove the
basic integral property by considering small n.

f (x) (x x
0
) dx = lim
n
n

f (x) exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
For any point x = x
0
, we know that the limit goes to zero, so we can restrict the range of integration to a
small neighborhood of x
0
,

f (x) (x x
0
) dx lim
n
n

2
x0+

x0
f (x) exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
with the becoming exact in the limit. We can set =
1
n
2
and choose n large enough that we may
approximate f (x) by the rst terms of its Taylor series,
f (x) f (x
0
) + f

(x
0
) (x x
0
)
Since (x x
0
) <
1
n
2
the integral for large n is approximately

f (x) (x x
0
) dx lim
n
n

2
x0+

x0
(f (x
0
) + f

(x
0
) (x x
0
)) exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
= f (x
0
) lim
n
n

2
x0+

x0
exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
+f

(x
0
) lim
n
n

2
x0+

x0
(x x
0
) exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
7
< f (x
0
) + f

(x
0
) lim
n
n

2
x0+

x0
1
n
2
exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
= f (x
0
) + f

(x
0
) lim
n
1
n
2
_
_
n

2
x0+

x0
exp
_

1
2
n
2
(x x
0
)
2
_
dx
_
_
= f (x
0
)
where we use the fact that the Gaussian is normalized and in the niteness of the second integral.
We can evaluate integrals of expressions containing derivatives of a Dirac delta function as well, using
integration by parts. Remembering that
d
dx
(fg) =
df
dx
g + f
dg
dx
we may write
d
dx
(f (x x
0
)) =
df
dx
(x x
0
) + f
d
dx
(x x
0
)
If we integrate this over all x,

d
dx
(f (x x
0
)) =

df
dx
(x x
0
) +

f
d
dx
(x x
0
)
[f (x x
0
)]

=
df
dx
(x
0
) +

f
d
dx
(x x
0
)
Since the delta function vanishes at (as does f (x)), the left side vanishes and we have

f
d
dx
(x x
0
) =
df
dx
(x
0
)
In higher dimensions, we simply multiply Dirac delta functions

3
(x x
0
) = (x x
0
) (y y
0
) (z z
0
)
This allows us to write a complete expression for charge densities even when they are idealized. For example,
an ideal point charge at the origin has charge density
(x) = q
3
(x)
while a uniformly charged, innitesimally thick ring of total charge Q and radius R, lying in the xy plane
and centered at the origin, has charge density
(x) =
Q
2R
(z) ( R)
in polar coordinates, since

0
(x) dddz =
Q
2R

0
d

dz
2

0
d (z) ( R)
8
=
Q
2R
2

0
d

dz (z) ( R)
=
Q
2R
2

0
d ( R)
=
Q
2R
2R
= Q
3.1 Example: spherical shell
Write a charge density using the Dirac delta function, (x), and/or the unit step function
(x a) =
_
1 x a > 0
0 x a < 0
Example 1: Spherical shell, radius R, total uniform charge Q:
(x) = (r, , )
= A (r R)
Fix the constant by computing the total charge, by integrating the density over all space,
Q =

d
3
x
= A

(r R) r
2
sin drdd
= A

0
(r R) r
2
dr

0
sin d
2

0
d
= A

0
(r R) r
2
dr 2 2
= A4R
2
so A =
Q
4R
2
and we have
(x) =
Q
4R
2
(r R)
4 Helmholtz theorem
I give a proof here, but you can skip it if youre not interested. The theorem is stated at the end, and it will
help to know that.
Suppose we have a vector eld, v, in some region or all space, where we know the values of v on the
entire boundary or at innity. We may then compute its divergence and its curl, v and v, and we
assume these are dened everywhere. Then we may separate v into a divergence-free part and a curl-free
part,
v = u +w
9
where we require
v = (u +w)
= u
w = 0
and
v = (u +w)
= w
u = 0
This gives a pair of equations for each of the two vectors u, w. For u we require
u = v
u = 0
and for w,
w = 0
w = v
4.1 Finding u
To nd u, we need to know that when the curl of a function vanishes, it can be written as a gradient. This
is an application of Stokes theorem,

S
(u) nd
2
x =

C=S
u dl
Since the curl vanishes, we see that every closed loop integral of u vanishes. Picking any two points, this
means that that integral from one to the other is independent of path, because integrating up one curve and
down the other forms a closed loop that must give zero,
b

a,C1
u dl
b

a,C2
u dl =

C1+C2
u dl = 0
In other words, for each point x the integral
x

a
u dl
has a unique value regardless of how we compute the integral. It therefore denes a (single valued!) function
f (x) =
x

a
u dl
and by the Fundamental theorem,
u = f (x)
This satises the curl equation u = 0 so we now need
u =
2
f = v
where v is a known function with specic boundary values. It is known that once we specify v and
the boundary values, the solution for f is unique, so we have determined a unique u.
10
4.2 Finding w
To nd w we must solve
w = 0
w = v
We need a further theorem, that a vector with vanishing divergence may always be written as a curl of some
other vector. To see this, let
w = A
for some vector eld A. Notice that A is only determined to within a gradient, since if we let
A

= A+h
we still have
A

= A+h
= w
This means that we can choose h any way we like. We choose it so that the divergence of A

vanishes. The
divergence is
A

= A+
2
h
0 = A+
2
h
so we must solve

2
h = A
Once we know A this has a unique solution, so a divergence-free A

exists, and taking w = A

where
A

= 0, we may now try to solve

w = v
The left side becomes
w = (A

)
=
2
A

+( A

)
=
2
A

we have a set of three equations for the three components of A

2
A

= v
Again the right side is known, so A

is uniquely determined.
4.3 The Helmholtz theorem
We conclude by writing the Helmholtz theorem. Dropping the prime on A

, we may write and dierentiable

vector eld v, as
v = f +A
for a uniquely determined function and vector eld A, where A = 0.
11