A RIGOROUS AND COMPLETED STATEMENT ON HELMHOLTZ THEOREM

Abstract

There are some limitations on the statement of classic Helmholtz theorem although it has broad applications. Actually, it only applies to simply connected domain with single boundary surface and does not provide any conclusion about the domain where discontinuities of field function exist. However, discontinuity is often encountered in practice, for example, the location of surface sources or interface of two kinds of medium. Meanwhile, most existing versions of Helmholtz theorem are imprecise and imperfect to some extent. This paper not only tries to present a precise statement and rigorous proof on classic Helmholtz theorem with the accuracy of mathematical language and logical strictness, but also generalizes it to the case of multiply connected domain and obtains a generalized Helmholtz theorem in the sense of Lebesgue measure and Lebesgue integral defined on three-dimensional Euclidean space. Meanwhile, our proof and reasoning are more sufficient and perfect. As an important application of the generalized Helmholtz theorem, the concepts of irrotational and solenoidal vector function are emphasized. The generalized Helmholtz theorem and the present conclusion should have important reference value in disciplines including vector analysis such as electromagnetics.