Electromagnetism – Displacing Origin of Dipole Moment: A Detailed Analysis

coordinate systemsdipoledipole-momentelectromagnetismelectrostatics

Short electrostatics question. Given that a dipole moment of a charge distribution is defined as $$P = \int r' \rho(r')d \tau '$$ where $r'$ is the position vector of the source charge, and $\rho$ is the charge density. Why does it follow that if we displace the origin by an amount $\vec{a}$ then the new dipole moment $\bar{P}$ is $$\bar{P} = \int \bar{r}' \rho(r')d \tau ' = \int (r'-\vec{a})\rho(r')d \tau'$$ rather than $$\bar{P} = \int \bar{r}' \rho(\bar{r}')d \tau '?$$

I might be missing something simple? Give me a hint if possible, thanks.

Best Answer

The dipole moment of a continuos charge distribution is dependent (unless your total charge is 0) by the pole you choose. If we set our pole equal to the origin of our system then we have: $$\vec{p}=\int_V \rho (\vec{r}')\vec{r}' d\tau$$ where $\vec{r}'$ is the vector position from your origin to the point you consider during integration(if you have a discrete charge distribution, then $\vec{r_i}'$ is the position of the charge $q_i$ with respect to the origin, $i$ is the index of the sum that replace the integral), and remember that you are integrating upon $d\tau=dxdydz$ which is expressed with respect to the origin. Now let's say we choose another point $A=(x_A,y_A,z_A)$. Reasoning with discrete distribution we say that we are searching the contribution of the $q_i$ charge that is still at the point $P'=\vec{r_i}'$ (we didn't change the origin) to the moment but with respect to another point $A$ which is in turn in the position $\vec{r}_A$ (thus we have the term $(\vec{r_i}'-\vec{r}_A)$), but the volume upon we are integrating is the same $d\tau$ and the point $P'$ is expressed by the same $\vec{r_i}'$ because we didn't change the origin, but only the pole. It follows that the moment with respect to the point $A$ is: $$\vec{p}_A=\int_V \rho(P'=\vec{r}')(\vec{r}'-\vec{r}_A)d\tau$$ where $V$ and $d\tau=dxdydz$ are the same of before.

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