Spherical magnetic multipole moments system of currents

Abstract

Concepts of spherical magnetic multipoles that represent distributions of electric currents over a spherical surface are introduced. Vector potentials of magnetic multipoles meet solenoidal- and harmonic-field conditions outside of the spherical surface and are continuous on it. Within the sphere, the vector potential of currents flowing outside of it is represented by the sum of vector potentials of basis magnetic multipoles with coefficients expressed by spherical multipole moments of system of currents. This expansion of the vector potential is in many respects analogous to the multipole expansion known from electrostatics. The first three terms of the expansion represent components of the well-known magnetic moment, the next five terms represent components of the magnetic quadrupole moment, etc. Possible applications of the magnetic spherical multipole technique are discussed.